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Ask HN: Is there a site that is just a text scratchpad?

39 points by leros ↗ HN
I'm looking for a site that is basically just a text editor. It doesn't need to save, support multiple files, etc. I just want to type in xyz.com and copy/paste some text. Google Docs is too complicated and slow to load.

Does something like this exist?

68 comments

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skyyler
pastebin.com is what I use for this. I'm curious if there's something more lightweight out there.
pwg
What is the intended purpose that is not supported by a local text editor (i.e., notepad if on windows)?
leros
- Staying within my workflow. I'm already in a browser and I want to save a few thoughts. I can type xyz.com and write a few words without context switching. Opening a notepad app would make me context switch enough to lose flow state.

- Having a single, always open file. Something like notepad would require me to open the app and then open a particular file. Again, too much effort.

jasonjmcghee
This is a good example of what https://lazy.so is trying to solve. I'm sure there are others I'm not aware of.
leros
Looks interesting. I'll keep an eye on it.

FYI, the site took about 10 seconds to load which isn't an ideal situation.

jasonjmcghee
I have no ties to this app, just have been seeing it around.

Fwiw that's just the landing page, almost positive it's a downloadable application.

pwg
> I can type xyz.com and write a few words without context switching.

But you have context switched there -- you had to open either a new tab or new window, and type "xyz.com" (or hit a bookmark) or replace your current page. So you had to context switch there as well.

> Opening a notepad app would make me context switch enough to lose flow state.

No less than the context switch of having to open another tab/window and type "xyz.com" or replace the current page.

> Having a single, always open file. Something like notepad would require me to open the app and then open a particular file.

Notepad (nor most other editors) does not require an always open file. Notepad (and others) work just fine to type into as transient storage with no backing files at all. The most you get is an "unsaved data" prompt when you have decided to close the window.

But if you really want this to be "in a browser" you don't need an "xyz.com" at all. All you need is a minimal html file with a textarea tag inside. I.e., this minimal html file below (hopefully this comes through):

<textarea cols="80" rows="25">

Plus, opening a local file will be your absolute fastest way to get your preferred "in browser" editor open.

tomcam
Do you mind explaining how you use such a site, and if any of the other suggestions here worked? If it's because you want to paste clipboard contents without formatting maybe you don't know about Ctrl+Shift+V (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+V (Mac) which does that for you.
leros
I'm trying to offload a thought from my brain in the least amount of effort possible, so I can let the thought go, knowing I can come back to it later. Least amount of effort possible is so I can write the note without losing my current thought process as I'm very easily distracted.

In my ideal world, I'd type in xyz.com and it would have a blank text area I can type a few words into. Then going back to xyz.com would still have that data in the text area.

Tools like Notion are too heavy and would tempt me into taking proper notes.

Things like a notepad app on my desktop require too much context switching. I have to leave the browser, open notepad, etc

A blank Google doc isn't a bad solution, except it takes a bit of time to load and then I end up with lots of little abandoned note docs in my Google Drive.

Literally a site with a text area that saves the text to local storage would be perfect. Maybe it supports Markdown.

jez
Your favorite note taking apps probably have registered a domain name in the .new TLD

If you like secretly like Google Docs but just don’t want to have to go though Drive to make a new doc: https://doc.new or https://docs.new

If you want to use GitHub Gist: https://gist.new

Similarly https://paper.new for Dropbox Paper

Also definitely not a good idea in general, but I found https://md.new by guess and check. I can’t vouch for the site itself but it might be just the tool you’re looking for?

(I’ve prefixed all these with https:// so HN will linkify them but in your browser’s address bar you can usually omit that to make it more convenient)

n4r9
This is pretty much exactly what I use Sublime Text for. On windows I just have to type the windows key, "sub", and enter. Then it pops up with my todo list and various notes. I can open a new tab to jot a thought down. The notes persist despite closing the application and restarting the computer, even without saving to disk.
derefr
If you're on macOS, have you tried Stickies?

Specifically, are you aware of the ⌘⇧Y hotkey for turning any selected text in a focused application into a new sticky note?

If so, have you considered typing your note into your browser's address bar, highlighting it, and then using said hotkey?

justsomehnguy
> Things like a notepad app on my desktop require too much context switching. I have to leave the browser, open notepad, etc

I use Notepad++ for that. The only time it's not running is when the computer after a fresh restart. Alt+Tab, Ctrl+N, type.

Autosave works 99% of times.

CrypticShift
If you are satisfied with absolutely zero features, just enter this in the address bar (+ save it as a bookmark)

   data:text/html, <html contenteditable>
Works at least in chromium based + Firefox
leros
That's pretty darn good. If it only saved the data so I could open it again and see my note, it would be perfect.
CrypticShift
If you want something that saves + local, you need an extension. This one comes to mind (chromium) https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/papier/hhjeaokafpl...
adamredwoods
If one only needs a scratch pad, localStorage works. Just save this to a file and load the file into Chrome:

  <html contenteditable="true"><body></body></html>
  <script>
      const a=localStorage.getItem('saved-text-data');
      document.querySelector('body').innerHTML=a;
      setInterval(()=>{localStorage.setItem('saved-text-data', document.querySelector('body').innerHTML);}, 2000);
  </script>
leros
I just about considered buying a short domain and putting this code up on there
leros
This is the winner. Opening a new tab is the lightest weight action. Thanks for suggesting it!
adamredwoods
File: Save-page-as

Then, re-open the file in Chrome. Re-save as needed.

