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Show HN: NotepadJs – A cross-platform love letter to Notepad
As a native Windows user who switched to macOS a few years back, one thing I never got over was the simplicity and usefulness of the old school Notepad app. This app aims to recreate that very same experience, cross-platform and easily installable as a PWA.
I've been using this for personal use for around 2 years and I figured it was time to share it with the world. Criticism, issues and PRs are welcome. Thanks!
- JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B 2y agoWhat's wrong with TextEdit on macOS? It's good that you made an alternative but it's not serious. I need to run Firefox, enable JS, reload the page, there is no "top menu" or install button, the open/save button does nothing, I can't choose my own fonts, and I guess it doesn't work if I don't have an internet connection.
- Ghoelian 2y agoKDE's KWrite is also available on macOS if you don't like TextEdit, as well as Kate which is more of an alternative to Notepad++, practically an IDE. Kate is my personal favourite text editor.
- npteljes 2y agoKate is fantastic. I rarely touch the built-in software out of a bad habit, but this one turned this around. One of the things it's missing from Notepad++ is the ability to just close the editor, open it again, and get back the workflow exactly where it was, but unsaved files as well. Kate can do it via sessions, but I need to create a session, and then after re-opening, tell it to yes, open that one session.
- pferde 2y agoCan you run it as "kate --session MySession", with different sessions in different shortcuts, as needed? There is also "Load last session" option in Kate's configuration, if you only ever use one session.
- npteljes 2y agoThanks, I'll check that out!
- nottorp 2y ago> the ability to just close the editor, open it again, and get back the workflow exactly where it was, but unsaved files as well Most text editors I use on MacOS do that, TextEdit included. I'm only posting because I had come to think that's the normal behaviour, not an extra... haven't been using non mac os desktops too much in the past years.
- npteljes 2y agoDefinitely normal behavior, and also human, natural behavior. Things are where I left them last time. I understand that in the 90s, disk space was a concern, and that disk operations were a big deal with moving parts, etc. But we really need to move on from this paradigm. I just tested, and it looks like that "new" software does this on Linux, but "old" software didn't modernize. IntelliJ products, VSCodium does this, QOwnNote does it, Kate does it when I explicitly start a session (bit of a nonsense...), and no other software that I use does it: LibreOffice products, KWrite, Geany, GIMP etc all operate on the paradigm that when closing, it asks if it should save the draft document or no.
- nottorp 2y agoHmm incidentally the office-like apple applications seem to want an explicit save. I just started Pages, wrote a sentence in a blank document and it asked me if i want to save or delete it on exit...
- Ghoelian 2y agoTextEdit just asks if you want to save the file when you try to close it. Do you mean it keeps files if it crashes or something?
- stijnstijn 2y agoIt is indeed not quite a drop-in replacement for the 'real' Notepad, but I do find the complaint that you need to enable JS for something that has 'JS' in its name a little strange. That's the platform it was made for, it may not be a platform you enjoy using, and it could perhaps have been made on another platform, but it wasn't. That's hardly a reason to call it "not serious".
- bigstrat2003 2y agoWeb apps are not a viable replacement for native apps, so I think it's a fair criticism.
- hombre_fatal 2y agoI think they are most of the time. Most apps don't deserve to be installed on my computer for them to work. And there's no browser network bar nor browser plugins like uBlock Origin to control what they can do. So native apps need to offer something more than "not a web app" to pay their rent on my system where they have often things like full filesystem access.
- lucideer 2y agoOther criticisms may be valid, but TextEdit is a terrible comparison. TextEdit is comparable to Windows WordPad (another terrible app - which is why Microsoft dropped it). Both are rich-text , not plaintext editors. They're more like Microsoft Word without the features. Notepad is a plaintext editor, of which their is no equivalent built into Macs outside of terminal applications.
- andsoitis 2y agoYou can switch TextEdit between rich text and plaintext modes.
- rpgbr 2y agoYou can change TextEdit to handle plain text: Format > Convert to plain text, or Shift + Command + T. I prefer TextEdit over Notepad. Its undo is way better, and it's overall a snappier app.
- sbuttgereit 2y agoI can do something similar with Microsoft Word as well. But I also risk losing something in the process. Did I emphasize things with bold or italic in the editor? That will be lost when saving to plain text. In that sense Word and TextEdit are both correctly called rich text editors which just happen to have the ability to save to plain text. Notepad, however, doesn't support the formatting... so you can't create something that you can't save. That's the difference.
