The Joys of Notepad

I recently came across a fascinating bit of online activism and promotion, the Made with Notepad Campaign. (Be sure to check out the hysterical Product Info & Free Download!) A valiant effort by one David Rothschild, this campaign aims to encourage the use of ultra-simple text editors, like Microsoft's Notepad, in the creation of Web sites. Complicated Web authoring programs (e.g., FrontPage) are often accused of adding extraneous code that disrupts a programmer's original intent (not to mention a browser's ability to load a page quickly).

I applaud Rothschild's principled stand for both simplicity and computer literacy (after all, using Notepad requires one to learn the HTML behind a Web site). In fact, I wish more of our computerized world followed Notepad's example, opting for the simplicity of text-based interaction over the seductive—though wasteful—call of image-, audio-, and video-based interaction. (Of course, by posting this message on my pre-programmed Blogger space, I merely am demonstrating my hypocrisy. Just because I like the idea of Notepad doesn't that mean that I always follow through!)