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Why Featherpad
Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 6:47 pm
by eriefisher
A bit off topic but can someone tell me why MX has Featherpad? Xfce comes with Mousepad and seems to be a fairly competent editor for what it does. Someone who is actually writing/developing would likely use something bigger/better/faster anyway. Nothing wrong with Featherpad, just curious why the step outside the environment.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 9:22 pm
by richb
Moderator: Split from previous topics as it was off topic.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 10:12 pm
by Richard
As I remember, it is because it can print. :)
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 11:06 pm
by SwampRabbit
I think featherpad is ok for what it is, it does have quite a few useful options, I tend to stick with what is installed if it works for me.
One thing that I like it over Geany is that you can grab a document tab and just pull it off the interface so it is one its own. Geany doesn't do this, I looked for the option, maybe it exists but I couldn't find it in 2mins so I moved on. You can right click the tab and open it in a new window, but that's not what I want.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 11:10 pm
by Stevo
IMO, it strikes a nice balance between light weight and features. Plus it's still being improved constantly. Mousepad is pretty stuck as it is--not that it has many features to fix or improve.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 11:47 pm
by figueroa
Stevo wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 11:10 pm
IMO, it strikes a nice balance between light weight and features. Plus it's still being improved constantly. Mousepad is pretty stuck as it is--not that it has many features to fix or improve.
As I'm not wanting features in my simple text editor, I prefer mousepad or leafpad. For features, I use vim.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 12:34 am
by Stevo
figueroa wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 11:47 pm
Stevo wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 11:10 pm
IMO, it strikes a nice balance between light weight and features. Plus it's still being improved constantly. Mousepad is pretty stuck as it is--not that it has many features to fix or improve.
As I'm not wanting features in my simple text editor, I prefer mousepad or leafpad. For features, I use vim.
For me, the extra features don't get in the way of using it as a simple text editor, but come in handy when I need them. But to each their own.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 8:07 am
by eriefisher
richb wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 9:22 pm
Moderator: Split from previous topics as it was off topic.
Sorry Richb. My bad.
I seem to be the same as most of you. I use whatever is available. I don't use the graphical editor for much more than a quick text paste and occasional editing but they are usually my own files. If I'm in the system editing config files or something I'm normally in the terminal and call nano. I don't code or anything like that so a simple editor is more than capable of fulfilling my needs.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 9:14 am
by BV206
Two things I hate about Featherpad...
1. If you use the Xfce Places panel plugin, recently used files opened with featherpad don't show up.
2. When you try to copy the path/filename of a file from Thunar and paste in into Featherpad it pastes the whole file. In Mousepad it only copies/pastes the path.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 9:24 am
by BV206
Richard wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 10:12 pm
As I remember, it is because it can print. :)
Mousepad can print. At least on Xubuntu it can.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 9:31 am
by Jerry3904
I believe that capability came after we were making out decisions
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 9:33 am
by andyprough
BV206 wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 9:14 am
Two things I hate about Featherpad...
...
2. When you try to copy the path/filename of a file from Thunar and paste in into Featherpad it pastes the whole file. In Mousepad it only copies/pastes the path.
I agree, I would be quite irritated if it opened the file instead of just pasting the path.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 10:42 am
by Adrian
andyprough wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 9:33 am
BV206 wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 9:14 am
Two things I hate about Featherpad...
...
2. When you try to copy the path/filename of a file from Thunar and paste in into Featherpad it pastes the whole file. In Mousepad it only copies/pastes the path.
I agree, I would be quite irritated if it opened the file instead of just pasting the path.
Sounds like a feature
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:50 am
by andyprough
Adrian wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 10:42 am
andyprough wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 9:33 am
BV206 wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 9:14 am
Two things I hate about Featherpad...
...
2. When you try to copy the path/filename of a file from Thunar and paste in into Featherpad it pastes the whole file. In Mousepad it only copies/pastes the path.
I agree, I would be quite irritated if it opened the file instead of just pasting the path.
Sounds like a feature
It is a feature but it can be annoying, and we should have a copy-path option.
Workaround:
In Thunar - Edit-Configure Custom Actions
New custom action (click the + sign)
Appearance Conditions tab - select all file types
Basic tab:
Name - "Copy Path"
Description: "Copy the path of a file/folder"
Command: echo -n %f | clipit -c
Select "OK", move "Copy Path" to the top of your Custom Actions list, close Custom Actions and close and restart Thunar.
Now you've got a working "Copy Path" function in Thunar.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 12:27 pm
by Mia
Thumbs up for Featherpad.
As already noted, it is one of those in-between the most simple such as Mousepad, and the most sophisticated such as Geany.
Plus, Mousepad and Geany are both very simple to install through Debian if one wants those, which I do. Featherpad is more hassle to install on Debian 10 stable, I think, so it is nice for MX19 to already have it in . One can simply remove it if they find they can't stand having this text editor available to them.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 12:51 pm
by SwampRabbit
andyprough wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 11:50 am
It is a feature but it can be annoying, and we should have a copy-path option.
Workaround:
...
