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Charles Moore Reviews NotePad Deluxe Version 2.3 and Snap’n Clip Screen Capture Utility
NotePad Deluxe Version 2.3NotePad Deluxe from Ibrium HB of Sweden is one of my favorite Mac OS applications. I think the name is a bit unfortunate, because it makes NotePad Deluxe sound like a slightly enhanced version of Apple’s venerable and minimalist Classic OS Note Pad, when in fact NotePad Deluxe has built-in support for strong encryption, multiple databases, web links, labeling, sorting, real tabs and more. I really love this little powerhouse of a program. I use it every day, and wouldn’t want to be without it. It supports both the Classic OS and OS X, which is a great convenience when you’re betwixt and between like I am. Ibrium doesn’t release new versions of NotePad Deluxe very often, so I was excited when they rolled out version 2.3 this week. Only the OS X version is currently available, but a Classic version is promised soon. I’m looking forward to it, as I do most of my production work in OS 9.2.2, but this review is based on NotePad Deluxe 2.3 for OS X. Unfortunately, in the meantime, databases created in version 2.3 are not backwards compatible to version 2.2, so that inhibits back and forth compatibility (version 2.2 databases opened in version 2.3 are converted to the new format). New in GNP version 2.3 is support for embedded pictures (pictures within notes), browser objects (QuickTime movies, pictures, sounds, etc.), file links / aliases to external files, RTF import/export, export to a single file, better Mac/UNIX/PC line feeds, na enhanced Trash system (very welcome), global scrap, search result listing, database file structure - the database is now a bundle, Quartz rendering in OS X 10.1.5 and newer, more than 30 characters in the header, better inline input, and some important bug fixes. 
OS X (version 2.3) 
Classic OS (version 2.2) NotePad Deluxe has a single, simple, intuitive user interface, and stores its files in its own application folder in database documents that the user creates, names, and manages. This is neat, slick, and user-friendly. NotePad Deluxe databases are structured on three levels, all with a in a single database metafile: 
The Database is the file where all your Notes are stored. The database consists of a number of Topics, which in turn holds other topics and the Notes. For my purposes, at the beginning of each month I create a new database into which I dump all the research data I collect for news briefs on Applelinks and other articles for that month. You can also have Sub-topics inside Topics. Topics use the familiar folder metaphor and iconography within the in NotePad Deluxe Browser window. Notes are analogous to documents within a folder, but in both cases these are virtual files contained within the database metafile. In other words, you can’t find NotePad Deluxe Topic folders and Note documents as separate files in the Mac OS Finder. The NotePad Deluxe interface window is divided into two side by side “panes.” On the right is the Browser, in which appear the virtual Topic folders and Note files within the active Database. On the left is a text field in which data from what ever Note is currently selected in the Browser field appears. You can instantly select from among Topics and Notes by a scrolling and clicking in the Browser. You can also minimize the window and hide/show the browser side with a click.
