helios wrote:We have already stated in the General section of the Forum, that TextPad 5 really is being developed, and I can also reassure licensed users that current version remains fully supported.
I'm glad to hear it. I thought that the developers of Textpad have gone on vacation and never came back.
I started using UltraEdit as a result. But I'm not getting used to it just yet. I hope TextPad has all the features I've been waiting for for years like full macro language (VBA flavored preferred), macro editing, and enhanced block editing modes and functions.
I'm a fan of WildEdit too and I'd like to see these features in WildEdit also.
I'll try to wait until TextPad 5 before I stick to UltraEdit from now on.
skaemper wrote:
We users have raised your voices time and time again. And there a some quite important improvement suggestions from users. There even was one especially active user, jeffy, who analysed the poll results and compiled a list of the most wanted improvements. Unfortunately he wasn't able to continue his great contributions. Anyway, THANKS Jeffy!
Now the last list I found is over there: http://www.textpad.info/forum/viewtopic ... g&start=75
It's a bit dated (Sept. 28. 2004), but, well (or rather: quite no so well), the latest TextPad version is even older (June 19 2004). That's about ... two years of ... nothing.
These are the top 16 (must be a power of two ) things from that list:
Editable Macros
Expand/Collapse blocks of text
Additional attributes for syntax hig...
Export/Import Textpad settings
Show matching brackets
Treeview in the document selector
Auto-Complete
binary file improvements
Unicode Conformance
Find and Replace - Grand Unification...
Syntax Files - Dynamic Keywords
Add support for Perl5/JavaScript reg...
arger fields for Search/Replace
Syntax highlight for embedded languages
Dockable Command Results and Search ...
Method List for Current File
See, we - the users - even did a bit of prioritising of what features are the most important to us as a group of users.
And Helios couldn't even implement a few of these? In two years time? That's a bit more than slightly dissapointing. (You do get the tiny little bit of irony and bitterness in that, do you?)
Agree wiith those who see no new releases as a huge problem. Real requirements - no solutions. The world is speeding up and Helois seem to be slowing down.
The talk about Textpad 5 being associated with Vista (if it happens of course) doesn't fill me with glee either - I won't touch Vista for a year or two after it comes out. There are bound to be problems with it and I will stay with XP while they get sorted. I'd have thought that many serious users might dabble in Vista but won't jump to use it for production stuff for some time.
But we all just seem to be Pi**ing in the wind here - Helois won't share anything credible beyond a mantra about working on a 5th version. No O/S dependency mentioned, no timessacle mentioned, no features (extra or otherwise) mentioned...
The sadness is that Textpad started by being feature rich and good to use - I guess that's why, having jumped ship to an editor with Macros editing, I come back from time to time in the hope of seeing the old girl don new corsets and start wooing old users back as well as conquering new ones. Alas it looks an increasingly remote fancy. See you all in 6 months...
6 months later and stil no alpha/beta release. waiting waiting till i be dead?
But if it's coming(version5) version control wil be helpfull too and create projects. But whatever. Waiting waiting.........no screenshots for version 5?? Textpad is muting....
I've used Textpad for about 6 years now and swear by it, but now newer and more capable products are around. Textpad has fallen way way behind: just check out PSPad - my work colleague keeps asking "can TextPad do this/that?" and more often than not I'm replying "No".
I have to admit that I'm starting to use PSPad more often as it offers so much more then TP. The only thing TP offers over PSPad is it's unsurpassed handling of very large files. PSPad is slightly sluggish compared with TP - I think PSP is written in Delphi - but given all the extra functionality it offers, I can live with that and am starting to use PSPad more often.
Until this feature is implemented, you may find that a macro program like AutoHotKey or AutoIt will help you out. Both are free. I use AHK with TextPad all the time.
helios wrote:We have already stated in the General section of the Forum, that TextPad 5 really is being developed, and I can also reassure licensed users that current version remains fully supported.
Well 6 months since my last vist and still no changes. Vista is now out and still no new Textpad. Nothing new since H1 2004. Not really a credible story to impress new people. I suppose it's stable!
I've been using TextPad on a daily (hourly?) basis since version 3. At the time it was the best editor out there and I've never really looked around much at other alternatives since then.
Today I came to the site to submit a feature request but then I found this thread. Those 16 features listed are all better than the one I was hoping for. Of course now I don't see the point of even making a suggestion. Helios won't care.
The sad thing is that I had never given the lack of updates much thought until now. I'd visit the site every 3-4 months and check for a new release and have always been disappointed that there was nothing new. I've been a software developer my whole career and I've always lived under the mantra that "there is always room for improvement". Despite being such a long time user of TextPad, I definitely think there is room for improvement.
The time has come to give up and go elsewhere. I'll probably offer my feature suggestion to another company that is actively developing their product. UltraEdit and PSPad both have good products and maybe they actually care if I use their product.
What I would like to see is good plugin support. With plugin support we do not need to wait for Helios to implement features that we feel should be available in textpad. Any one with good programming skills can then develop plugins that would enhance Textpad to suit his/her requirements.
Plugin support will also keep Textpad Alive as we can then have a repository of plugins developed by other programmers and end users can choose the plugins they require to enhance Textpad to meet their requirements.
The power to mix and match features that plugins provide means that Textpad will never become bloated up with features that many users will rarely use. Users will be able to choose plugins that provide the features they require.
I am a programmer and Textpad is my favourite text editing tool. By bringing in plugin support I do not have to look for other editors that provide some features that textpad does not
) things from that list:
