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Version 9 has been around for over a year and has had several updates, so I thought it was time to try it again.

I backed up everything I could think of, took screenshots, took a deep breath and installed version 9 (freshly downloaded 9.4.1).
Here is my initial feedback...

-- A --
The TextPad window is all BLUE!
I worked out that this was due to a new theme/skin, so I tried the light one.
The light theme is worse -- everything is washed out (and still showing an oddly dark status bar).
There needs to be a "Windows" theme, that is between dark blue and washed out.

-- B --
The document tabs are not really tabs.
They are all rectangular and so all merge into a single line of text.
Either return to the tabs with the rounded tops, add borders or add a few pixels of a contrasting colour (not just the background!) between each tab.

-- C --
My carefully crafted custom toolbars have been expunged, eradicated, lost.
There needs to be a "once-only, no-going-back" conversion utility.

-- D --
The toolbars need have to have borders, configurable background colours or maybe a shadow.

-- E --
With the "Default" skin, the border between the tab groups should be dark to match the border between the tab groups and the Document selector.

-- F --
The "off" indicators on the status bar need to almost any other colour than pale blue against the dark blue (for the "Default" skin) or pale grey against slightly darker pale grey (for the "Light" skin).

-- G --
Switching workspaces via a command line script or via a desktop shortcut now asks to confirm "..save changes to the workspace?". There needs to be an option to disable this as a simple switch to another workspace and straight back again is now interrupted by two "save?" prompts. Switching workspaces within TextPad does not ask for a confirmation.

-- H --
Loading a new workspace will (sometimes??) incorrectly display the panes -- vertical panes are restored as horizontal.

-- J --
Switching workspaces will minimize TextPad if the option is set to minimize TextPad when closing the last file. Version 8 didn't.

-- K --
In the Preferences dialog box > Associated files, the list of suffixes and their file type should be in two columns. Like Preferences > Folders.

-- L --
The meaning of WindowTileVert has changed. It used to create panes for all of the files. There does not seem to be a WindowTileAll.. option now.

-- M --
WindowCascade displays the last file that was put into a new pane, not the file that is currently selected.

-- N --
Having set the Document selector to be a tabbed document, there seems to be no way to set it back to being a sidebar.

-- P --
The "Manage history lists" dialog box is resizable, but the contents do not resize.

-- Q --
Dragging a document tab to the left side of a pane, no longer splits the pane. Only a drag to the right side works.


A, B, D, E, F -- all theme design issues
C -- anticipated, sadness, move on
G, H, J -- workspace issues
K, P -- dialog box issues
L, N, P, Q -- GUI issue
M -- minor bug

I haven't studied version 9 to the depth you have, but I agree that the colours aren't ideal. Neither the light nor the dark theme supports my eyes. I have many overlapping document windows open, and I need to be able to see at a glance which is the active document. I find this difficult with version 9, as the colour of the document window surround doesn’t change when it's activated.

I also was wary of losing my favourite configuration. So before installing version 9 I saved the entire version 8 installation. I've done this with several releases of version 9, but the problems (for me) remain, and I'm back to version 8.

I have been using TextPad since version 3 (1998??) and it has been – and still is – central to my daily work, so small details really do matter to me.

I tried version 9 when it was first released, over a year ago, and reverted back to version 8 the same day.
I had faith that a year would be enough to fix the major issues and so felt that I should try again.

Some of the functional changes are much appreciated and I have worked around most of the negative issues that I listed.
However, the theme/skin/colour issues (A, B, D) are real killers, so I will probably have to roll back again.

-- R --
The Save configuration command does not save the /Preferences/Appearance value. Closing TextPad does.

I have logged associated Enhancement Suggestions:

D — #13920 — Adjust toolbar colour (v9.4)
B — #13921 — Adjust document tabs (v9.4)
E — #13922 — Pane gutter colour (v9.4)
F — #13923 — Indicator colour (v9.4)
G — #13924 — Disable "Save workspace?" prompt (v9.4)

I have logged these as bugs:
H — #13925 — Bug (v9.4) Workspace sometimes incorrectly restores tab groups
M — #13926 — Bug (v9.4) WindowCascade() displays the wrong file
P — #13927 — Bug (v9.4) Manage history lists - dialog box resize
Q — #13928 — Bug (v9.4) Split pane left no longer possible
R — #13929 — Bug (v9.4) Save configuration command not complete