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A Text Editor Truly Is A Blogger’s Friend
From Lorelle VanFossen’s excellent advice on using a text editor when blogging I drew inspiration, so subsequently downloaded NoteTab, which is, in my humble opinion, the Firefox of text editing. It’s very, very easy to use and features tabs. I adore this. I mean, tabs have to be the best invention on the computer. I remember when I was eleven or so and my mother put a limit of 3 programs open. *snickers* If only I knew about Firefox then...
Anyway, I have a couple text files stored in my purple-anger.org folder on my computer (wish it was more organised…that should be a new year’s resolution) and transferring back and forth is a breeze. Best of all, NoteTab has a very powerful feature that’s somewhat like a WYSIWYG editor stripped down: you click open HTML document, and it pops up a wizard thing where you can choose a DTD, add meta tags, and a title. I don’t design static sites anymore (seriously, who does anymore? Using a CMS is much easier) but I always have a few notepad windows open when I’m designing and throwing together a new layout so this will definitely come in. You can format NoteTab to auto-generate tags as XHTML by going to View » Options » HTML Files and checking Create XHTML tags.
I’ve a couple things planned out for Blog365 and have THAT saved as a text file, Post Ideas. Another, Post Notes, which is a file for notes on the post itself - e.g., links involved, outlines, etc. - but turns into a sandbox for posts later on. I also have a couple others, the one that keeps growing is the Entries to Comment On in others’ blogs, obviously.
To choose an AutoSave option, where NoteTab automatically saves your documents every x minutes, go to View » Options » File and check Automatic Save. You can change the time interval or keep it as the default, 10. To change the font setting, which I’ve done for my crappy vision, go to View » Options » Document and click the Font button. I’ll post more NoteTab tips as I find them.
Posted by Bobby McGee
Comments
Good luck finding NoteTab tips. I've been looking.
Here is a few to get you started that work with blogs.
View > Clipbar > HTML-1 to add a toolbar with basic HTML functions. Edit by Right Clicking on the clipbar to change the <b> to <strong> and <i> to <em> to keep it WordPress friendly since the other styles have been deprecated and few WordPress Themes use them. Don't use the HTML wizard. Not necessary, as you said.
Tools > Clipbook Properties to open the clipbook and place the sidebar on one side or the other. I prefer the right side as I have a list of the open posts in the left panel. There are a TON of different Clipbook Libraries you can download from the NoteTab site which may help you. I've found that the AutoCorrect Library is a lifesaver.
To add a Clip to the library, Right Click on the sidebar and choose Add Clip. A menu will pop up asking for a name. Name it something very simple - for this example, how about WP. In the blank text file that opens, type in the whole link, with tag, for WordPress:
WordPress
Save it, and then close that Clip file. WP will now appear in your AutoCorrect Library (if that is where you added it. If Auto-replace is activated (Right Click), when you type WP, it will put in the whole URL tag for you when you hit the space bar.
Think of all the links and things you repeated put into your blog! Make little shortcuts so when you type the abbreviation or phrase, it spells it out for you automatically. Ain't that great?
Actually, I should write up my own list of tips as I've been using this for over three years and love it. Thanks for the kick in the butt and let me know what fun tips you come up with. There's a lot I'd like to do with this program that I'm still having to work harder than easier to make it do. But there is so much that I can do, those are minor things.
Oh, this is something I might have to download, too. Sounds like a very handy piece of software. Thanks for the heads up!
Also, I'm sorry you are feeling sore... :-(
Lorelle: Thanks for the tips. The clip thing seems definitely helpful since I do use quite a bit of links and phrases that I reference to on a regular basis. You mentioned it in your entry on NoteTab but didn't say how to utilise it.
I have to disagree on the changing of <b> to strong and <i> to em. True, it's deprecated and not used as prevalently any more but em and strong sound different on a screen reader - mine, anyway - and <b> and <i> are quick style tags. My site validates as XHTML 1.0 Strict so I don't use deprecated elements, I let the CSS handle all the styling. The comments page is Transitional only for the format bar.
I don't use WP for this blog any more but I use it on a couple other blogs and actually just got done designing a theme today. I love WordPress' community, but I also love the EE community, and contribute regularly. I've found that while I can do anything I want in WP, it takes serious work on my part and I'm a lazy ass. So, I started on EE Core and recently bought a Personal licence and have never looked back. Though, I do love both CMS's, my favourite as a developer is EE. However, I'd never get as comfortable as I am with PHP without WordPress...so, yeah, both CMS's rock, and not every project works with WP or EE.
Bella: Yep, NoteTab is extremely helpful and I've really gotten more organised with it. It's amazing. It's a free download, too and takes up little space and memory, even with many tabs open. It's a kick-ass program for freeware, I have to say.
And, I'm not feeling sore any more. Yay!
Personally, I prefer B and I instead of Strong and EM, but we're stuck with the fact that B and I are no longer supposed to be used. If I were in change of things...ah, the world would be a better place.
To make a Clip for redundant code and links, open the Clipbook Library (I usually switch to the AutoCorrect Library for these) and Right Click > Add New Clip.
In the popup window, type in the shortcut name, like wpo for WordPress.org.
In the document that opens, type in the link to WordPress.com, with all the HTML and code. Save the clip, close the clip document, and the shortcut should appear in your Clip Library list at the top.
In a document file, type wpo and hit space, ", comma, or any other sentence element and wpo will turn automatically into the full link to WordPress - or whatever you want it to be.
I've done a series of articles that I'll publish on "Lorelle on WordPress" in over a week on using NoteTab. I'll be looking for you to add some more to the collection!
PS: Your Comment function is giving me errors and this is the fourth time I've tried to post this comment. Might want to look into that. Won't tell me what the errors are, but it's really frustrating.
Hey Lorelle, I apologise about the comment thing.
I checked everything. Weird that it's giving you problems. But I added your IP to the whitelist so that if for some odd reason it was because of something you wrote (I have a pretty lengthly and strong blacklist going), EE will always mark your comments as allowed.
Comment hassles are extremely annoying, and once again I offer my most sincerest condolences.
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