GENERAL questions
Q. What versions of Windows does AkelPad support?
A. The author states that AkelPad is intended for Windows
- 95/98/Me (Unicode is not supported in these systems)
- NT 4.0
- 2000
- XP
- (Server) 2003
- Vista, and
- Windows 7
Q. What about Unix and Linux?
A. AkelPad is a native Windows application, however
WineHQ reports that "almost (the) whole core functionality works" under WINE (a Unix/Linux application to allow Windows programs to run). At least one AkelPad forum member
agrees. It is certainly worthy of a try!
Q. How much does AkelPad cost?
A. AkelPad is FREE, licensed under a modified BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) license, approved by the OSI (Open Source Initiative). Although technically classed as freeware, AkelPad is copyrighted software; there are distribution and liability restrictions outined in the license.
Q. I have used my favorite text editor for years - why should I try AkelPad?
A. AkelPad does not have every feature that others may have - it does not, for example, currently support "code folding". However, AkelPad has a lot going for it, such as:
- actively supported and under development
- plugin enhancements (more are being added from time to time)
- single window mode (SDI) and multi window mode (MDI) both supported - your choice
- full support of Unicode text (on Unicode supported systems - Windows NT and higher)
- support of Unicode codepages (UTF-16 little endian, UTF-16 big endian, UTF-8 )
- support of DOS/Windows, Unix or Macintosh end-of-line formats
- previews for file opening and printing
- column text selection
- drag-and-drop supported, even between documents
- support for 21 (currently) language modules. Without language modules, native support is English or Russian.
- split window feature, up to 4 panes at once for the same document
- user-created color schemes
- syntax highlighting (with HighLight plugin)
- support for portable (ie. USB flash drive) use
- customizable toolbar (with ToolBar plugin)
- keyboard macros (with Macros plugin)
- execute JScript/JavaScript or VBS scripts with control over many AkelPad functions (with Scripts plugin)
- ... more ... (too many to list)
Q. Documentation for freeware is notoriously poor - what about AkelPad?
A. Yes, you are right, freeware documentation is often poor (or absent!). AkelPad, however, has a dynamic community of users who have contributed much
documentation on the forums. Also, AkelPad has a detailed
User Manual (in compiled HTML format - searchable) and a
Plugins Manual (same) available through the
homepage. These manuals are not included in the installer or archive (ie. zip file) distributions and must be downloaded separately.
Q. On the homepage, why are there 4 versions of AkelPad available?
A. Currently, AkelPad version 4 is the actively developed version. Version 3 was superseded by AkelPad 4 in July, 2008 and has been changed a few times since, but only for bugs and major changes. Versions 2 and 1 are present only for interest and comparison; their development ceased long ago.
Q. I see that the Russian forum is considerably larger than the English forum, and some of the Plugins forum replies are in Russian! How can I read them?
A. If you
are Russian - no problem! Users of
the Queen's English, however, should try
Google translate by using
this link. Sometimes, however, the page will not translate, particularly if it is large or if the system is overloaded. Translations can be incomplete (ie. some words do not translate) and are often humorous - Russian idioms do not translate well! Individual text, etc. can also be translated at
http://translate.google.com (main site); don't forget to set the languages correctly (eg. Russian -> English).
Q. I have been using AkelPad for a while, and would like something changed in the application. Can this be done?
A. If it is an actual bug, the developer should be notified through the forums. Other changes that are preferential (eg. colors, layout) may never get done; the developer gets bombarded with requests on the forums for such changes. Also, if you are a C++ programmer, you could try your hand at changes since the source code is readily available.