posted on May 2, 2011 by Saikat Basu
The purpose of software is to make our life easier; even when it comes to a function like sprucing up plain text. Plain text is the basic building block of the writing we do on our editors. But plain text lacks functional extras that we wish could give us some control over the text we type.Dolphin Text Editor v1.6 is a lightweight Windows app that adds some functional extras to any Windows program that handles text. Sitting in the System Tray, it can be brought up with a hotkey and the text formatting commands applied on the selected text. Dolphin Text Editor is a free text editor (for personal use) and it runs on all Windows versions and all Windows software (Notepad, MS Office, code editors, and even browsers, and online chat apps like Facebook Chat etc).
Just how useful is this utility when all you are typing is vanilla plain text? Let’s take this productivity app and run a few laps around to see how we can make use of it.
Coming in at 884KB, Dolphin Text Editor is a small bundle. You can even install it as a portable app with an approximate size of 1.52MB. It sits quietly in the background and doesn’t cut in too much into your memory space. Set the option to load it at startup or click to open it on the System Tray where it sits and awaits your next command.
Dolphin Text Menu as the name indicates has a menu of text functions which you can simply call up with a hotkey. The default hotkey is CTRL + 0 (Numpad). You can change the hotkey from the Options settings.
The software page and the screenshot above describe the menu functions. So, I won’t go into each one, but instead show some of the more important ones with the help of a few screenshots and examples of how I use it.
Quickly arranging names in alphabetical order:
This simple utility is really helpful if you are working in Notepad or even a simple text box and quickly want to arrange names or numbers in a particular order.
Quickly arrange text in blocks by removing extra space:
Paragraphs of text with trailing lines can be quickly arranged in blocks of text by removing blank lines, leading spaces, trailing spaces etc.
Quickly format sentences into titles (or change case):
This is especially useful if you do a lot of writing on the web and need to format your titles, headings, and sub-headings with a click. Word does have a similar feature but if you are using an editor which doesn’t then this is handy.
Quickly clean text:
Word does help to strip text of any formatting if you working with it. But think of a forwarded email message or replies to your comments on discussion boards: if you want to spruce them up, then Dolphin Text Editor can help you clean text by converting everything to plain text, removing HTML tags and also stripping any BBCode tags.
Quickly get word count:
Minimalist text editors like Notepad lack a word count feature. Dolphin Text Editor meets the gap with functions like word count which breaks up the figures in detail (as in screenshot). You can also copy it straight to the clipboard.
These five uses are pretty much the common ones you can expect to encounter each day. Which other free text editor can you think of that tackles theses simple things from the system tray?Take a look at Dolphin Text Editor and let us know if you can put it to any other use unique to your requirements.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
Saikat BasuSaikat is a techno-adventurer in a writer's garb. When he is not scouring the net for tech news, you can catch him looking for life hacks and learning tidbits. blog comments powered by
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Looking after how much resources a program uses is a great skill to have in order to maintain a cleanly running, stable system. The more resources it uses (compared to other programs that achieve the same thing), the more inefficient the program will run, causing your system to become laggy. Over time you might accumulate a number of resource-hogging applications, and you’ll feel your system become slower and slower. Linux is still vulnerable to this problem, although it doesn’t suffer performance decay like Windows does after a while. Trust me, I haven’t yet mastered this skill. My laptop’s setup is currently more about customization rather than running at tip-top speed, and it shows in my boot time.
Just look at the screenshot, and you’ll know exactly what program this Linux text editor looks similar to. If you answered with Window’s Notepad, then you’re correct! However, don’t think that I’m actually running Notepad through Wine; this is indeed a Linux-native program.
The program, you could say, is as simple as it gets. There are no buttons anywhere to be found, and the menus don’t offer a lot of options, aside from the basics like printing. The “Options” menu only has four items: Font Options, Word Wrap, Line Numbers, and Auto Indent. However, for an extremely lightweight application, those are probably the four great features that you could want from it. They definitely help you for whatever you want to do with it.
Speaking of how lightweight it is, you’ll probably want to have some numbers as proof. If the minimal UI doesn’t say much to you, try this: when you first run the program, it uses a measly 2.8MB. gedit, arguably the most popular text editor for Linux users, uses about 5.6MB at start. Both numbers are very small, but for those with weak computers, every megabyte counts.
With most lightweight applications, and especially ultra-lightweight ones, you have to take into consideration that the program might not offer some features that you’d be comfortable with. Therefore, when using Leafpad remember that it is very much like Notepad, and doesn’t offer much more than that. For people who want plenty of features, this may not be the best Linux text editor for you. However, for those who want a program that just lets you type what you want without doing anything fancy with it, this is definitely for you.
Of all the text editors I’ve seen so far, Leafpad has probably been the most lightweight option I’ve seen. It has extreme simplicity, and it stays out of your way to let you do what you want without any gimmicks.
What text editor do you use? Do you think Leafpad is a good option or is it too lightweight for your use? Tell us in the comments!
