Also, on the page where you can define the environment variables, te help button doesn't work: "Failed to launch help".
Another thing which does not work is "Show full paths" in the document selector.
In Explorer, when right-clicking on a folder, there is an active menu item "Open". I'd expect it to open the folder. It does nothing (Rename, Delete, Properties work on folders ...)
Block Select Mode says on the menu item that the shortcut is "Ctrl+Shift+F8" which doesn't work. Selecting the menu item by mouse works ...
Textpad 5.0 discussion
Moderators: AmigoJack, bbadmin, helios, Bob Hansen, MudGuard
On a dual-monitor system, I notice that textpad 5.0 no longer "remembers" which monitor it was last displayed in. I checked the box for "reload last workspace at startup" but that made no difference. The previous version (4.73) did not have this problem.
Is this a bug, or do I need to set some preference I do not know about (hopefully, this is not a "new feature" within version 5!)?
Thanks,
Ted
Is this a bug, or do I need to set some preference I do not know about (hopefully, this is not a "new feature" within version 5!)?
Thanks,
Ted
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Tomas Eklund
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:15 am
- Location: Sweden
I think great communication is the key to a great relationship. Poor communication makes for a poor relationship.
In this thread I have tried to express how anticipated Textpad 5 was and how expectations were elevated day by day during the long, long wait. And we have seen how many (me included) felt more than a bit disappointed or even let down when Textpad 5 wasn't all that we had expected it to be.
Personally I thought (and hoped) Textpad 5 would be a whole new editor, rebuilt from scratch. Shiney and polished with a modern interface and with lots and lots of new stuff added. I know a lot of people here don't want "a whole new editor", they want slow and careful progress. Sure, that is nice too, but considering how long we had to wait, many of us simply assumed Helios was up to something grander. Those who loved 4.7.3 could stick with it. Those who wanted more could buy the big upgrade.
The guy(s) at Helios have probably worked hard on Textpad 5, they have released it as a free upgrade and are now saying that there is more to come later this year. That is all great. So, I feel a little bad when bashing Textpad 5 and yelling out "Hey! This isn't at all what I expected! What's up with this? And it's buggy too! WTF?". But that's what you get when you have poor communication. It's kind of like hurt feelings. (Can you have feelings for a text editor?)
It's rather obvious now that the Helios team did take quite a long time-out from working on Textpad. Perhaps someone decided to fullfill a childhood dream and climb a mountain or something. Perhaps someone had kids or decided to spend more time with his family. Good choice! Congratulations if it's so.
Many here on the forums have defended Helios' right to have a non disclosure policy. Sure, they do have the right to remain silent. But that policy is what have created all this tension and frustration and disappointment. Personally I would have appreciated better communication, and I would have supported Helios decision to take a time-out, whatever the reason.
But right now, I can't help but feeling a bit let down.
In this thread I have tried to express how anticipated Textpad 5 was and how expectations were elevated day by day during the long, long wait. And we have seen how many (me included) felt more than a bit disappointed or even let down when Textpad 5 wasn't all that we had expected it to be.
Personally I thought (and hoped) Textpad 5 would be a whole new editor, rebuilt from scratch. Shiney and polished with a modern interface and with lots and lots of new stuff added. I know a lot of people here don't want "a whole new editor", they want slow and careful progress. Sure, that is nice too, but considering how long we had to wait, many of us simply assumed Helios was up to something grander. Those who loved 4.7.3 could stick with it. Those who wanted more could buy the big upgrade.
The guy(s) at Helios have probably worked hard on Textpad 5, they have released it as a free upgrade and are now saying that there is more to come later this year. That is all great. So, I feel a little bad when bashing Textpad 5 and yelling out "Hey! This isn't at all what I expected! What's up with this? And it's buggy too! WTF?". But that's what you get when you have poor communication. It's kind of like hurt feelings. (Can you have feelings for a text editor?)
It's rather obvious now that the Helios team did take quite a long time-out from working on Textpad. Perhaps someone decided to fullfill a childhood dream and climb a mountain or something. Perhaps someone had kids or decided to spend more time with his family. Good choice! Congratulations if it's so.
Many here on the forums have defended Helios' right to have a non disclosure policy. Sure, they do have the right to remain silent. But that policy is what have created all this tension and frustration and disappointment. Personally I would have appreciated better communication, and I would have supported Helios decision to take a time-out, whatever the reason.
