MetroTextual - Spirit of the notepad known as Bend

Granted, it has been almost two years past, but in August of 2010, a refreshing -- nay, sexy! -- Windows notepad appeared on the scene. The name was “Bend”.

Bending “Bend” and Related Miscellanea - Grand Stream Dreams blog

We all wanted to date her. It was seriously hot…though in hindsight the interface now seems very Windows 8’ish.

In that post, I happened to describe how I worked out how to snag the binary set once it was installed and have tucked it away. I still use Bend from time to time, despite the fact the project was quickly removed from CodePlex by the author after it had made a big splash.

My love for this application never has waned. Even after two years I still have fond memories of our time riding bikes and picnicking together in Central Park during the zombie outbreak of 2010. Then it disappeared and I have been running wistful Google searches every so often hoping I would find you again.

Alas, it is not to be.

But I was surprised to find a new park-time favorite that reminds me of the way Bend’s hair would blow in the breeze.

MetroTextual - Metro UI Text Editor - SingularLabs

Seriously, you guys (& gals?) at SingularLabs are rock stars!

MetroTextual has the same slick style of Bend and does come with some neat features.

1. several supported syntax highlighting styles,; C#, XML, HTML, JavaScript, VBScript, CSS, Python, SQL and Assembly language.  Based on Scintilla, it will auto-select based on extension of file being edited.
2. change the application style color/borders to some common Windows 8 theme colors
3. multi-thread and Unicode support.
4. application window always on top of desktop option.

Sadly missing on our first date:

1. More controlled line numbering like Bend (and many other notepad editors). Line numbering is present on the left border, but you need to drop the text formatting into another syntax mode to get it. On regular “default” formatting mode, there are no line numbers.
2. font changing (to select something like Consolas perhaps)
3. Tabbed file support. Unlike Bend and other notepad editors, MetroTextual seems to open each new file in a new windows session and not a tab. For those of us with limited screen display real-estate, having an “open in a new tab” option for the same application window is valuable.
4. No internal “version/about” or “check for updates” options to confirm what version you are running. Version I am using above is 1.0.1 released 07/23/2012 according to the download page.

And yes, be aware, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (or newer) must be installed for MetroTextual to run on your Windows 7 or Windows 8 system.

So, go download MetroTextual over at SingularLabs right now.

Now…to be clear…I will be using this for quick text saving/editing.

My notepad workhorse still remains Notepad++ and the feature set it brings for extended text editing and manipulation remains unchallenged. No comparison.  If they were motorbikes, MetroTextual would be more of a Vespa to Notepad++’s café-runner looks and functionality.

Additional heavier-duty notepad alternatives I recommend are:

• Notepad2 - flo’s freeware
• EditPad Lite - Free Text Editor for Windows
• Sublime Text - The text editor you'll fall in love with
• editor PSPad - freeware HTML editor, PHP editor, XHTML, JavaScript, ASP, Perl, C, HEX editor
• FluentNotepad RC - by ~SalvoG92 on deviantART
• Others include TextPad, ConTEXT, EditPad Lite, Crimson editor, metapad, LopeEdit, and EmEditor.

Cheers!

Claus V.