- setopt 2y agoI disagree. Go into the TextEdit settings (Cmd-,) and change the default format from "rich text" to "plain text". Next time you open TextEdit, all rich-text features are disabled (no formatting toolbars, no Cmd-B/Cmd-I keybindings, etc.), so the interface is to me indistinguishable from NotePad. This is completely different from Word.
- CoryAlexMartin 2y agoYou cannot use bold or italics in plain text mode in TextEdit. It is truly a plain text mode. If you try to switch from rich text to plain text, and you utilize any rich text features in your document, it will warn you that you're going to lose that information.
- dspillett 2y ago(Not OP, but I did read the information they wrote.) > What's wrong with TextEdit on macOS? Nothing wrong as such, but does it match the “cross-platform” description? > Firefox … the open/save button does nothing As per the readme, it is using an API that is not yet supported in Firefox for local file access: https://caniuse.com/native-filesystem-api https://caniuse.com/native-filesystem-api > there is no "top menu" or install button That is meaning the browser's menu. Perhaps there is better terminology that should be used here. The readme does show a screenshot of it, so it seems clear from that to me. The install option is found there. > and I guess it doesn't work if I don't have an internet connection. Also in the readme: “Installable as a PWA”, which I think implies offline support, given it doesn't have sync features so has no reason once installed that way to talk to the wider network.
- JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B 2y ago> does it match the “cross-platform” description Yes, it's a plain-text editor too. The files are compatible with the Commodore 64 if you need. > not yet supported in Firefox ... implies offline support ... It implies a lot more stuff than all the other pre-installed plain-text editors on every other OS.
- dspillett 2y ago> It implies a lot more stuff than all the other pre-installed plain-text editors on every other OS. I read it as promising Notepad features with anything else it mentions as extras, not more features it doesn't mention from other text editors.
- vunderba 2y agoCross platform refers to the application itself, not the files that it produces. TextEdit is a poor substitute, a much better alternative would be Sublime.
- oneeyedpigeon 2y agoI like Coteditor [1] as an open-source, minimal editor. TextEdit isn't even plain text by default, IIRC. [1] https://coteditor.com/ https://coteditor.com/
- eviks 2y agoMostly not a serious criticism: > I need to run Firefox, enable JS, reload the page, Or you can just open a tab, nothing to reload/enable/run > there is no "top menu" Of course there is, it's browser's top menu > the open/save button does nothing it opens/saves files in Chrome. Guess Firefox API limitations? > I guess it doesn't work if I don't have an internet connection. wrong guess, that's what "install" is for
- crazygringo 2y ago> What's wrong with TextEdit on macOS? I do most of my work in browser tabs. It's much more convenient for me to have a plaintext editor app as a tab I can position among my other tabs, rather than another window. My email is a tab. My word processor is a tab. My files in the cloud are a tab. It makes sense that my plaintext editor should be a tab too. It's just UX consistency and convenience.
- pasc1878 2y agonotepad is not in a browser tab so why is it better than TextEdit.
- crazygringo 2y agoThis is about NotepadJS not Notepad
- itkeman 2y agoHi, I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with TextEdit. It's what I had used for many years. It does have all kinds of extra features like input suggestions, auto capitalization and auto-correct (I couldn't find a way to disable these in the app, maybe somewhere in the general macOS settings). Anyway, it's not about which app is better. If you love the Notepad experience, then you know - it's something about its simplicity, and perhaps its familiarity as well. About being serious - this is indeed a side project. Sorry about FF support - since the relevant FS API isn't available there I added an alert indicating that on page load. It does work without an internet connection though (PWAs are great)!
- moi2388 2y agoWhen I open texted it it doesn’t immediately open a new page for me to work on. I first have to select a folder, then create a new file, that’s annoying
- rpgbr 2y agoNice! Where are you from, itkeman? I posted about your web app on my pt_BR blog: https://manualdousuario.net/notepadjs-bloco-de-notas-macos/ https://manualdousuario.net/notepadjs-bloco-de-notas-macos/
- markatkinson 2y agoWow, I am in exactly the same position. I grew up in the 90's using all the versions of Windows. Notepad became such an essential part of my workflows that even after 10 years of being on a Mac, I still mentally "reach for" Notepad. I have yet to find a suitable replacement. Thanks for this, will take a look. (One thing that comes close is Stickies on MacOS)
- jmb99 2y agoWhat makes (plain-text) TextEdit insufficient?
