To create a new note you simply select "New" from the button bar and select the type. There are four types that come standard: note, checklist, outline and recording. This brings up one of the great things about the notepad: it's extensible. There are several third-party stationary packages that extend the type of notes you can create. One company even sells a stationary construction kit so you can design your own. Seventy-five percent of the time, though, I just use the note stationary.
An even better and more natural way to create a new note is a real stroke of genius: just draw a horizontal line across the current note and a new note will be created. Because the note software has a limit to the size of an individual note, this little feature makes it extremely easy to just keep on writing, note after note.
In addition to the line-across-the-note trick, there are several other gestures for editing text that make the notepad significantly easier to use than keyboard-based text entry software. For example, to join two words (or two letters) one simply draws an upside down caret below the two characters to be joined. Very natural. Want to add a space? Draw a little caret below the line with the point where you want the space. This would be awkward with a keyboard, but remember you are using a pen at this point.
There are many more gestures, really too numerous to post, that all add to the beauty and utility of the notepad. To split a line, just draw a carriage return, so to speak. Select a work? Double tap it. Want to move it, just drag it around with the pen. Want to select a whole paragraph? Draw a box around it. Convert text to all uppercase? Select it then draw a vertical line up through it's middle. Lowercase? Same action but drawn down from above the text. Perfect for a pen-based interface.
Another great thing about the notepad is that you aren't limited to text-based notes. You can use the built-in handwriting recognition, but you can also write in "ink" and defer the recognition until later. Using this method, it's almost exactly like writing on paper. Your handwriting appears as-is on the screen. You can also enter "shapes" mode, where hand-drawn circles and squares and other shapes are "recognized" and straightened up. This is a wonderful feature. I can't draw a straight line to save my life but this lets me draw perfect shapes on the screen. Yet, if I want to just freehand something there is a "sketch" mode as well.
The bottom line is, the notepad was designed from the ground up to facilitate taking notes. It's easy to use, thoughtfully designed, and has enough features to satisfy most note-takers. It's no Pocket Word, but for it's intended purpose it is significantly better.
Thanks, Apple, for such a well designed little application. Sure, it can be made incrementally better, but the fundamental design of the notepad has no equal on any other platform.
Well done, Apple.