The first app introduced to meet the maintenance needs of Webmasters was surprisingly enough, Windows Notepad. This tiny app met most developers' critical needs -- it loaded quick, it handled multiple pages simultaneously, and it made simple the process of making small changes to Web pages. Unfortunately, it lacked many HTML specific features as well as the ability to handle large files (32 KB+ in the 16-bit version). Despite being small and quick, Notepad's shortcomings quickly made revising Web pages a major chore.
To capitalize on Notepad's deficiencies, a great little freeware HTML editor by the name of HTML Writer was developed. Introduced in 1994, HTML Writer was an instant savior to the first generation of Webmasters, often cutting the time spent on Web maintenance in half. While it did lack many critical features -- including a native 32-bit engine, long-file name support, a spelling checker, etc. -- to many users it was nothing short of a godsend.
Many CWSApps users have lamented the lack of progress made on HTML Writer -- it's been more than three years since the client was last updated. In that time, the Windows world has dramatically changed and the Web has evolved into an entirely different environment. Still, there have been few high-quality yet user-friendly alternatives to HTML Writer introduced on the 'net. Fortunately, that is finally beginning to change, thanks largely in part to an app named TextPad.