But right now, I can't help but feeling a bit let down.
Finally, Finally a new release of TextPad. Yes!
Helios: thanks and kudos for this.
But: let's call is 4.8 please, and not 5.0...
Let's be clear about it: it's not a major release, not by a long shot.
The main reason for this release was (and I'm speculating right now) the Vista compliancy and in making so some low hanging fruit were implemented also.
I do like the new look-and-feel though.
Let's hope there will be a release with at least some of the major issues on the wishlist soon.
Helios: thanks and kudos for this.
But: let's call is 4.8 please, and not 5.0...
Let's be clear about it: it's not a major release, not by a long shot.
The main reason for this release was (and I'm speculating right now) the Vista compliancy and in making so some low hanging fruit were implemented also.
I do like the new look-and-feel though.
Let's hope there will be a release with at least some of the major issues on the wishlist soon.
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gan
Yes it's nice with a new release of textpad, but it's more correctly to consider this release as a beta. It's basically full of bugs that should have been discovered if they had spent just a few hours to test version 5.0 before they released it. Many of the bugs is really easy to discover. If you want a stable and good editor i would suggest to stick with 4.7.3 until a 5.01 is released. I assume all of this bugs is fixed in the next release. I think it's nice that they continue to develop textpad and appreciate this since it's a very good text editor, but they have done a horrible job testing this version before they released it.Jan Paul wrote:Finally, Finally a new release of TextPad. Yes!
Helios: thanks and kudos for this.
But: let's call is 4.8 please, and not 5.0...
Let's be clear about it: it's not a major release, not by a long shot.
Was there a beta test? Is there a "thanks to our beta testers..." page in the help documentation (haven't installed yet...)?gan wrote:Yes it's nice with a new release of textpad, but it's more correctly to consider this release as a beta.
I agree, calling this a 5.00/major release is a mistake. I also agree that saying "this is an interim release so you can get the heck off our backs while we add the big features over the next months..." would have been a good idea.
I expect bigger changes in a major release--especially given the long-lived top-whatever improvement suggestions list has not yet been significantly cracked. I do understand however, if this is rewritten from the bottom up, then there is a heck of a lot of work involved to "reproduce" 4.7.3, and THEN add the current-new features.
Regardless... THERE IS A NEW VERSION OF TEXTPAD, if not entirely done, CLEARLY ON ITS WAY.
Thank you Helios.
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Tomas Eklund
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:15 am
- Location: Sweden
Re: Something I thought I would never do!
Yes, Helios deletes posts which mention competing text editors. And considering how you were (more or less) advertising a competing product on their forum it's fairly easy to understand why your post was deleted. Not that I am in favor of censorship, but it's their site, their bandwidth bill. I think I whould have done the same if I was in their shoes.pja wrote:Helios software developers - I'm sorry and I hope you take this in the positive way it is meant.
I have been a TextPad daily user (countless lines of HTML, CSS and Python) for nearly ten years. TextPad (and Pretty Good Solitaire) was one of the only reasons I have not made a total switch from Windows to Linux. TextPad was just so easy and simple, I wrote my own ClipLibs (even submitting one to Helios). I wasn't one of those who was constantly pushing you for upgrades, although even the most loyal user occasionally wonders if anything is happening back on the "mother ship".
Anyway it all ended the other day when I downloaded and installed Version 5. Simply put, this is simply not up to your normal standard and if this is what many of us were waiting for then it simply is not enough!
As a retired programmer and on-going web developer; a text editor is very important to me. I keep an eye on the competition. Version 5 meant that it was time to have a new look at what my alternatives were. Briefly it got down to (Very Well Known Text Editor) and (Some Other Text Editor); and (Some Other Text Editor) has won the comparison.
I've paid my licence fee and begun the process of converting all my ClipLibs (a really easy process) and discovered that all my favourite macros are actually menu commands built into (Some Other Text Editor). And reluctantly, I uninstalled TextPad.
Thanks for what used to be my favorite piece of software. Its quite sad to see an 'old frien' let go like this. Its too early to say if (Some Other Text Editor) will take its place, but early signs are positive. The other positive aspect is that now I only have ONE piece of software that keeps me using Micro$oft Windows.
Regards,
Peter
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apartment223
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2003 5:19 am
- Location: USA
Second reaction to TP5
_
Although my initial reaction was great disappointment to the expectations I had built up for the next generation text editor standard, I have changed my mind.
