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                             metapad 1.42

                      A smaller, faster and better
                    FREE 32-bit Notepad replacement

                             November 1999

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                (C) Copyright Alexander Davidson, 1999

Contents
--------
- What?
- Why?
- How?
- Instalation
- Contact
- Changes
- Disclaimer

What?
=====
If you are like me, one of the most useful programs for everyday use is
Microsoft Notepad. I realized that Notepad was quite powerful and did 
almost everything I wanted in a simple text editor. Yet I found the UI 
to be unlike most 32-bit Windows applications and actually quite poor...

metapad is a small, fast (and completely free) text editor for Windows 
9x and Windows NT with similar features to Microsoft Notepad but with 
many extra (and rather useful) features. It was designed to completely 
replace any use of Notepad. It is smaller than Notepad and maybe even 
a bit faster! All of Notepad's features are included and much more.

Some of the extra features are:
		
    Persistent window placement -
        Optionally save the position and size of the editor.

    Dirty file notification -
        A '*' appears in the caption for any unsaved file.

    Intelligent Find and Replace - 
        Automatically use the word under the cursor or selected text.

    External viewer support -
        Load a viewer (Web browser, MS Word, ...) with current file.

    Usable accelerator keys -
        Save is Ctrl+S, Find is Ctrl+F, etc..

    Dual customizable font support -
        Easily switch between a proportional and a fixed width font.

    Optional Quick Exit -
        Hit Esc to quit.. a personal favourite.

    Configurable tab stop setting -
        I prefer 4 to the default 8.

*NEW in 1.2*
	
    Go to Line -
        Never know when you're gonna need it.

    Auto-indent mode -
        A useful option when editing code.
		
    Smart word selection -
        Select only variable names.. (Ctrl+space or doubleclick)

*NEW in 1.3*

    Seamless UNIX text file support -
        Automatically detects the file format and you can change it.
        
    Block indent and unindent -
        Uses Tab and Shift+Tab .. a cool and useful feature.
    
    Recent files list -
        A standard feature in any good editor.
	
*NEW in 1.4*

    Snazzy status bar -
        Shows you file size, current line and column and file type.
        
    Find Next Word -
        Perform searches without the find dialog.
        
    Strip First Character -
        Lets you remove those nasty '>'s from blocks of email text.
    
    Custom file type filters -
        For the Open and Save As dialogs (see FAQ on the web site).

    Tons more, including -
        Goto column, enhanced date insertion, and many advanced options.

Why?
====
I created this program as a personal project. I was simply annoyed with
the usability of Notepad and it was clear that Microsoft wasn't ever
going to improve it (although their latest versions now support fonts).
I was pleased with the outcome of metapad (I actually renamed
notepad.exe to notepadx.exe and use metapad instead of Notepad) so I
decided to polish it up a bit and release it as freeware.

How?
====
metapad was created (as was Notepad) in pure C with the Win32 API. It 
is a small program containing just over 2000 lines of code. Thus, it is
as small and fast as Notepad is. Unlike some other so-called Notepad
replacements, metapad actually loads in an instant. (Those other
programs tend to approach 1-2MB instead of 40KB and are written using
C++ with MFC or even (gasp!) Visual Basic.) 

metapad was compiled with Microsoft Visual C++.

Instalation
===========
metapad was designed to completely replace Notepad. To see how you can
install metapad to replace Notepad see the metaFAQ page on the metapad 
web site (see contact information at the end of this document).

Changes
=======
1.42 - fixed bug concerning long UNC file names
     - fixed wordwrap bug for large binary files
     - fixed minor edit menu bug when Recent on own and Read Only 
     - fixed minor status bar redraw bug
     - Replace All was unnecessarily scrolling main window
1.41 - advanced setting controls the status bar width (for funny fonts)
     - a couple of minor bugs fixed
1.4  - status bar: line, column & total lines; DOS/UNIX/BIN; bytes;
     - Find Next Word (Ctrl+F3, also Ctrl+Shift+F3 for reverse)
     - Strip First Character menu item (for removing '>'s from email)
     - custom file filters in Open and Save As dialogs (see FAQ on Web)
     - goto line offset (in goto dialog)
     - insert date is now on menu (now F6)
     - new long date format menu item (F7)
     - new read only mode (gets set when file is read only)
     - cmdline goto row/col ("/g row:col")
     - no prompt when loading binary files option
     - no time on date insert option
     - no prompt to launch large file in viewer
     - sticky window position feature
     - hide goto offset option (for old behaviour)
     - option to have Recent Files on its own
     - binary files become read only option
     - no save prompt for empty new file
     - files are now opened with full share access
     - faster printing
     - hotkeys for UNIX<->DOS
     - UNIX<->DOS causes dirty file
     - goto line bug fixed (scrolls to cursor)
     - short filename (TESTIN~1.TXT) sendto bug fixed 
     - various bugs fixed

1.3  - seamless UNIX text file support
     - block indent and unindent (Tab, Shift+Tab)
     - recent file list
     - "insert tabs as spaces" option
     - refresh current file
     - external printing (/p on cmdline)
     - command line arguments to external viewer
     - separate "save menu settings" option
     - optional smart select double-click

1.2  - Auto-indent mode
     - Go to Line
     - "Hide directory in caption" option
     - "Select current word" (Ctrl+space)
     - doubleclick override (correctly selects word under cursor)
     - reverse searching (Shift+F3)
     - match whole word in Find/Replace
     - optional autosearch from beginning or end (i.e. don't prompt)
     - added quotes to launch filename
     - fixed print dialog bug ("An error occurred...")

1.1  - Added WYSIWYG (optional) printing support. Added more options.
1.0b - Fixed infinite loop when doing Replace All on the same text
1.0a - Fixed Ctrl+A keyboard accelerator
1.0  - Initial release

Contact
=======
Please contact me with any bugs, (modest) feature requests or comments.

        WWW:   http://welcome.to/metapad/
        or     http://www.bigfoot.com/~metapad/

        email: metapad@home.com
        or     metapad@bigfoot.com

Disclaimer
==========
metapad is freeware and is freely distributable (in its unmodified zip 
file). Hence, use it at your own risk. The authour, Alexander Davidson,
is not responsible for any problems encountered while using this 
software.