A few days ago, I wrote a little complaint about Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, and said that I probably was going to stop using most Adobe products eventually because of their high price and my lack of intelligence to be able to figure out how to use all the features properly. One specific thing I mentioned was that I was going to switch from Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 to Notepad++.
Yesterday, I got an opportunity download and try out Notepad++, and so far, I have to say that it’s better than Adobe Dreamweaver.
The most obvious advantage of using Notepad++ is that it starts up much faster. Normally, when I open Adobe Dreamweaver, I’m afraid to close it because the next time I need it, I have to wait another half minute for it to start up. Eventually, it becomes bothersome and just another icon sitting and rotting in my task bar. However, Notepad++ takes a few seconds to start up, and I’m not afraid to close it, because I know that when I need it again, it’ll be ready in a matter of seconds.
Something else that makes me less hesitant to close it is the Session Restore feature. Using my situation as an example, the pages that I edit the most are my blog’s index, the included footer file, and the article directory. I can keep those open when I close the program, and the next time I open the program, those tabs are automatically opened along with the program. The best part is, using this feature doesn’t slow down the start-up process at all (or if it does, it’s not at all noticeable).
The best thing about Notepad++ is the possibility to use plug-ins. Although a lot of them seem a little unnecessary, one that I like that I am using now is one called FTP Synchronize. It opens a tiny integrated FTP client inside Notepad++, and you can navigate your FTP server using Notepad++. When you find a file that you want to edit, you can double click on it and Notepad++ will download it, cache it, and open it up. When you’re done editing the file, you can hit the Save button and Notepad++ will automatically save the cached version with the changes, and then upload the new version to the FTP server, effectively updating the version on the FTP server as well.
Of course, there’s a possibility that Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 also came with a session restoration feature and an FTP integration feature, but even if it did, I was not able to find it in the months that I used the software. As for the other features provided by Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, I never really knew what they were, or that they even existed.
Parkzer.com is now an official user of Notepad++, and as far as I’m concerned, Notepad++ should be renamed to Notepad+++++++++++++++.
Quote of the Day
A customer at our business approaches me with five one-dollar bills and says,
“Could you break this into singles?”
What I’m Watching
Yesterday, I watched
Timeline, a movie about both archeology and time travel.
The movie begins at an archaeological dig site where a group of people find a note asking for help written by someone from the modern day, but with ink that was carbon-dated to be over 600 years old. After doing some investigations, the archaeologists find out that a professor used a time machine to go back into the 1300s, and now is stuck back there and cannot return. The archaeologists are told to go back a group, rescue the professor, then use the time travel technology to return to the modern day. It seemed like a simple task until they found out that they happen to be in La Roque on the day that it burns down.
Using their knowledge studying history, the archaeologists maneuver the area and outsmart the people, attempting to accomplish their goal. It’s not as easy as they originally thought, however, when they start encountering opposition and begin losing their friends.
Surprisingly, when I looked up some background information on this movie after watching it, many people criticized it when it first came out, and it failed to make more than the $80 million it used for its budget.
I thought the movie was pretty interesting, even though the beginning started off slowly, uneventful, and slightly randomly. I also liked the connections that were slowly made throughout the movie that connected things that happened in the past and what the archaeologists were able to find in the future. My favorite quote from the movie is “That’s me!” which comes from a memorable scene and is spoken by an archaeologist after realizing that he found a fossil of his own body in the future before coming back in time. I would recommend this movie to people who are interested in unconventional medieval movies and movies involving time travel or science fiction in general.
The Daily Shoot Assignment of the Day
It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Make a photo of a cool, refreshing drink. Go for something creative.