It looks like TP5 is a complete rewrite of TP4 in .NET - this means that once the core Win32 of TP has been emulated (which is now the case), noteworthy updates should come numerous and frequent. The possibilities built in and outside of the .NET framework empower so much creativity that I think we'll all bite our tongue in a couple months. I am impressed to see such a fast loading editor written in .NET - I know that there are .Net to Win32 compiler out there, but considering the updated system requirements, it looks like Helios has decided to leave Win32 for full .NET - a good move, since backward compatibility on MS has become a great limitation.
Calling this upgrade TP 5 and not TP 4.8 was "inside-out" thinking, not arrogance. A complete rewrite deserved the new version name. I guess our impatience resulted in an arguably premature release - premature in the sense that most users did not have a Win32 to .NET migration in mind.
Since most of us still work with 32-bits OS's, support for 64-bits architecture doesn't seem a big deal. In fact, the opposite is true, since it indicates that TP5 is built with the future of computing in mind; ergo, that we can expect energetic investments into future versions.
Bottom line: congrats, Helios, this was a hard release to sell. Making such a laborious migration free for TP4 users convinces me that TP users' loyalty is not taken for granted.
_
Although my initial reaction was great disappointment to the expectations I had built up for the next generation text editor standard, I have changed my mind.
It looks like TP5 is a complete rewrite of TP4 in .NET - this means that once the core Win32 of TP has been emulated (which is now the case), noteworthy updates should come numerous and frequent. The possibilities built in and outside of the .NET framework empower so much creativity that I think we'll all bite our tongue in a couple months. I am impressed to see such a fast loading editor written in .NET - I know that there are .Net to Win32 compiler out there, but considering the updated system requirements, it looks like Helios has decided to leave Win32 for full .NET - a good move, since backward compatibility on MS has become a great limitation.
Calling this upgrade TP 5 and not TP 4.8 was "inside-out" thinking, not arrogance. A complete rewrite deserved the new version name. I guess our impatience resulted in an arguably premature release - premature in the sense that most users did not have a Win32 to .NET migration in mind.
Since most of us still work with 32-bits OS's, support for 64-bits architecture doesn't seem a big deal. In fact, the opposite is true, since it indicates that TP5 is built with the future of computing in mind; ergo, that we can expect energetic investments into future versions.
Bottom line: congrats, Helios, this was a hard release to sell. Making such a laborious migration free for TP4 users convinces me that TP users' loyalty is not taken for granted.
_
Hmm, new release WOW. I couldn't believe it..
But I should not call this 5.0, but 4.8. There are a couple things what changed. Nothing what I was hoping for...
I'm sorry that I can't speak lovely words about helios... But what would you expect after 2/3 years of development from textpad 4.7.3 to 5.0
Thanks that helious is still alive
And hoping from now on that it will be seriuously developt what the users recomment.
But I should not call this 5.0, but 4.8. There are a couple things what changed. Nothing what I was hoping for...
I'm sorry that I can't speak lovely words about helios... But what would you expect after 2/3 years of development from textpad 4.7.3 to 5.0
Thanks that helious is still alive
And hoping from now on that it will be seriuously developt what the users recomment.Ok, so 5.0 is a start. Maybe a bit underwhelming, but at least there is life left in the old girl yet. I am still searching for an ideal text editor. Here is what I would like:
1) Textpad's clean UI,
2) Modernized to look like it fits with Vista rather than Win95, (like EmEditor) (Helios, your icons look ancient)
3) Using the Scintilla edit control - its awesome. (like Notepad++)
4) Offering JavaScript based customization (Like EmEditor)
5) And providing enhanced XML editing support - wellformed checks and tidy functionality will do for a start
Why can't I find the perfect text editor? Maybe I should write my own.
1) Textpad's clean UI,
2) Modernized to look like it fits with Vista rather than Win95, (like EmEditor) (Helios, your icons look ancient)
3) Using the Scintilla edit control - its awesome. (like Notepad++)
4) Offering JavaScript based customization (Like EmEditor)
5) And providing enhanced XML editing support - wellformed checks and tidy functionality will do for a start
Why can't I find the perfect text editor? Maybe I should write my own.
Let's face it, Textpad 5 is a joke.
I've never seen so many bugs in a "major" release. Don't they have any testers in Helios ?
