14 DAY TRIAL // The dinner should be a light meal, but lately, I couldn't keep up with this rule, and since I am not immortal as far as I know, I may regret this later. On the other hand, a light program like a text editor at the end of the day can be healthy enough for the software reviewer in me, so this is what I have chosen now, a simple text editor (well, this program claims to be an advanced one, but the truth is usually a little inflated by each software producer).
The text editor I am talking about is called NuvoPad and what I have here is an Alpha release, labeled 0.1.5. Checking such premature programs can prove risky, but it can also be an interesting experience, so let's see...
I got NuvoPad's setup package inside a 4.9MB archive, which seems pretty much to me, especially for a program that claims to be a replacement for Notepad and Wordpad. Anyway, the installation process was quick and without any special problems along the way, so let's move on and check this program's interface and features now.
Despite the fact that I've seen some excellent text editors that have original interfaces, sometimes even skinnable ones, this time it's not the case to be glad about that. NuvoPad's interface looks just like an improved Wordpad to me and the most interesting part is the browsing pane placed to the left of the workspace that helps you load files a lot faster than with the default text editors from your Windows operating system.
With the opening of the first text file, the fun starts because I found a really annoying bug inside this program. Here it is: open a text file and use the Delete key. Do it again, again and then another two or three times. No, it's not your computer, it's not your old keyboard, not even your black cat's bad luck (if you have a black cat, of course), it's the program! Well, how to edit text files without being able to delete the selected text because the program closes? I have some solutions, and the first one would be a new release having this bug fixed, but until then, you can use the context menu's Delete command (amazing, but the program doesn't crash this way!) or the Backspace key.
Ok, so we got through the first bug. Let's find out some good things now. NuvoPad can open a lot of files at the same time, but there aren't any tabs to be seen yet, so you'll have to use the Windows menu to switch from one to another, or the Ctrl+Tab keyboard shortcut. Support for DOC files is not implemented yet, but you can open RTF files.
It seems that NuvoPad can use Word's spellchecker, but since I only have OpenOffice here, each time I press the F7 key or use the only item available in the Tools menu to check my text....surprise! The program crashes, but this time at least I get an error.
For now, you can only insert bullets, symbols and current date and time into your documents, but in the future...you know the story already. If this helps you with something, you can change text's color, but the only format supported for saving at this time seems to be plain text, which removes all formatting...
To end this smiling, I have to tell you about the best QuickTip that I ever got from a program: "Did You Know...That the Quick Tips file was not found?". Yup, I know. Conclusions, please!
The Good
NuvoPad is a basic and easy to use text editor that tries hard to become an advanced text tool in the future, and for its immature status, I can say it's a decent try. Needless to say, this program is free for now, and hopefully it's going to stay the same in the future.
The Bad
I've seen worse Alpha releases, and despite its few outrageous bugs and features not implemented yet, like the "Del problem" and the lack of file tabs, despite the fact that multiple file editing is supported, you can give it a try.
The Truth
NuvoPad is not something to replace any text editor you may use at this time, because it's not reliable at all, but you can try it for a couple of minutes and send some feedback to its author. The team behind one-man products is composed of the program's creator and its users providing valuable feedback, so if you have the time, join NuvoPad's team!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
