Show HN: NotepadJs – A cross-platform love letter to Notepad

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall theme: Recreating Notepad as a web-based, cross‑platform scratchpad

  • Many readers like the idea of a simple, distraction‑free text editor that lives in a browser tab or PWA.
  • It’s especially appealing as a quick “scratch pad” for notes, code snippets, and short lists, fitting workflows where “everything is a tab.”

Comparison to TextEdit and other native editors

  • Some argue macOS TextEdit (in plain‑text mode) is essentially equivalent to Notepad and can be configured to behave similarly (default plain text, custom font, no automatic “.txt”, simple startup).
  • Others find TextEdit too rich‑text‑oriented, with unwanted features (auto‑correct, suggestions, variable‑width fonts, filetype restrictions) and prefer something more spartan.
  • Alternatives frequently suggested: Kate/KWrite, Sublime, TextMate, CotEditor, SciTE, NotepadNext, Obsidian/Notes for persistent notes.

Web app / PWA vs native: benefits and drawbacks

  • Supporters:
    • Prefer not installing more native apps.
    • Like uniform UX across devices and managing everything via browser tabs.
    • Note that PWAs can work offline and auto‑save locally.
  • Skeptics:
    • Argue web apps aren’t a serious replacement for native tools, especially for simple utilities.
    • Worry about fragility of browser storage, accidental tab closes, updates, and lack of transparent, reliable local persistence.
    • Dislike depending on a heavy browser stack for a basic text editor.

Browser and API limitations (especially Firefox)

  • The app relies on the File System Access API, which currently works in Chrome/Edge but not Firefox.
  • In Firefox, open/save doesn’t work and the site warns about missing support.
  • Installing as a PWA in Firefox requires extra steps and extensions; some see this as a major limitation for a “cross‑platform” claim.

Minimalism, nostalgia, and feature requests

  • Some find nostalgia for Notepad puzzling, calling it feature‑poor; others value its brutal minimalism as focus‑enhancing.
  • Desired additions for NotepadJs include: font/size selection (especially monospace), persistent content across restarts, optional tabs UI, full‑screen mode, dark mode, markdown support, syncing to git/S3, and image pasting.
  • There is debate about how far to extend features before it stops being a “Notepad‑like” tool.

Performance, size, and stack concerns

  • One line of critique: using a browser plus a JS framework for a tiny editor is overkill compared to a ~200KB native binary.
  • Others note the actual app payload is small (~100KB over the network), and that the OS and browser are general‑purpose platforms much like the OS behind Notepad itself.
  • Some worry about memory footprint (hundreds of MB vs. a native editor), while others dismiss this as acceptable for modern systems.

Meta: tone of criticism

  • There is pushback against dismissive or snarky comments toward hobby projects.
  • Several comments emphasize HN norms: be critical but not gratuitously negative, and engage with the actual goals of the project rather than just attacking the stack choice.