- disembiggen 2y agoIt refuses to open files it doesn't like the filetype of, it won't save as an arbitrary filetype, it defaults to being a variable-width font and it has a few too many bells and whistles because it's clearly meant to edit RTF files, I'd say. Sometimes you want something completely spartan.
- neilalexander 2y agoIt opens anything — the "Open" dialog will allow you to select any filetype and you can also drop any kind of file onto the TextEdit icon in the Dock to open it. As for plain-text, you can go into the Settings and switch it into plain-text mode, which it remembers. You can even set it not to append ".txt" to the filename when saving, allowing you to enter whatever file extension you want when saving.
- soulofmischief 2y agoBoth Notepad and TextEdit are some of the most insufferably feature-void applications I've ever used. Even for a basic note-taking app.
- markatkinson 2y agoThat's part of the charm. I think I've mostly replaced Notepad with Clipy.
- crazygringo 2y agoThis is really cool, I love this. I do most of my work in browser tabs, but often need a "scratch pad" to paste or type things in, like snippets of code or a short todo list. And I use TextEdit on my Mac, but I'd prefer a browser tab so this is wonderful. Four requests, from most to least important: 1) Let me choose the font and font size? For code snippets, I really want monospace. And make sure the preference persists 2) Keep current contents in local storage, so it survives a browser restart? (Or maybe you do already?) 3) Having tabs feels redundant with my browser tabs -- I'd rather get rid of the extra bar at the top and just have a 100% clean typing space, with just the (wonderfully unobtrusive) menu bar. (I understand their utility in a PWA though, maybe a menu option to toggle the tab bar? Also full screen mode to hide the menu bar for a pure editing experience?) 4) Get a proper domain name. :) So I can start typing "note" in my address bar and it will autocomplete. Surely "notepadjs" is available for some TLD? Or "notepadx" (for cross-platform) or "notepage" (for webpage) or similar? But this is a great idea. I'm surprised I've never come across something like it before, it seems so obvious in hindsight. I love it.
- petemir 2y agohm, perhaps you like edna? https://edna.arslexis.io/ https://edna.arslexis.io/ https://edna.arslexis.io/help https://edna.arslexis.io/help https://github.com/kjk/edna https://github.com/kjk/edna
- vallode 2y agoFor what it's worth, I have a bookmarklet with these contents: data:text/html,<body contenteditable style="line-height:1.5;font-size:22px;max-width:75ch">type here... I use this _all_ the time for very quick note taking and writing that will later be copied elsewhere, think one to three sentences and then offload.
- crazygringo 2y agoOh thanks, that's genius! I just modified it to be monospace and I can guarantee you it'll be my new favorite bookmark. Too bad its contents won't persist across a restart or accidental close tab, but as a scratch pad it's fantastic.
- jansan 2y agoNice. And just like the newer Notepad version on Windows it supports more than ONE undo step!
- WillAdams 2y agoQuestion --- does it support keyboard modifiers in the Find-Replace dialog? NP in Windows 11 doesn't, and it really trips me up when moving from my work laptop running Windows 10 which does (and Win 11 NotePad doesn't get these, it will be a major stumbling block for me).
- canucker2016 2y agoCan you give an example of what you're looking for? On my Win11 computer in notepad.exe: - press Ctrl+H brings up a replace dialog - if I tap the ALT-key, tooltips pop up near the relevant buttons (D for search down, U for search up, R for replace, A for replace all) - press CTRL-F brings up the find dialog - if I tap the ALT-key, tooltips pop up near the relevant buttons (D for search down, U for search up) pressing the relevant key invokes the associated function, e.g. press D searches for the entered text in the window below the current cursor.
- WillAdams 2y agoEDIT: Thank you for pointing that out. In Windows 10 the "Replace" dialog has underlined accelerator shortcuts for - _F_ind Next - _R_eplace - Replace _A_ll which are obvious and visible in the dialog. Having to tap alt is lousy UI, and frankly results in an ugly and cluttered appearance --- the underlines were able to communicate the functionality well, and far less obnoxious. EDIT: Hopefully Windows 11 will develop a way to visually communicate this sort of functionality, as opposed to expecting folks to read a (non-existent) manual or randomly tapping keys.
- hliyan 2y agoFor some reason, I opened this hoping to see a JS version of JPad Pro, if anyone can remember that from 25 years ago: https://archive.org/details/tucows_296665_JPad_Pro https://archive.org/details/tucows_296665_JPad_Pro Didn't have autocomplete, but was incredibly fast compared to Eclipse or NetBeans or other IDEs back in the day, and I used to swear by it. It also had a basic scripting language with which you could automate your work. But yes, off-topic.
