One of the things I like least about IE (and am least happy that we're not addressing in IE7) is the use of Notepad to view HTML source code. While many fantastic web pages have been built in Notepad, it wasn't a state of the art editor in 1995 let alone 2005.
There are a lot of text editors out there that are better than Notepad (I like Notepad2, a very slick, free editor with extensive syntax highlighting, regex searches, and a small package). But, none of these is as useful if it's not integrated with IE's View Source command. Fear not, intrepid reader, you can point IE to use another editor pretty easily, if you don't mind using RegEdit.
Honestly, I found this on the web (sometimes it's faster than asking the IE developers, especially since they're busy on IE7.) I got this from Thea Burger's blog and copied and pasted the clear instructions. He even likes Notepad2 also. (I did make one small change, fixing some terminology.)
Run REGEDIT, follow the following directions to the proper key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
|- Software
|-- Microsoft
|--- Internet Explorer
|---- View Source Editor
|----- Editor Name (Default) = C:\windows\notepad.exe
If this doesnt exist (but it should) then create the Key "View Source Editor".
Then create a Key within that named "Editor Name". Modify the "(Default)" value to make it point towards any program on your computer using "D:\Tools\Notepad2\Notepad2.exe" (without the quotes).
If you want to completely replace Notepad across Windows with, say, Notepad2, Omar Shahine's blog has instructions.
Have fun!
Yup, she likes Notepad2 as well :P
Posted by: Thea at February 24, 2006 04:05 AMthanks! you were clearer then the info you worked off of. The part about editing the default value of the Editor Name key was what did it for me. Thanks
- Rit
Thanks, that was most helpful. (I love your web page's "clean and crisp" look.
Cheers!
Posted by: victorbos at September 12, 2007 07:47 AMI just discovered (from Thea's blog) you're a hot shot in Microsoft's IE group. Why don't you guys buy Notepad2 replace the clunky Notepad?
Posted by: victorbos at September 12, 2007 11:59 AMFor Vista 64bit machines, use the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\View Source Editor\Editor Name
Cool. The first site I source-viewed after changing from Notepad to Zend was yours. :P
Posted by: Andu at November 7, 2008 03:01 AMNice one Noah - I needed that! Now if only I knew of a good hockey site... :-)
Posted by: Elliott at November 24, 2008 06:48 AM