TED Notepad
Encyclopedia
TED Notepad is a freeware
portable
text editor
for Microsoft Windows
. The software has been developed by Juraj Šimlovič
since 2001, originally as a school project. It has a similar cosmetic look to Notepad, but provides variety of features for advanced plain-text editing. Includes experimental features like line completion
or selection jumping.
. It is often described as swiss-army-knife text editor on web forums.
Amongst innovative features, there is a secondary search, which allows to look for two different things at the same time. The editor also allows to select text to the next occurrence while searching. Another unusual feature is in go to dialog, which offers to select text upon jumping and to jump relatively from the current position.
One of the experimental features is a line completion
. Besides the standard word completion
, which is based on a dictionary of the actual document, TED Notepad provides a simple way to complete words also according to line similarities. In comparison to the word completion, the line completion is capable of auto-completing punctuation, special characters and source code operators. Therefore, on lines with many operators and braces, completing source code by similar lines can be more efficient than completing by words.
Because of standard windows editbox architecture used in TED Notepad, the editor does not support some of the advanced display and editing techniques like syntax highlighting, line numbering, or block selection. Some users find these features to be the key features of many other professional text editors.
Several users have requested improvements in design and visual feeling of the application, including the missing toolbar
or multiple document interface
. In response, the author stated that most of these suggestions were out of scope of his original interest. To date, none of these features was ever implemented. Several users also complained about the menu getting crammed by adding more and more features. Although the respectable number of various editing functions is the main feature of the application, it is also a sticking point of its design.
Several users have reported various troubles when printing documents from TED Notepad, for example setting up a printing font size.
pulled an April Fools' hoax on the official web-page of the project. He claimed that Microsoft
was going to acquire all TED Notepad sources and copyrights for $701.556, which was the current size of the source code (in bytes). The author, would no longer hold the right to develop and further distribute the program or its portions.
According to the report, which was added later to the same site, the hoax took its price in visit count and visit-to-download rate.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
portable
Portable application
A portable application , sometimes also called standalone, is a computer software program designed to run independently from an operating system...
text editor
Text editor
A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The software has been developed by Juraj Šimlovič
Juraj Šimlovič
Juraj Šimlovič is a freelance software developer living in Prague, Czech Republic. He is a co-author of the ParserFunctions extension for Wikipedia and author of a number of free software utilities, of which the most popular is TED Notepad. In December 2008, his team won the 2K Australia's...
since 2001, originally as a school project. It has a similar cosmetic look to Notepad, but provides variety of features for advanced plain-text editing. Includes experimental features like line completion
Line completion
Line completion is a text editor feature similar to word completion, first introduced by Juraj Simlovic in TED Notepad, in July 2006. When a user begins a line that starts with a frequently-used phrase, the computer automatically completes the first part of it, up to the position where all similar...
or selection jumping.
Overview
Key features of TED Notepad include simple text-only interface, large variety of text-processing tools, supplemental text clipboards, high accessibility through hotkeys, and respectable number of settings and options. The application offers several innovative and experimental features like secondary search or line-sensitive completionLine completion
Line completion is a text editor feature similar to word completion, first introduced by Juraj Simlovic in TED Notepad, in July 2006. When a user begins a line that starts with a frequently-used phrase, the computer automatically completes the first part of it, up to the position where all similar...
. It is often described as swiss-army-knife text editor on web forums.
Amongst innovative features, there is a secondary search, which allows to look for two different things at the same time. The editor also allows to select text to the next occurrence while searching. Another unusual feature is in go to dialog, which offers to select text upon jumping and to jump relatively from the current position.
One of the experimental features is a line completion
Line completion
Line completion is a text editor feature similar to word completion, first introduced by Juraj Simlovic in TED Notepad, in July 2006. When a user begins a line that starts with a frequently-used phrase, the computer automatically completes the first part of it, up to the position where all similar...
. Besides the standard word completion
Word completion
Word completion is a common feature in web browsers and similar text entry contexts. When a user begins the entry of a frequently-used word, the computer automatically completes it, or proposes a list of choices....