If this is a .NET version, it should have been released first to some beta testers, which I believe many people offered to be.
I have swiftly uninstalled it and re-installed 4.7.3, which is the most stable version.
I just can't be bothered to guess what is not going to work next.
I'll come back when Helios have produced the REAL version.
I've never seen so many bugs in a "major" release. Don't they have any testers in Helios ?
If this is a .NET version, it should have been released first to some beta testers, which I believe many people offered to be.
I have swiftly uninstalled it and re-installed 4.7.3, which is the most stable version.
I just can't be bothered to guess what is not going to work next.
I'll come back when Helios have produced the REAL version.
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vhdeskchris
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:47 pm
Myth debunking time:-
1. It's not .Net - it uses the win32 toolbar and visual studio UI extensions. The whole thing is C/C++ still.
2. Intype is a rip off of TextMate. Not a very good or complete one either. TextMate however is good - better than TextPad but then again it's not much use to us Windows guys as it's for MacOS X.
3. Most PROFESSIONAL people prefer small incremental changes to large ones. Look at the differences between TP3 and TP4 (for those of us who've been around that long!). Most of the evolution of TextPad has been through changes from 4.0 to 4.7.3. TP 5.0 is an incremental change to TP 4.7.3 which provides a foundation to build the next version of textpad on.
4. Version 5.0 is pretty stable considering the breaking UI changes. Not something I would have liked to face to be honest! Well done Helios.
5. You can still make this look and behave like TP4.7.3 anyway.
1. It's not .Net - it uses the win32 toolbar and visual studio UI extensions. The whole thing is C/C++ still.
2. Intype is a rip off of TextMate. Not a very good or complete one either. TextMate however is good - better than TextPad but then again it's not much use to us Windows guys as it's for MacOS X.
3. Most PROFESSIONAL people prefer small incremental changes to large ones. Look at the differences between TP3 and TP4 (for those of us who've been around that long!). Most of the evolution of TextPad has been through changes from 4.0 to 4.7.3. TP 5.0 is an incremental change to TP 4.7.3 which provides a foundation to build the next version of textpad on.
4. Version 5.0 is pretty stable considering the breaking UI changes. Not something I would have liked to face to be honest! Well done Helios.
5. You can still make this look and behave like TP4.7.3 anyway.
Myth "bunking" time:
1. Does the user care whether you wrote your software in COBOL or Occam ?
2. Which myth are you debunking here, specifically ?
3. Most PROFESSIONAL people prefer packages to work as specified.
Most PROFESSIONAL people test their software.
Trying to sell an unfinished product is UNPROFESSIONAL.
4. TP5 is NOT stable by any standards. See the forums and count the bugs popping up, including crashes and garbling of the data.
5. Yeah, after much toil and aggro, without any help from Helios. The install shield should have taken care of all the issues.
3. Most PROFESSIONAL people prefer packages to work as specified.
Most PROFESSIONAL people test their software.
Trying to sell an unfinished product is UNPROFESSIONAL.
4. TP5 is NOT stable by any standards. See the forums and count the bugs popping up, including crashes and garbling of the data.
5. Yeah, after much toil and aggro, without any help from Helios. The install shield should have taken care of all the issues.
Finally,
I think TP4.7.3 is a very good text editor.
My point is that TP5 has been botched.
Until they clean up their act, I'm staying put.
1. Does the user care whether you wrote your software in COBOL or Occam ?
2. Which myth are you debunking here, specifically ?
3. Most PROFESSIONAL people prefer packages to work as specified.
Most PROFESSIONAL people test their software.
Trying to sell an unfinished product is UNPROFESSIONAL.
4. TP5 is NOT stable by any standards. See the forums and count the bugs popping up, including crashes and garbling of the data.
5. Yeah, after much toil and aggro, without any help from Helios. The install shield should have taken care of all the issues.
3. Most PROFESSIONAL people prefer packages to work as specified.
Most PROFESSIONAL people test their software.
Trying to sell an unfinished product is UNPROFESSIONAL.
4. TP5 is NOT stable by any standards. See the forums and count the bugs popping up, including crashes and garbling of the data.
5. Yeah, after much toil and aggro, without any help from Helios. The install shield should have taken care of all the issues.
Finally,
I think TP4.7.3 is a very good text editor.
My point is that TP5 has been botched.
Until they clean up their act, I'm staying put.