Using Notepad++ to Do File Comparison

In my previous post, I blog about the “Best File Comparison Software” that there isn’t really any freeware out there can compete with the Araxis Merge software. I’m surprise this is still true until today…

I introduced ExamDiff and TKDiff in my previous post but what is really missing for these 2 tools is the programming language editor (e.g. C++, Java and etc.) You can compare but you can’t highlight those programming syntax and edit those files. This is because both tools are just mainly designed for file comparison tools and not designed for you to edit the files.

The good news is Notepad++ can do both! With Notepad++, you can edit almost all programing and scripting languages and most importantly you can perform file comparison as well without open another tools or software!

To download this Notepad++ freeware, please go to notepad-plus-plus.org.

The file comparison feature is not enabled by default. It is the plug-in that you need to install. To install, you need to go to the “Plugins –> Plugin Manager –> Show Plugin Manager” from the file menu. Check the “Compare’ and click “Install” as you can see in the following:

Once it is installed, you will need to restart the Notepad++...


 Steps to Compare

1. Open files that you would like to compare.
2. Go to "Plugins -> Compare -> Compare". 

Good: What is interesting here is you can compare more than 2 files at once! This is really cool but may not be practical as I seldom compare files more than two. Perhaps this could be something useful to you?

Not So Good: The other thing that I encounter is when you compare a large file, the performance is pretty slow. It takes quite some to load the comparison result and it shows “Not Responding” rather than the “hourglass”. Something to improve on…

Alternative to Google Toolbar PageRank – WebRank

For some reasons, the Google Toolbar is no longer can be used for the latest Firefox version 5 and above. So you may consider NOT to update your Firefox if you really like Google Toolbar like me. Dear Firefox, I hope I don’t need to make you the top 1 reason that I don’t want to use you like Google Chrome.

2 key features I love Google toolbar are “PageRank” and “Bookmark” as mentioned in my previous post.  For bookmark, I think the easiest way  is to access “google.com/bookmarks” directly and I think it is still okay without the toolbar. Unlike for Google Page Rank checker website, it is very inconvenient. First, you need to copy and paste the URL to the website. Second, you need to key-in the words verification. Third, you need to click and wait. I really feel this is very not efficient at all!

So I found this awesome “WebRank” toolbar as an alternative to the pagerank feature in Google toolbar.  To install this in Firefox or Goole Chrome, please check out the following download links:

• Firefox Add-Ons 
• Chrome Extension (has bugs)

When I tried on the Chrome extension for this WebRank toolbar, it seems like the Google Page Rank cannot be shown for some of the web pages (e.g. my blogs). It seems to me there are still bugs with Google Chrome extension.  So, my recommendation is use the Firefox Add-Ons first.


List of Useful WebRank Features

This fella has a lot of SEO related features such as Google Pagerank, Alexa Rank and Pages Indexed in search engine, number of backlinks, bookmarks, whois lookup and not forget the toolbar customization. Out of all these features, only 2 features that I think are useful

• Google PageRank
• Whois Lookup

Honestly, the Google PageRank is the only feature that I use most often.  I disable  those seldom use features so that the browser loading speed can be faster. In fact, I configure the WebRank to show “Statusbar” button instead of “Toolbar” which I think it is neat since I only enable 2 features. The status bar button is located at the lower right of your Firefox browser. I feel pretty convenient for this "Statusbar" button. :)

Good luck and have fun playing with this WebRank toolbar!