Window controls include: The add button, to the right of the notes-arrow, is used to add a new note. If the option key is pressed, the note will be inserted before the current note. The trash button deletes the note which is displayed in the window. The warning dialog will not show up if the option-key is pressed while deleting. Trashed notes are not deleted immediately, but are stored in a trashed notes area, which can be emptied manually and which is emptied automatically every time the program is quit. The minimize button in the top right corner is used to minimize the window. This can also be done by selecting Minimize in the File menu. Minimizing a window closes the window, but not the database itself, which can be accessed from the DB palette. Press the Option-key to minimize all windows at once. In the bottom left corner, the number of the current note and the total number of notes in the current topic are displayed. The arrow buttons around selects the previous or next note. Click on the number to jump to a specific note. Of course, you may prefer to use the browser. The find button is a combined button and find popup. Click it quickly to show the Find dialog, or press it to show the popup. If the Control-key is pressed, the popup menu will appear directly. The text field next to it is a quick-find field. The text typed in this field will be looked up in the current note at once. Press The print button similarly represents both a button and popup. A short click will print one copy of the present note without further interaction. Pressing the button displays the printer popup. The browser button, just to the right of the quick-find field, shows and hides the browser. By keeping down the Option-key, the total window width will remain constant. New Topics and Notes can be created using menu commands or keyboard shortcuts, and you can delete existing notes in or topics by dragging them to the Trash icon in the interface window. Notes are most easily arranged by dragging them around. Use Shift to select multiple items. A note or topic can be duplicated by dragging it with Option pressed. Below the browser there are two popups; the label/lock and the sort popup. The label/lock applies to all selected items in the browser. The lock inhibits any changes to the note or topic. A locked note or topic can be moved, but not altered. The sort can be performed in two ways, either automatically (Auto Sort), or when you give the command. If you give the command Sort by… without Auto Sort enabled, the notes will be sorted, but the order can be manually changed afterwards. With auto-sorting on, the notes will remain sorted and new notes will automatically find their right place. In this case the notes cannot be manually rearranged within the topic. To delete a note or topic, drop it onto one of the trash icons. At the top of the browser is the browser navigation popup.This popup shows the item that contains all items shown in the browser. Double-click a topic to make it appear as the root of the browser. Plain text , RTF, and unicode documents can be added simply by dropping them onto the program or into the browser. Drag notes to the desktop or use the browser popup menu to export selected items. The program also understands most common picture formats, QuickTime movies etc. This is all clearly and elegantly integrated, and very intuitive. NotePad Deluxe also includes built-in support for an infinite number of notes, styled text, strong encryption (Blowfish), spell checking (through the Word Services system), web links, labeling, sorting, a crash recovery system, topics within topics, Instant scrollbars, other fonts/scripts in header and browser and extensive drag and drop. There is also support for find with replace, local/global text formats, quick-find, labels, lock, a floating database palette, context menus, and a useful tab ruler (real tabs) in the main window. Not your father’s Mac OS Note Pad! Pictures can be embedded within the notes just by dropping or pasting them at the desired location. The pictures and their boundaries can be sized and stretched as you wish.. 
NotePad Deluxe supports the use of multiple Databases simultaneously. Each database, where the notes are stored, is handled in a separate window. The Database (DB) palette is a small, floating window listing opened and other selected Databases. It can be shown or hidden from the Windows menu. The Databases can be arranged in the palette by dragging the items with the mouse to the desired position. You can also add a Database to the palette by dragging it from the Finder. Clicking on a database item in the DB palette brings the Database window to front. It is possible to create links in the browser to external files. Such links are indicated by italic and a small arrow. Changing the link name does not change the original file name. Changing the content, on the other hand, does change the original file content. NotePad Deluxe saves your changes automatically when you go to a new note or topic. The notes are also saved when another program is activated. To save time and speed up the program, this kind of saving is only partial. Therefore changed data could be lost (but usually not) if the program crashes. If Save prior to program switch is checked in the Preferences dialog, all notes will be completely saved as soon as another program is activated. The drawback with having this feature activated is that it will cause a small saving delay when switching from NotePad Deluxe to other programs. To allow the user to secure changes, there is a command Save Now in the File menu. All your notes will be completely saved if you select Save Now and when the database is closed With the Export Note… command in the File menu, the present note can be saved/exported. To export several notes at once, select the notes (and/or topics) in the browser, bring up the context menu ([ctrl]-click a selected item) and choose the desired export format. It is also possible to drag and drop the selected items to the desktop. There is no import command. Drag the files you want to import to the program icon or the browser. Text-like documents, WASTE, RTF, and unicode are supported formats. A pop-up menu gives you a selection of file formats to choose from. You can search for a word or phrase in the current note, subject or database by selecting Find… and Find Again from the Edit menu. Menu commands: The Find button/popup, located at the bottom left of the window (the magnifier icon), is a quick way to access the find commands and settings. Click it quickly to show the Find dialog, or ([ctrl]) press it to show the popup. To find all notes containing the search string, check Batch search. The result is a list of links to the matching notes, appearing in the batch search area found above the browser. The text field next to the Find button/popup it is a quick-find field. The text typed in this field will be looked up in the current note at once. Press I really like this little program. It is a well-engineered, thoughtfully-conceived, and obviously high-quality product. Clever stuff that works well. Highly recommended -- five “A”s.