EDIT: Looks like you can even drag-n-drop images and URLs into it.

pwg
You've changed your requirements here vs. your initial post:

Note from your original post: "It doesn't need to save,".

jesushax
TIL about the contenteditable attribute, which it turns out can be used on arbitrary elements to make them editable!

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_att...

You seem like a really cool person!

blacksmith_tb
That made me think... it should be pretty easy to set that attribute on every element in the DOM (overkill, but then it makes every piece of text on the page editable, poof!) I can imagine giving that to not-too-technical users to play with changing things on a page - as long as they could paste a one-liner into the dev console:

document.querySelectorAll('*').forEach(function(node){node.setAttribute('contentEditable','true')});

personjerry
Editable content also supports rich text copy-and-paste, so you can literally control+c a portion of a site and control+v into a content-editable, and it will look exactly how it did on the other site :D
jcparkyn
Bonus tip: set `display: block` on a style tag and add `contenteditable`, then users can even edit your page styles in real-time.
paulcole
When I used to demo sites to clients, before the meeting started, I’d go into the inspector and set body to be contenteditable.

That way I could edit text while they talked and at the end of the meeting I’d just do a full-page screenshot.

The problem with letting non-technical users have at it is that they don’t realize it’s temporary.

davidbanham
Just before you get too far down the content-editable-is-amazeballs rabbit hole I have to have a quick talk with you.

Sadly, the cross browser support situation is pretty flaky. In practice this means you’ll find a lot of variance in the user input you get depending on which browser it’s coming from. Makes it really difficult to keep styling consistent or parse the content of it.

Sadly this is one of those times we can’t have nice things.

amadeuspagel
Even better:

   data:text/html, <html contenteditable autofocus>
nameless_me
OMG, I've lived this long and used the web without knowing about this. <bowing>
rnoorda
Second this- it's my go-to when I just need some quick notes that won't be saved. I've thought about making a version with little markdown helps like automatic bulleting, but I like the simplicity as-is.
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Oxidation
I realise it's not a solution that you want to use, but I have a global hotkey set for launching or focusing a preferred text editor: Windows + Shift + E.

You can even have a special hotkey for opening a specific file.

The big advantage for me there is that you get real text editor, not just a browser text box and I can delete lines with "dd" like God intended.

abrax3141
But if you use a gdoc you can access it from anywhere (incl offline) and it’s always up to date a version controlled. For me that’s enough additional value to be worth a bit of a speed hit.
Slackwise
I use HackMD, which supports Markdown and various other plain-text formats, including LaTeX, Mermaid, GraphViz, etc:

https://hackmd.io/c/tutorials/%2Fs%2Ffeatures

For your use case, it saves files immediately as you type them. It's also collaborative and can sync to GitHub.

As an extra bonus, optional Vim and Emacs keybindings are built right in.

cornstalks
More features than you asked for, but I’ve enjoyed https://stackedit.io/app#

If you’re not using Markdown though then I wouldn’t use it. But for those needing a quick Markdown tool, it’s been great

jose-cl
Loved editpad.org when was minimal, but sadly now is more sophisticated
ghghgfdfgh
The simplest one I know of is https://textarea.online, which I use when I want to get some thought down without waiting for some word processing application to open. It's just a simple <textarea> HTML element with a monospace font.

My only issue with it is that it does not allow you to scroll down if the text fills up the screen; my way of fixing this is removing the "overflow" CSS property with my browser developer tools.

ikornaselur
My goto one is https://zenpen.io - very minimal UI, just let's me focus on writing something down, with basic features such as bold and italics
leros
This is good and the domain is short and easy to remember.
adamredwoods
Just to note, you can write this site yourself as a file, load in Chrome, and it will load/save to localStorage:

  <html contenteditable="true"><body></body></html>
  <script>
      const a=localStorage.getItem('saved-text-data');
      document.querySelector('body').innerHTML=a;
      setInterval(()=>{localStorage.setItem('saved-text-data', document.querySelector('body').innerHTML);}, 2000);
  </script>
It will save images as links, URLs, and you can bookmark it.
codazoda
Oooh, I built one of those.

This is just a textarea. Edits are saved to local storage. You have 10 “files”.

https://ponder.joeldare.com/app

leros
I love this. I question whether the 10 files is too complex or a brilliant feature. I've been thinking about building something similar and I don't know the answer.
quickthrower2
For that, I usually just use the built in editor of the OS. On iPhone use notes
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