While I don't personally have a reason to use this, I'm sure a lot of people will find it quite useful.
One suggestion though, the user should be able to select their own URL if possible, and if they want to. I know it'll pose some security risks, but having a totally ridiculous address is going to make your notepad less than memorable.
There is a link to change the URL below the notepad. It validates and confirms that the name isn't taken and then renames your notepad and redirects you.
Alternately, you can just visit any URL you want and (as long as it's available) start using it.
Currently, if you add a + to the end of any URL it will switch to a monospace font.
I like that its impossibly simple, but I've thought about adding some more filters like that.
I might also just add support for cmd-b and cmd-i to make the font italic, but right now it's actually just a styled textarea. If only -webkit-user-modify was already supported outside Webkit :(
While I have seen this done several times before, this is the first time it has been done with a clean interface and limited options... making this the clear winner already.
I can definitely see myself using this in the future. It has a very similar feel to dropbox in that it "just works". If you need some support developing an iPhone/iPod/iPad app for it, which I think would be a great idea, I would be happy to lend a hand.
pretty simple, i like simple user interfaces. one thing that kind of sux is that you have to manually erase everything in the canvas if you want to start a new document. would be nice to add something to the effect of "start new txt". noticed that with a new tab, it seems to save the session data.
need to fix the multi-document feature. otherwise i like it, "share" rather than save. abstraction of the storage layer is great, i don't even want to know where it's stored, just give me access.
The idea was sot of just that you go back to notepad.cc (the index) to get a new auto-generated URL, and then you have two that you can edit. "Start a new doc" is just notepad.cc, or creating one in on the fly by just going to the URL you want.
In that regard, your browser offers multi-document support (via tabs or bookmarks, or delicious, whatever you use to remember the URLs).
You could still make a notepad.cc/new link and call it "Start new doc." The /new page just does the same thing as main index page (i.e. creates a new page and forwards to a new url).
Great job jacob. It's very clean and straight-forward. I like how it instantly creates a shareable url. I've been working on a similar (though not exact) concept on the side for a few months now. Demo: http://bulletxt.com/demo
I really like how you can add a password in a non-intrusive way. I mean, it doesn't force you to use it but when you need it, it's really easy to add one :)
And by the way, when I want to save things for myself, I hacked a little snippet:
my-ip/whatever-category-1/category-2/whatever i wanna save
-> And it saves it. I can then access it on my-ip : )
It looks neat, and is the sort of thing I both wish I'd thought of first, and wish had the source available so I could run it (for myself) on my own server. This would be a lot better than my current solution for saving scraps of code, notes, or other digital ephemera, but most of that I can't put on someone else's storage.
I'd thought about etherpad, but it seemed too busy to switch from my current Editpad setup. The UI on notepad.cc is fantastic, and it's a great idea, so I'm thinking about whether this itch should be scratched a second (third, fourth, infinite?) time where I code it and the release the source, since that's a "feature" I'd like to see.
Jakob, you did a great job. A couple of suggestions.
1. Make it visible when the text cannot be saved. Nobody wants to lose his work because of Wi-Fi glitch. In my version of notepad I implemented this with a light yellow frame around the textarea. I'm sure there's a better way to do it.
2. Imagine you could type a note into an address bar, hit Enter and have it added to your notepad. It's easy to implement, and it works really great for saving page URLs. Here's how I did it with a similar service of mine. Define a keyword search (e.g. "g hello world" - Google Search, "s hello world" - add a note), in Opera it's trivial - right-click the text area, select Create Search, and pick a keyword, I guess in other browsers it's doable too. The POST request carries the name of the page and a note to be added. It might sound simple, obvious, useless, but try it and there's a chance you'll love it.
3. List of my pages in the sidebar. Like, when I prefix my pages with "alisey." they go to the sidebar. E.g alisey.links, alisey.snippets.
In fact, for a high-latency connection like mine, it'd be nice to have one color to mean "trying to save" and another meaning "failed to save". Or maybe copy Gmail's "server request pending, are you sure you want to navigate away?" pop-up.
So, I tell here what I am looking for: maybe someone will find it interesting and want to implement that.
I have android phone and few linux desktop. I want to be able to record notes (simple unformatted text is good) and maybe even voice recording on my phone and have them appear via widget on my desktop transparently.
There are webapp that kind of let you do something at least remotely similar (oi notes, astrid, springpad, evernote) but none of them offer a good set of API that would allow me to have a transparent client.
68 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 146 ms ] threadOne suggestion though, the user should be able to select their own URL if possible, and if they want to. I know it'll pose some security risks, but having a totally ridiculous address is going to make your notepad less than memorable.
Alternately, you can just visit any URL you want and (as long as it's available) start using it.
Great job!
Some basic formatting support would be awesome too.
I like that its impossibly simple, but I've thought about adding some more filters like that.
I might also just add support for cmd-b and cmd-i to make the font italic, but right now it's actually just a styled textarea. If only -webkit-user-modify was already supported outside Webkit :(
How long does it retain the note once you close it?
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI
As a developer though I prefer http://gist.github.com
What you consider to be the main use cases for notepad.cc?
I went and immediately tried it on my iPad. Unfortunately, the links don't show up when I pull up the page there. (The text does autosave though.)
need to fix the multi-document feature. otherwise i like it, "share" rather than save. abstraction of the storage layer is great, i don't even want to know where it's stored, just give me access.
In that regard, your browser offers multi-document support (via tabs or bookmarks, or delicious, whatever you use to remember the URLs).
And by the way, when I want to save things for myself, I hacked a little snippet:
my-ip/whatever-category-1/category-2/whatever i wanna save -> And it saves it. I can then access it on my-ip : )
Time for me to get coding, then, I suppose? :)
Is it possible to get the files sync to dropbox? may be through dropbox api?
But what I really wanted to say: there's a link to http://www.tumblr.com/?notepad that's kind of dead (?)
(written frm samsng impct)
1. Make it visible when the text cannot be saved. Nobody wants to lose his work because of Wi-Fi glitch. In my version of notepad I implemented this with a light yellow frame around the textarea. I'm sure there's a better way to do it.
2. Imagine you could type a note into an address bar, hit Enter and have it added to your notepad. It's easy to implement, and it works really great for saving page URLs. Here's how I did it with a similar service of mine. Define a keyword search (e.g. "g hello world" - Google Search, "s hello world" - add a note), in Opera it's trivial - right-click the text area, select Create Search, and pick a keyword, I guess in other browsers it's doable too. The POST request carries the name of the page and a note to be added. It might sound simple, obvious, useless, but try it and there's a chance you'll love it.
3. List of my pages in the sidebar. Like, when I prefix my pages with "alisey." they go to the sidebar. E.g alisey.links, alisey.snippets.
If you hover to the right of the text box, a sidebar with basic formatting options appear.
I have android phone and few linux desktop. I want to be able to record notes (simple unformatted text is good) and maybe even voice recording on my phone and have them appear via widget on my desktop transparently.
There are webapp that kind of let you do something at least remotely similar (oi notes, astrid, springpad, evernote) but none of them offer a good set of API that would allow me to have a transparent client.
I really like the iPhone app but I don't think it has any other native apps.