Now you've got a working "Copy Path" function in Thunar.
Very nice, thanks for sharing, its awesome when users come up with this stuff!
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 6:18 pm
by m_pav
BV206 wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 9:14 amWhen you try to copy the path/filename of a file from Thunar and paste in into Featherpad it pastes the whole file.
If people are using the copy and paste method which employs the clipboard, sure, it can be an issue, but it's never been an issue for me when I use the paste buffer, which employs the mouse wheel. Simply highlight any block of text, it doesn't matter where or in what program, then move to the insertion point and centre click it in. There is no need to use the clipboard. When pasting a full path to a file, the paste buffer only operates on the text, not the element, therefore, avoiding the issue altogether.
It has issues where the terminal is concerned as it can only paste at the last cursor position, but if you're using a terminal with overlay, it will work fine, provided you pre-position the cursor. Some people hate the feature and turn it off, but I love it and use it multiple times every day, It has become my default modus operand, with copy-paste being my first alternative method.
Sometimes, I end up pasting the wrong thing because I've unwittingly highlighted something else en-route, so have to back-track, or revert to copy/paste, but I keep a slightly different tactic up my sleeve for occasions where the paste doesn't work as I expected.
The second tactic I use when faced with the issue above is to highlight and copy all but the last character in a string of text to the clipboard, be it a path or anything else, then paste what I've copied and simply type in the last character. With Featherpad, this eliminates the issue quoted above. The 2 methods I described also work for some web pages/sites that refuse entry if the password fields have not been input using a keyboard.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 7:51 pm
by BV206
m_pav wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 6:18 pm
If people are using the copy and paste method which employs the clipboard, sure, it can be an issue, but it's never been an issue for me when I use the paste buffer, which employs the mouse wheel. Simply highlight any block of text, it doesn't matter where or in what program, then move to the insertion point and centre click it in. There is no need to use the clipboard. When pasting a full path to a file, the paste buffer only operates on the text, not the element, therefore, avoiding the issue altogether.
That does not work with Thunar because the path bar doesn't contain the file name.
Featherpad treats copying/pasting the path including the filename the same as dragging a file from Thunar and dropping it on Featherpad. Featherpad opens the file both ways.
Mousepad is smarter. When you drag and drop one or more files it opens the file(s).
Whey you copy and paste the complete path and filename (select a file in Thunar and Ctrl-C or right-click Copy) it only pastes the text of the path and filename. Mousepad doesn't open the file.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 7:54 pm
by richb
I do not get what the kerfuffle is about. If you like mousepad use mousepad. If you like featherpad use featherpad. I like kwrite and kate so I use them.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 8:44 pm
by eriefisher
Really all I thought I would get was featherpad does blah blah and mousepad doesn't. Frankly I've used Xfce4 for so long and with Mousepad being part of the package it was just my default. When I used fluxbox it was leafpad.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:05 pm
by Richard
The Copy Path thunar action command is great.
I didn't even have to restart Thunar nor Featherpad.
DoubleCommander has had a CopyPath function for years.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:23 pm
by Adrian
Why are you guys copying paths to editors? I don't think I've ever felt the need to do that...
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 12:17 am
by JayM
Adrian wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 11:23 pm
Why are you guys copying paths to editors? I don't think I've ever felt the need to do that...
If one wants to do this (and I personally would find it handy on rare occasions) add a Thunar custom action.
Code: Select all
Name: Copy Name and Path to Clipboard
Description: Copies file's name and path to clipboard
Command: echo -n %f | xclip -i -selection clipboard
Appearance Conditions: select everything
Now install xclip from the stable repo, close and restart Thunar, and Bob's your uncle.
Edit: whoops! I didn't see andyprough's post #14.
Though actually, mine
might be better. I use CopyQ not Clipit and it mine still works, though I haven't tested his with alternate clipboard managers. His might also work with CopyQ for all I know. But there, y'all have two alternatives to choose from.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 1:08 am
by andyprough
JayM wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 12:17 am
Adrian wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 11:23 pm
Why are you guys copying paths to editors? I don't think I've ever felt the need to do that...
If one wants to do this (and I personally would find it handy on rare occasions) add a Thunar custom action.
Code: Select all
Name: Copy Name and Path to Clipboard
Description: Copies file's name and path to clipboard
Command: echo -n %f | xclip -i -selection clipboard
Appearance Conditions: select everything
Now install xclip from the stable repo, close and restart Thunar, and Bob's your uncle.
Edit: whoops! I didn't see andyprough's post #14.
Though actually, mine
might be better. I use CopyQ not Clipit and it mine still works, though I haven't tested his with alternate clipboard managers. His might also work with CopyQ for all I know. But there, y'all have two alternatives to choose from.
I actually tweaked one for xclip to work with clipit, so that the user wouldn't have to install any different clipboard manager than the MX default. But I think yours is probably the more ideal, as from my understanding xclip is more configurable.
Re: Why Featherpad
Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:31 pm
by putih
Featherpad support tab.
Zoom in-out font size with right-alt + scroll mouse or right-alt + = key working.