System requirements:
Snap’n Clip Screen Capture UtilityI expect that I’m not unique in liking clever stuff that works well. I make a lot of screenshots for illustrating articles and reviews, and while the built-in screenshot capability in the Classic Mac OS is pretty decent (and I understand Jaguar has much improved OS X’s screenshot functionality), the shots in the Classic OS get saved as PICT files, and one has to go rooting around to find them in the active hard drive folder. They are also saved with generic icons as “Picture 1; 2; 3;)” etc., which means that you often have to open several to fine the one you want. Then, if the image is needed for Web publication, cropping, sizing, and saving as jpg, gif. or png must be done. Since double clicking a classic Mac OS screenshot opens it in SimpleText, which isn’t very helpful for editing, it is necessary to drag the image file to an image editing application (or open it using the image editor’s Open dialog). Not a disastrous amount of inconvenience, but a lot of repetitious donkey work if there are a lot of screenshots to process. Enter Snap’n Clip, a little utility by Hide Itoh that makes screen shots and saves them as Clippings. Each Clipping file has a thumbnail icon of its contents -- albeit pretty small, but they do give you more of a clue than the generic PICT icon. The big advantage is that Snap’n Clip Clippings open with a double click, and can be copied and pasted into an image editing program, or just dragged into a document window of drag and drop savvy applications such as word processors and text editors. 
This is a lot quicker and more convenient than with standard screenshot protocols. There is also a Snap’vn Copy utility included with the software that eliminates the Clipping stage, and puts the screenshot directly of the Clipboard for immediate pasting; and a Snap’n Pict utility that saves the screenshots as PICTs. But that’s not all. Cropping part of a graphic or Desktop image is very slick with Snap’n Clip, and can be done entirely from the keyboard. You really have to use Snap’n Clip to appreciate how convenient and cool is. 
Happily, it’s no great hardship to check out this neat little application. Installing Snap’n Clip could hardly be easier. Snap’n Clip is an FKEY, so you just copy the FKEY file into the Fonts folder of the System Folder. The Finder will check the file type and copy it into the Fonts folder. The size of these three FKEYs is about 15k -- pretty minuscule compared with other screen capture utilities. If you really want to you can also Add the FKEY resource to the System File, but why bother? Once the FKEY is installed in the Fonts folder, you can summon Snap’n Clip by simply pressing Command+Shift+8 on the keyboard. This changes the cursor to the cross-line cursor. Now, you must select the start and end positions of the rectangle area you want to capture using the mouse or keyboard. Click the mouse button at the start point, drag the mouse to the desired margins of your shot, and click again at the end point. 
You can release the mouse in mid operation and attend to other things. If the second mouse click is not registered within one minute, the capturing operation will be canceled automatically. Snap’n Clip can also capture the active window (including window title and frame) when you double-click the mouse button in the window regardless of cursor position. If there are no active windows on the screen, it captures the entire screen. 
Snap’n Clip can be fully operated using the keyboard as well as the mouse. Using the keyboard prevents the slight movement of the mouse when you click on the mouse button at the start and end points. Control Options: Arrow keys Return/Enter key ESC key TAB key 
Cross lines are displayed only until you select the start point. Once you select the start point, the cross lines will disappear. Captured images will be saved as a picture Clipping file on the Desktop. Unlike standard picture Clipping files, they have custom icons showing the picture content. For the file name, the capture date and time are used. Snap’n Copy and Snap’n PICT work exactly like the Snap’n Clip. The only difference between these three FKEYs are the destination of the captured image and FKEY ID number. Snap’n Copy --- Captured image is copied to the Clipboard Snap’n Copy - Command+Shift+7 Another winner. A great idea that works as described. Five “A”s here too.
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