- cutler 2y agoI don't get the nostalgia for NotePad - the most featureless piece of software ever invented.
- setopt 2y agoThere's something to say for minimalism as a distraction-free mechanism. I've wasted a lot of time during my life reconfiguring Emacs or Vim, switching back and forth between various GUI note-taking apps, or tweaking my LaTeX preambles. The brutal minimalism of something like NotePad leaves you with less distractions. I think it's the same reason I sometimes decide to leave the computer entirely and grab some pen and paper to really get things done.
- eviks 2y agoWhen you can't even undo properly (while you're used to this in other apps), does this annoyance not distract you from whatever you're doing in the text editor?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Levitating 2y ago> There's something to say for minimalism as a distraction-free mechanism. I think there's little credit to be given here. A text widget is part of any gui toolkit and there are hundreds of notepad like text editors. I think basically every DE on Linux has their own...
- qwertox 2y agoI feel the same. If a text editor doesn't have at least multiple levels of undo, it's worthless. IDK if it even had redo. There's been UltraEdit since 1994, SciTE since 1999, Notepad++ since 2003, the browser's address bar to remove formatting or just for holding some text...
- vunderba 2y agoHonestly, I also don't know anyone who has any fond remembrance of notepad. The majority of my friends on windows used notepad++ and then later sublime. Just like how almost everyone I knew used Paint.NET rather than mspaint.
- albert_e 2y agoLove this, thanks for sharing! If I had the time I would explore the following myself ... but I am guessing I will never get to them at all so posting my thoughts aloud: - Could it be modified to optionally store the files online, say a selected git repo or s3 bucket (credentials configured in a local file) - Could it have a flavour that accepts markdown formatting/preview - Could we allow users to "paste" images from clipboard (or drag-and-drop image files) to have them saved alongside the txt/md files or in a subfolder - obligatory Dark mode (toggle) I know all this diverges from the spirit of original notepad but these were some things I desired in a lightweight awlays online notepad that i can access from all my devices. Kind of like a diet Obsidian with sync?
- zoover2020 2y agoAnd this is how notepad++ was born.
- donkeylazy456 2y agothen we need NotepadPlusPlusJs!
- leonardinius 2y agosounds like mac osx notes app to me
- nashashmi 2y agoI always gravitate to Caret-T app on Google chrome. It was just as fast as notepad. And allowed for some customizable shortcuts like multi cursors. These days the only thing that comes close is a feature rich vscode that is slower than other pwa apps.
- nashashmi 2y agoThere was also a nifty scratchpad by Google for Google chrome that would sync to gdrive. Google axed it. Then a couple of years later launched Google Keep. In summary, google destroyed Google Scratchpad PWA app, then destroyed Google PWA app store for desktop browsers. Then Google launched Google Keep but I thought it was not going to last long so I never got the hang of it.
- pjmlp 2y agoUnfortunely I cannot share the same nostalgia, as the very first thing I got used to do in new Windows installations was to install XEmacs, UltraEdit, Notepad++, SlickEdit, whatever everyone else is kind of using on the project. Kudos for the project though.
- HackerLemon 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- talldayo 2y agoWhile we're complaining about entirely tangential and inconsequential papercuts, I resent the 5 seconds it takes me to install bbedit and git on Mac. Upvotes, please? I said software was bad - I expect to be showered with praise for my taste and quality of opinion.
- Koshkin 2y agoI recommend SciTE. Is seems like a perfect middle ground between Notepad and more feature-rich text editors like Notepad++.
- Levitating 2y ago[flagged]
- dspillett 2y agoGreat. Another person complaining about something they can just choose not to use, criticising a pet project as if it is intended to be something that will change the world. > This PWA will also never work on Firefox. True. But as much as I like Firefox, that doesn't seem to me to be NotepadJs's doing.
- Levitating 2y ago> Great. Another person complaining about something they can just choose not to use, criticising a pet project as if it is intended to be something that will change the world. That's fair. I am just upset with a general shift away from simple, accessible cross-platform GUI libraries to complicated web apps. Literally any GUI toolkit has a textbox widget. You could make a cross-platform qt text editor in 100~ lines of Python. > as much as I like Firefox, that doesn't seem to me to be NotepadJs's doing. Well NotepadJS chose to create a PWA that can only be used in Chrome and Opera. Though like you said, it's just a pet project.
