NoteTab
Encyclopedia
NoteTab is a freeware
/commercial text editor
for Windows
. It was developed by Eric Fookes of Fookes Software, Switzerland
. The program's name refers to the fact that it was one of the earliest text-editors capable of editing several open documents on different tabs (tabbed document interface). The first version, known as Mini NoteTab, was released in 1995; version 5 was released in 2006, version 5.7 in 2008, version 6 on May 4, 2009. Before version 5, the latest version of NoteTab Light was 4.95.
Some of the more unusual features are the "pasteboard", "outline documents", the "clipbook", "clipbars", counting of words/patterns, and powerful support for search and replace. Text can be searched using regular expression
s to match subpatterns and recombine the matched substrings in any order, such as reversing dates "May nn" as ("nn May").
The pasteboard is one of the most powerful (and unusual) features. The user chooses a document to "use as pasteboard". Thereafter, any text copied to the Windows clipboard is appended to the pasteboard document. The resulting combined text can then be used as any other text, and searched to reuse clippings from days or weeks ago.
Outline documents provide hyperlinked headings within a text document, which can be accessed directly by clicking in a side pane; the outline documents can be read in any editor.
NoteTab has its own macro language, called "Clip". The clipbook displays a library of clips (clickable macros) in a side pane. These could be anything from pieces of boilerplate text to HTML tags
to "mini-applications" complicated scripts written in the scripting language
. A selection of clip libraries is included with the software and others can be downloaded from the Web
.
Clipbars are user-defined buttons that appear on a toolbar, for example to execute custom scripts and wizards.
The search and replace features of NoteTab are much more powerful than most text editors, and include regular expressions and a hierarchical search/replace of text in folders on a disk drive. Since version 5.0, NoteTab uses Perl Compatible regular expressions powered by PCRE.
NoteTab integrates with such products as HTML Tidy, TopStyle, CSE HTML Validator and WordWeb.
There are 30-day trial versions available for Standard and Pro.
NoteTab Light is completely free for all users, with no time-limit, nag screen, appeals for donations, etc. It lacks some of the features of NoteTab Standard. For example, you can read Outline and EBCDIC files but not write them; the disk search facility is present but not disk replace; and the clipbars, customizable menu shortcuts, spell checker and thesaurus are not available. (These "commercial features" can be "turned on" once from within the software, and be used for up to 30 days.) However, these features are hardly indispensable for most purposes and NoteTab Light works perfectly well as a full-fledged editor. For this reason, the author of NoteTab rejects the description of NoteTab Light as crippleware
, and it is true that there are many less full-featured paid-for editors on the market.
NoteTab Standard includes, among other features:
NoteTab Pro adds, among others, multi-level undo/redo, syntax highlighting, show/hide nonprinting characters, wrap to column, and support for fixed-pitch OEM
fonts, as well as greater speed.
NoteTab only has syntax highlighting for HTML documents and NoteTab clip/scripts; and not for other languages.
s were incorporated starting with NoteTab Light 5.4. The general syntax of NoteTab regular expressions uses the same rules as Perl
.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
/commercial text editor
Text editor
A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. It was developed by Eric Fookes of Fookes Software, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The program's name refers to the fact that it was one of the earliest text-editors capable of editing several open documents on different tabs (tabbed document interface). The first version, known as Mini NoteTab, was released in 1995; version 5 was released in 2006, version 5.7 in 2008, version 6 on May 4, 2009. Before version 5, the latest version of NoteTab Light was 4.95.
Features
NoteTab's tabbed interface can simultaneously handle an unlimited number of text files up to 2Gb in size. It is highly customizable, with more than 90 commands available on a user-configurable toolbar.Some of the more unusual features are the "pasteboard", "outline documents", the "clipbook", "clipbars", counting of words/patterns, and powerful support for search and replace. Text can be searched using regular expression
Regular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
s to match subpatterns and recombine the matched substrings in any order, such as reversing dates "May nn" as ("nn May").
