Still As Life

One of the things I have found the most difficult getting used to on my MacBook Pro is the lack of a Notepad alternative on OS X. Sure you have TextEdit, and VIM, but neither of them are really what I'm after.

I basically use Notepad on Windows as a form of post-it note taking. If I have to copy a few things from various places, they all go into Notepad temporarily and so on. It's quick to open, quick to save, and takes up almost no RAM.

TextEdit, while it is fairly quick, it just feels too bulky for my liking, maybe I'm just too picky. It does a lot more than Notepad though, perhaps that has something to do with it, I'm not sure.

VIM is hardly worth mentioning since you have to access the command line to run it and it's slightly painful to use the way I want to use it.

However, I have found the most useful invention since post-it notes and computers. Post-it notes on my OS X desktop!

I have no idea how I overlooked them so many times as they are quite obvious in the applications folder. They are widgets labeled as "Stickies" and their icon is clearly yellow post-it notes.

This is an awesome idea, there is probably something similar available for Windows, though I have never had reason to look so I couldn't say for certain. On OS X though, they greatly complement the "Spaces", based on the multiple desktops idea in X11. I can have as many post-it notes as I want on my desktop and they take up virtually no RAM and thus having a virtually negligible effect on system performance, they don't get in the way, and they can contain code without it affecting anything or attempting to render it.

Or, as I mentioned, they complement the Spaces in OS X, so I can have a second desktop screen and use it entirely for post-it notes. How awesome is that? If I feel the need, I can change the formatting of the text and so on, but there are no bulky controls like in some other things.

I love it.

Labels: software