←back to thread

145 points itkeman | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.203s | source

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!

Show context
crazygringo ◴[] No.42792416[source]
This 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.

replies(4): >>42792546 #>>42793025 #>>42795567 #>>42795990 #
1. poisonborz ◴[] No.42795567[source]
What I learned: do not use ephemeral tools like this as scratchpad. You never know when you will need this data and as soon as you start saving these snippets it becomes tedious. Also unsaved tabs block software updates etc. Use something like Obsidian or default Notes on macos.