Is 8,192 characters just not enough?
Do you often find yourself wanting to work on multiple nodes at the same time?
Do you want to help out the nefarious E2 lag problem by writing, proofreading, and formatting your nodes offline?

presenting...
the E2 Offline Scratchpad

Cross-Platform version 2.0 in the works

insanefuzzie and I are porting it to C++/wxWindowsLibs.

This will allow it to run on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and BSD.
(or pretty much any POSIX-compliant system)
(To be placed on my new version notify list, please /msg me, including if you only want messages pertaining to new versions, or bug fixes as well...)

New Features in 1.4
(Heavily Requested features in bold)

List formatter  ·  Spellchecker  ·  Undo function  ·  Sourcecode formatter  ·  Floating HTML button bar  ·  Improved keyboard shortcuts  ·  Ability to print current preview  ·  Ability to change font in Edit box  ·  Sizable edit box on main window  ·  Ability to revert to the saved copy of a node  ·  Support for all pre-packaged EKW Themes<  ·  Ability to toggle link underlining in preview pane  ·  Find, Replace, Global search and replace options  ·  Import / Export ability to *.node and *.nodes files  ·  Ability to change preview pane update frequency  ·  Select All / Select None / Copy current node to clipboard

Basically, what it does is allow you to write, edit, hardlink, and preview your nodes in customizable themes; all in realtime, all offline (so there's no contribution to database lag). I wrote this to try to alleviate some of the server load here... It works with many nodes at a time, and there's no limit to how long any node can be... (well, save free hard drive space, that is) It is written in Visual Basic 6, and the source code is distributed with the binaries.

It is tested and working in Windows 95, Windows 98 (even if IE isn't installed), Windows NT 4, Windows ME, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 so far. If it's working for you and your OS isn't listed here, please /msg me.

The Install File is at:

I've been getting questions like this, so I should make it clear: This program is free. I wrote it for the family, and I want no money for it. If you feel you should pay something, please send all donations here.

Thanks!




Future Revisions:

Version 1.6.0 - Due Second Quarter 2002
(sorry, y'all... I've taken off more than a week of work to write this... if I'm going to pay my bills this month, I have to take a break for a bit from making updates)

  • Ability to turn off sounds directly in pad (currently, you have to do it from the sound control panel)
  • Ability to post a node directly to E2 from the scratchpad. (RainDropUp's idea)
  • Ability to change the ratio of the edit box's height to the preview box's height. (This will probably involve me writing my own ActiveX control... could prove tricky)
  • Add a status bar so you can tell where a pipelink leads to by pointing at it...
  • Any other suggestions? /msg me! :-)


Thanks to all of you who have helped me with ideas, testing, bugs, publicity, and deployment.

This program wouldn't be near as functional without your input.

Aresds · alex · BlackJak · Booyaa · brassmule · Cahla · ConfusionTheWaitress · (darsi) · drownzsurf · freshmint · Great Neb · godling · Jetifi · kenata · kidas · liveforever · Mitzi · panamaus · RainDropUp · Ryouga · Saige · sakke · strawberry · Teiresias · vladkornea · wertperch


Thanks most of all to alex, freshmint, kenata, and RainDropUp. Your contributions to this project can't be summed up in words...


This Node Composed in the E2 Offline Scratchpad