Danny StiebenDanny is a high school junior who enjoys all aspects of open source software and Linux. He is also a contributor for the Fedora Project. You can follow his Twitter account here. blog comments powered by
Ensoul is a handy app for iPhone users who like to have a wide variety of wallpaper to choose from. It’s way to add, manage, and edit wallpaper images and contact photos without using iPhoto or some other image editing application.
Ensole works similarly to iPhoto and other self-contained image editors. First off, it includes a media pane that accesses your iPhoto and/or Aperture libraries, as well as your Pictures Folder on your Mac. If you happen to have more than one iPhoto or Aperture library, Ensole will access them all at once, which is something that can’t be done in iTunes.
Ensole also comes installed with a set of stylish wallpapers to get you started. On left side of Ensole, you can quickly add wallpaper images from anywhere in Mac’s Finder or from image downloads from the Internet, such as the website, iPhone Themes, which has a large collection of wallpaper and wallpaper themes.
What’s even more useful about Ensole is that you can preview — using the included iPhone emulator — how your selected wallpaper images will look on both the Lock Screen and Home Screen of the iPhone. While some images work great for the Lock Screen, they may get obscured by the display app icons on your Home Screen.
Ensole also includes a built-in image editor for cropping, rotating, fixing and enhancing your images. This means you don’t have to open iPhoto or some other image editor to make image adjustments.
If you’re a wallpaper aficionado, you will no doubt want to keep a significant collection of images on your iPhone. If you want to add wallpaper images stored and edited in Ensole, alongside existing photos from your iPhoto or other libraries on your iPhone, then you need to select wallpapers in Ensole and choose Share > iPhoto in the Ensole menu bar. Your selected wallpaper will be copied and inserted into an iPhoto album titled, “Ensole.”
When your iPhone is connected to your iTunes, you simply check the Ensole folder along the other iPhoto albums you want include in your iPhone library.
If you want your iPhone library to consist solely of wallpaper and contact images from Ensole, you need to choose the “Sync Photos from” button in iTunes when your iPhone is connected to your Mac. In the drop-down button, select “Pictures” and then click the box for the Ensole Library folder in your Pictures Folder.
Ensole also includes other sharing features for exporting your wallpaper to your Twitter and Facebook account, as well to any part of your computer. You can also create more than one Ensole library which is useful if you’re sharing your Mac with another iPhone users, or if you want so simply change up a set of wallpapers.
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posted on May 2, 2011 by Danny Stieben
I know that a handful of people value lightweight programs, especially after I read some comments on my previous articles. I must admit, it’s a great thing when a program is light on resources and does the job right every time. In today’s feature I’ve found another very lightweight program for your personal enjoyment called Leafpad. Leafpad will more than likely remind you of other programs, but we’ll get into that in just a bit.Looking after how much resources a program uses is a great skill to have in order to maintain a cleanly running, stable system. The more resources it uses (compared to other programs that achieve the same thing), the more inefficient the program will run, causing your system to become laggy. Over time you might accumulate a number of resource-hogging applications, and you’ll feel your system become slower and slower. Linux is still vulnerable to this problem, although it doesn’t suffer performance decay like Windows does after a while. Trust me, I haven’t yet mastered this skill. My laptop’s setup is currently more about customization rather than running at tip-top speed, and it shows in my boot time.
Just look at the screenshot, and you’ll know exactly what program this Linux text editor looks similar to. If you answered with Window’s Notepad, then you’re correct! However, don’t think that I’m actually running Notepad through Wine; this is indeed a Linux-native program.
The program, you could say, is as simple as it gets. There are no buttons anywhere to be found, and the menus don’t offer a lot of options, aside from the basics like printing. The “Options” menu only has four items: Font Options, Word Wrap, Line Numbers, and Auto Indent. However, for an extremely lightweight application, those are probably the four great features that you could want from it. They definitely help you for whatever you want to do with it.
Speaking of how lightweight it is, you’ll probably want to have some numbers as proof. If the minimal UI doesn’t say much to you, try this: when you first run the program, it uses a measly 2.8MB. gedit, arguably the most popular text editor for Linux users, uses about 5.6MB at start. Both numbers are very small, but for those with weak computers, every megabyte counts.
With most lightweight applications, and especially ultra-lightweight ones, you have to take into consideration that the program might not offer some features that you’d be comfortable with. Therefore, when using Leafpad remember that it is very much like Notepad, and doesn’t offer much more than that. For people who want plenty of features, this may not be the best Linux text editor for you. However, for those who want a program that just lets you type what you want without doing anything fancy with it, this is definitely for you.
Of all the text editors I’ve seen so far, Leafpad has probably been the most lightweight option I’ve seen. It has extreme simplicity, and it stays out of your way to let you do what you want without any gimmicks.
What text editor do you use? Do you think Leafpad is a good option or is it too lightweight for your use? Tell us in the comments!
Danny StiebenDanny is a high school junior who enjoys all aspects of open source software and Linux. He is also a contributor for the Fedora Project. You can follow his Twitter account here. blog comments powered by