- pvg 2y agoI am just upset with a general shift away A Show HN, and really, most HN threads aren't the place to vent about this. It's even mentioned in the site docs: Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work.
- dspillett 2y ago> Well NotepadJS chose to create a PWA that can only be used in Chrome and Opera. Is there another way that I'm unaware of to conveniently edit arbitrary local files in a browser that has wider support (or anything upcoming that doesn't have much support yet)?
- CursedUrn 2y agoI agree with your critique. We really shouldn't be celebrating when a simple text editor requires literally millions of lines of code to run.
- rauli_ 2y agoDidn't know notepad has tabs these days. It's been almost a decade since I last used it.
- h4ch1 2y agohttps://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/markdown-new-tab/demppioeofcekpjcnlkmdjbabifjnokj https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/markdown-new-tab/de... probably the best browser based note taking app for me, full markdown support + persistence.
- smittywerben 2y agoI usually don't comment because most fancy sites posted on here don't work on my phone since I haven't updated in awhile. However, your site lets me demo it without the file api which is considerate. It's funny people are saying it takes an entire OS to use this when I dream of emulating DOS as a print spooler with Wordperfect, the last non-enshittified font selector. That's my working theory. Good day sir.
- not_your_vase 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- robertoandred 2y agoTextEdit is as simple as Notepad.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Lucasoato 2y agoCool project! I wonder what the authors didn’t like of the macOS Text Edit, especially when set up on its simpler text only interface.
- bluedino 2y ago> especially when set up on its simpler text only interface. That's part of it. Classic NotePad is just plain simple.
- skylovescoffee 2y agoI can't install the app from firefox, please consider an easier way to install it
- ericyd 2y agoPWA is the most universal installer available. You can install a PWA with Firefox, but the instructions might look different from the screenshot in the repo. Alternatively you can use it at the hosted URL in the github readme without installing at all.
- khedoros1 2y agoAn up-to-date Firefox install gives me this message when I even go to the site: > Sorry, your browser does not support the File System Access API. Plese consider using another browser for installing this app. Firefox also seems to require an extension to install PWAs: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pwas-for-firefox/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pwas-for-fire... (and not just an extension, but a couple of external programs need to be installed too). So you can jump through the extra hoops to get the PWA installed, but the first warning seems accurate. Can't load or save files.
- miramba 2y agoYes, this API is only available in Chrome and Edge on PCs it seems: https://caniuse.com/?search=filesystem%20access%20api https://caniuse.com/?search=filesystem%20access%20api
- nottorp 2y agoJust to be the devil's advocate, notepad.exe is 200 kb. How much space and ram does this use? The MacOS textedit bundle is 2 Mb too. TextMate's bundle is 38 Mb but even that is probably less than a browser, npm and all the baggage it comes with.
- bangaladore 2y agoAccording to Chrome dev tools, 7.1 kB of network traffic, about 100 kB of total resources. Actually much better than I expected.
- RadiozRadioz 2y agoYou need to include Chrome. NotePad runs on Win32 (or whatever it is these days). This runs on Chrome + Win32.
- bangaladore 2y agoNotePad runs on Windows. You need to include Windows. The argument doesn't really pass the sniff test frankly. Windows is a general purpose operating system much like Chrome is a general purpose web browser. Infact nowadays to get this sort of NotePad you'll always have Edge installed in your computer, so you don't even have to download Chrome!
- nottorp 2y agoSure, how about the copy of the npm "ecosystem"? And you conveniently forget that you can choose not to start a browser while running the native notepad.
- bangaladore 2y ago> Sure, how about the copy of the npm "ecosystem"? I mentioned how many resources are downloaded. NPM is not required. "Modern" webapps get bundled, NPM is not distributed. > And you conveniently forget that you can choose not to start a browser while running the native notepad. When running a PWA, you don't have to start a browser. Does Chromium run in the background, sure, but you just click a icon or search like you always do. And honestly it opens and is ready to use possibly quicker than Notepad itself.
- quintu5 2y agoI’ve got a chrome extension sitting in the review queue right now that leans a bit more dev-centric in that it opens a Monaco-based editor (with markdown preview) whenever it detects you’ve opened a raw text file in the current tab. It also supports creating new documents, but that’s more of an ancillary use case (for me anyhow). The nice thing is that it’s 100% local.
- Vt71fcAqt7 2y agoI suggest putting the link to the website in the about section on github. Currently it reads "No description, website or topics provided." Saves users from scrolling a bit.
- nichos 2y agoReaders might be interested in notepad-next, which is under active development and cross platform: https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext