My Notepad Info definitely isn't the first Internet-based notepad. A quick search on Google will turn up dozens of similar services. What makes MyNotepad unique, however, is the ease with which it is intended to be used.
Most other notepads don't focus on ease-of-use. Some are downright clunky, requiring large pages be loaded and refreshed several times over the course of logging in, modifying notes, saving notes, and logging out. Some are intended only for one-time use, and impractical for someone who needs to consistently store and edit notes.
But MyNotepad is different, it's designed for speed in every way possible. Features are secondary, speed is first. The site's design is simple and clear, the page's size is small and loads quickly. (There is only one image used on the site, and it's only 700 bytes.) Everything possible is loaded in external Javascript and CSS files for simultaneous fetching and caching purposes. The notepad is located on the front page so that you never have to refresh a page. The notepad is placed in the top 800 pixels so that hopefully you won't have to scroll to see it. There are no "Are you sure?" prompts. Get in, get out, get your notes saved already. MyNotepad's design caters to the impatient.
The best feature you can take advantage of is the tab order and hotkeys on the notepad page.
MyNotepad is designed to never make using the mouse more convenient than they keyboard.
- When the page loads, the cursor is placed inside the "username" field. Fill this in.
- Tab to the "password" field and enter your password.
- Then press Enter (or tab then press Enter) to submit your login info. (If your login failed these fields will be cleared and the cursor will return to the "username" field.)
- When you log in, your notepad data and settings will be loaded and the focus will be set in the notepad field.
- From the notepad you can tab to the top "save" button. Alternatively, you can use the s hotkey.
- If you want to continue editing your notes, you can "reverse tab" back to the notepad. (In Firefox, this is done via Shift + Tab.) Alternatively you can use the notepad's "hotkey", the letter n. You can toggle between the notepad and the save button until you are ready to logout.
- From the "Save" button, a tab will take you to the "log out" link. (Your notes will not be saved automatically upon logout.)
The basic idea is: "username - TAB - password - ENTER - notes - TAB - ENTER - TAB - ENTER".
Note: To use hotkeys: In Firefox press
Alt + Shift + C , in Internet Explorer press:
Alt + C, where C is the hotkey character.
Here's a summary of what MyNotepad offers.
- You can customize the notepad's height, width, font color, and background color.
- You can choose to have your notes auto-saved every 60 seconds.
- There are no cookies placed on your computer. Your login status is maintained by your JavaScript session for the notepad page. Thus you can browse to other pages, use the "back" button to return to your notepad, and still be logged in; as well, your login "session" will never expire. Reloading the page, however, will log you out as doing so clears JavaScript variables. (Obviously, keeping different notepad accounts open in different browser windows will work.)