, which is based on a dictionary of the actual document, TED Notepad provides a simple way to complete words also according to line similarities. In comparison to the word completion, the line completion is capable of auto-completing punctuation, special characters and source code operators. Therefore, on lines with many operators and braces, completing source code by similar lines can be more efficient than completing by words.
Text tools
The most visible characteristic of TED Notepad is the amount of text functions it offers, including:- Several letter case conversions.
- Conversions of newlines between Unix and Mac platforms.
- Tools for reversing text, words or entire lines.
- Tools for word wrapWord wrapIn text display, line wrap is the feature of continuing on a new line when a line is full, such that each line fits in the viewable window, allowing text to be read from top to bottom without any horizontal scrolling....
ping and uwrapping lines. - Tools for (un)indenting, (un)closing or (un)tabifying text.
- Exhaustive tool for sorting lines.
- Unique lines tool, which can exclude or count duplicate lines.
- Tool for translating characters into other characters.
- Tool for cutting columns from text and adding line numbers.
- Extensive text statistics that calculate 12 different values about text.
- Support for external user-defined text plugins like grepGrepgrep is a command-line text-search utility originally written for Unix. The name comes from the ed command g/re/p...
.
Other features
Other practical features may include:- Favorite Esc key exit.
- Many hotkeys.
- Several internal clipboards for usual cliché.
- File size limited only by actual memory available.
- Word completion, based on the actual file dictionary - the words are offered according to words already typed.
- Copy word/line above that quickly inserts words typed directly above - very handy for writing lists, where each line starts with the same/similar words.
- Favorite files menu.
- Auto indentation and Tabs as Spaces.
- Minimize to System tray and stay on top.
Awards and reviews
- "Pricelessware" award from alt.comp.freeware participants in 2007.
- "Top 10 Freeware" awards from editors of Freeware-Guide.com in March 2006, June 2006, July 2006 and November 2006.
- "6/6 ranking" and "100% Virus & Spyware Clean" award from editors of NoNags.com.
- "100% clean software" award from Softpedia.com reporting no adware, spyware or viruses present.
- Multiple reviews by editors of IDG media in November 2006 and January 2007.
- Review by editors of Svet Kompjutera in December 2006.
Criticism from users
To date, TED Notepad does not officially feature versions of the program in any language other than the original English version. The author furthermore forbids anyone to translate and distribute non-official nightly translations. Despite this, there are few non-official translations for Chinese and French, downloadable directly from the main homepage of the program. The author warns, however, about possible danger that may come from using these translations.Because of standard windows editbox architecture used in TED Notepad, the editor does not support some of the advanced display and editing techniques like syntax highlighting, line numbering, or block selection. Some users find these features to be the key features of many other professional text editors.
Several users have requested improvements in design and visual feeling of the application, including the missing toolbar
Toolbar
In a graphical user interface, on a computer monitor, a toolbar is a GUI widget on which on-screen buttons, icons, menus, or other input or output elements are placed. Toolbars are seen in office suites, graphics editors, and web browsers...
or multiple document interface
Multiple document interface
Graphical computer applications with a multiple document interface are those whose windows reside under a single parent window , as opposed to all windows being separate from each other . Such systems often allow child windows to embed other windows inside them as well, creating complex nested...
. In response, the author stated that most of these suggestions were out of scope of his original interest. To date, none of these features was ever implemented. Several users also complained about the menu getting crammed by adding more and more features. Although the respectable number of various editing functions is the main feature of the application, it is also a sticking point of its design.
Several users have reported various troubles when printing documents from TED Notepad, for example setting up a printing font size.
April Fools' hoax
On April 1, 2007, Juraj ŠimlovičJuraj Šimlovič
Juraj Šimlovič is a freelance software developer living in Prague, Czech Republic. He is a co-author of the ParserFunctions extension for Wikipedia and author of a number of free software utilities, of which the most popular is TED Notepad. In December 2008, his team won the 2K Australia's...
pulled an April Fools' hoax on the official web-page of the project. He claimed that Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
was going to acquire all TED Notepad sources and copyrights for $701.556, which was the current size of the source code (in bytes). The author, would no longer hold the right to develop and further distribute the program or its portions.
According to the report, which was added later to the same site, the hoax took its price in visit count and visit-to-download rate.