It's time for UI update!
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I love Notepad++ In terms of functions, it’s hands down the best text/code editor out there. But in terms of UI, it’s still looking like a Windows XP app. It would be great to see Notepad++ with modern UI, nicely integrating with new versions of Windows, dark color scheme for the whole app, not just the text editor area and updated, flat icons.
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I really disagree - the interface is just fine as it is! As they say, if it ain’t broke, why fix it!
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I certainly wouldn’t complain if it was polished up a bit. However, I’d rather development effort focus on a useable editor, rather than a pretty one. :)
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Please no flat things. Windows 8+ introduced too many UI design regressions.
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Biggest problem I see in Win10 flat-fashion is the “either everything white or everything black” trend that kills distinction between screen elements: where that toolbar starts and ends? What window is at foreground or in background? Containers need visible separators etc.
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Whatever you are doing. Please, please, please, please no ribbons. And please don’t make anything 50x as big as before.
However, I agree that Notepad++ needs a more modern look.
Quote from @Ricardo
@milipili how will the interface be rendered? What I see programs1 doing and I think allows powerful customization is using an engine capable of rendering HTML/XML, Firefox uses its own XUL, for example.
1 and now these “modern apps” from Microsoft.XML and XUL are rather bad examples imo. Firefox is also slowly killing XUL off and is replacing it completly with HTML.
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I would say both Yes and No…
Yes, it would of course be nice with a new fresh looks.
No, because…
- current NPP is still functional, quite minimalistic and still not too disturbing GUI.
- I believe there are enhancements and bugs to sort out of higher priority and wouldn’t like to see the developers getting too overloaded if they don’t have enough with man-power for all the coding needed.
Suggestion:
If possible make NPP skinable so skilled and graphically tallented users can create their own skins and upload them on NPP web page and make them available for all user, I believe this is the best sollution making most people happy. -
@Ricardo
If the OS uses flat design then the apps running on it should too. I’m not sure how the new skin will be implemented but it should probably use native UI elements as much as possible. If the OS uses translucent elements like vista then the app should follow, if the OS has a flat look then once again the app should too. Consistency is very important.As for the guys saying the devs should focus on functionality: the editor is brimming with functionality which is why you (and me) probably use it. The devs have been focusing on functionality since day one (which was many years ago), it’s version 6.8 already, maybe some minimal attention to the design would be in order.
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I agree with others that the flat design is a stupid mistake - simply Microsoft changing things for the sake of it. I don’t see why NP++ need follow that mistake!
Microsoft is already acknowledging that it made a lot of mistakes with W8/W8.1, and I suspect the main reason more people did not complain about the flat UI, is that there were even more egregious issues to address!
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@maiko
From what I can see, creating and maintaining an interface in C++ win32 is just a big pain. Using an HTML engine, otherwise, will make it much, much easier to generate skins with any possible design. -
I have several different editors on my PCs, but the one I use the most is NP++ regardless of its UI: it’s fast, it doesn’t take control of my work, and I rank it #1 easily. Many times I wished I could change the UI to be dark (something like Expression or Brackets), but I am more than happy to continue using NP++ as-is. The skinning idea I think is best, so we can either leave it as-is or tweak it a little for our personal tastes (even VS is finally modernizing a little). I am in the minority with my liking Windows 8/8.1 flatness, but I am no fan of W10’s UI, and yes yes yes please no ribbons!! LOL! Wow, ribbons are so way-wrong.
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i hope all these new design morons go die in a fire… we, the USERS of N++ dont’ care for your stupid decor… go away… go back to pinterest… shoo…
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@AJ-Baxter Unfortunately to attract new users that have never used N++ before, a semi-updated UI is kind of needed.
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i also think skinnable UI would be a good option, i would love to see a dark UI as well.
i did a quick mockup of how it should look like in the dark mode. Don’t use toolbar so it is hidden, but it should be optional. I hope Notepad++ will get a dark skin soon :)
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@David-Bailey whatever problems people had with win 8, the flat design was far from the burning ones, which is why 10 also uses flat design and this is the last version of windows. In addition to that both apple and android also went with flat design so the reality is that flat design is here to stay, regardless if you like it or not.
Also, someone who cares about the design of his app and the user experience will value consistency (which in this case will also mean flat design) instead of making his app look different for the hell of it
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Been using using notepad++ for years. I honestly wouldn’t mind if the UI was updated to fit in with the windows 10 theme.
Would be nice it NPP kind of looked like visual studio’s little brother. -
@RedactedContent said:
Would be nice it NPP kind of looked like visual studio’s little brother.
This!
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@chilli2
Don’t forget that many people will be using NP++ under XP, W7, W10, under Wine, or with some sort of skin over a native Windows. You can’t please them all without going to the trouble of making multiple GUI interfaces!I would say that if this has to be done, then some sort of skin solution is the best. Even then, I would say this is low priority.
David
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Here are 2 screenshots of what np++ looks like on Win7/Win10
Win7
Win10Take a closer look!
Every element except one DOES fit into both OSs:
Windowborder: yes
Menubar: yes
Toolbar: yes
Tabs: no
Contentwindow: yes
Statusbar: yesWe do not need a full UI-Overhaul, making the tabs-container integrate with the OS-Design would be enough :)
Edit: Ok, if you want to be picky, you could nag that the toolbar has a grip on the left side which makes no sense and the statusbar does not go with the background color of the OS in Win10, but this are marginal issues
Edit2: Working with OS-native tabs would probably mean loosing some of the already implemented tab features:
-vertical tabs: which make no sense anyway because they take up very much of your vertical space and vertical font rendering is currently ugly as f***
-highlight active tab with orange line and darken inactive tabs: open some options window in windows which utilizes tabs and you will realize the active tab is visible enough
-icons (saved and unsaved state plus the close button): ok, THIS would hurt, but maybe the rendering-function could be overloaded?
-different size: not that bad, if you want bigger tabs use windows dpi settingsNow that i am thinking of it: would it be possible to replace the tabbar like the toolbar with the CustomizeToolbar Plugin?
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@reckless_writing said:
-icons (saved and unsaved state plus the close button): ok, THIS would hurt, but maybe the rendering-function could be overloaded?
the save-state can be visualized through an asterisk, mousewheel-click on tab does the same as clicking on an x-icon