The pasteboard is one of the most powerful (and unusual) features. The user chooses a document to "use as pasteboard". Thereafter, any text copied to the Windows clipboard is appended to the pasteboard document. The resulting combined text can then be used as any other text, and searched to reuse clippings from days or weeks ago.
Outline documents provide hyperlinked headings within a text document, which can be accessed directly by clicking in a side pane; the outline documents can be read in any editor.
NoteTab has its own macro language, called "Clip". The clipbook displays a library of clips (clickable macros) in a side pane. These could be anything from pieces of boilerplate text to HTML tags
HTML element
An HTML element is an individual component of an HTML document. HTML documents are composed of a tree of HTML elements and other nodes, such as text nodes. Each element can have attributes specified. Elements can also have content, including other elements and text. HTML elements represent...
to "mini-applications" complicated scripts written in the scripting language
Scripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
. A selection of clip libraries is included with the software and others can be downloaded from the Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
.
Clipbars are user-defined buttons that appear on a toolbar, for example to execute custom scripts and wizards.
The search and replace features of NoteTab are much more powerful than most text editors, and include regular expressions and a hierarchical search/replace of text in folders on a disk drive. Since version 5.0, NoteTab uses Perl Compatible regular expressions powered by PCRE.
NoteTab integrates with such products as HTML Tidy, TopStyle, CSE HTML Validator and WordWeb.
Light, Standard, and Pro
The software exists in three forms:- NoteTab Light (formerly Super NoteTab) (freeware)
- NoteTab Standard ($20)
- NoteTab Pro ($30)
There are 30-day trial versions available for Standard and Pro.
NoteTab Light is completely free for all users, with no time-limit, nag screen, appeals for donations, etc. It lacks some of the features of NoteTab Standard. For example, you can read Outline and EBCDIC files but not write them; the disk search facility is present but not disk replace; and the clipbars, customizable menu shortcuts, spell checker and thesaurus are not available. (These "commercial features" can be "turned on" once from within the software, and be used for up to 30 days.) However, these features are hardly indispensable for most purposes and NoteTab Light works perfectly well as a full-fledged editor. For this reason, the author of NoteTab rejects the description of NoteTab Light as crippleware
Crippleware
In economics, a damaged good is a good that has been deliberately limited in performance, quality or utility, typically for marketing reasons as part of a strategy of product differentiation.-Computer software:Deliberately limited programs are usually freeware versions of computer programs that...
, and it is true that there are many less full-featured paid-for editors on the market.
NoteTab Standard includes, among other features:
- disk search/replace (i.e., change the contents of files without opening them)
- customizable menuMenu (computing)In computing and telecommunications, a menu is a list of commands presented to an operator by a computer or communications system. A menu is used in contrast to a command-line interface, where instructions to the computer are given in the form of commands .Choices given from a menu may be selected...
shortcuts - read and write EBCDICEBCDICExtended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code is an 8-bit character encoding used mainly on IBM mainframe and IBM midrange computer operating systems....
files - text templates
- text-to-HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
conversion, and tag-stripping - regular expressionRegular expressionIn computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
handling, including multiline regex - search/replace tokens, for simple tasks that would otherwise require regex
NoteTab Pro adds, among others, multi-level undo/redo, syntax highlighting, show/hide nonprinting characters, wrap to column, and support for fixed-pitch OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
fonts, as well as greater speed.
Limitations
NoteTab does not currently include support for Unicode documents.NoteTab only has syntax highlighting for HTML documents and NoteTab clip/scripts; and not for other languages.
System requirements
- WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 - 4 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
of free diskspace - 16 MB of RAM (32 MB for NT)
NoteTab regular expressions
Regular expressionRegular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
s were incorporated starting with NoteTab Light 5.4. The general syntax of NoteTab regular expressions uses the same rules as Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
.
External links
- NoteTab homepage
- Fookes Software
- User Forums: Basic, Clips (see the files section of the Clips forum for most recent user-contributed Clip Libraries)
- Clipwriter 3rd-Party Utility