Text Editor Reviews

NoteTab

My vote would go to NoteTab a programmable text editor that comes in three flavours: a Free version that lacks only dictionary and a seldom-used advanced programming command, a 9.95US$ Standard version, and a 19.95US$ Pro version that adds syntax highlighting and offers a number of speed enhancements. The Standard and Pro versions will also do normal and regular expression search and replace on disk.

Most impressive, though, is that the editor is programmable. It started out being able to save blocks of text "clips" that could be kept in clip libraries and pasted into documents (boilerplate text). However, the author added functions allowing variables and conditional logic, extensive string handling functions, etc., so that the editor is now capable of fairly complex and extensible programmatic text handling, including a wide range of HTML handling functions. I use it to handle a links database that reads links from a comma-separated-value (CSV) database file and then wraps the different fields in HTML while "including" other text files of common page information.

There is an active user community on Yahoo Groups that exchanges programming tips and helps debug problem scripts.

Here is a screenshot with a Clip Library open on the left. Each line in the Library can be doubleclicked to run the program associated with it. These programs can create dialogue boxes with all the common edit controls, from simple text boxes to combo boxes, to complex multi-picklists.

Interface showing a clip library and multiple tabbed open files

It also has OS hooks that allow it to run and control other programs - links to HTMLTidy are built in, but you can link to PERL, FTP, browsers etc. as well - sending standard input and receiving standard output.

This doesn't even scratch the surface of what this amazing program can do - it is certainly worth a look for anyone who wants a serious text editor. If you need programmability - there are a precious few that can compare.

Regular Expression replace on disk:

HTML to XHTML function

DE

TopStyle

This is what I am currently using. I will not say it is the best, only because I have not explored every editor out there. It probably is one of the more expensive ones, 79.95, but a lot of people who use it say it is worth every penny.

Some nifty features:

Side-by-side Internet Explorer and Mozilla preview
Integration with W3C HTML Validator
Integration with HTML Tidy
Customizable Color Picker
Customizable Clipboard
Browser Preview Panel
Style Sweeper

Main interface with clipboard and color Picker



Options Menu



I am pretty happy with is thus far. It is not a waste; however, it might not be for the minimalist.

[/]

You and your fancy shmancy WYSIWYG and previews and color pickers and whatnot . . . real men use Notepad

Come on now. Topstyle is not a WYSIWYG editor.

Agreed, the preview is borderline pointless and is not as useful as using FF's extensions.

Leave the color picker alone! :twisted: It is slick being able to eyedrop the color you want and have your color go right where your cursor is in what ever format you want. It is much much better than using some freeware color chooser.

DE's NoteTab looks better than Notepad Dos

First there was Notepad. Then along came Notepad2. Soon after, there was NoteTab followed by TopStyle...

Well I have you all beat. I use Stylin'NoteTaker!, a WYSIWYG editor for men. See photo:

Woof!

I am a WOman & I use Notepad!

I would have to agree with thepineapplehead.

Notepad2 is the best editor I've come across.

Or Notepad++, also a grear editor.

I might give a shot at notepad 2.

The main things i look for in an editor is:

- Auto-indent support.
- "Working" spaces instead of tab indents. (People who use dreamweaver will know what i mean)
- Color coding for programming languages.

I like TextPad for it's clear font, colouring for HTML and auto indent that indents spaces if you have previously used spaces to indent your code. (Dreamweaver would add tabs whenever you're spaces added up to a tab. Confusing when you open the code in notepad and notice 8 tab indents :roll: ). It's weakness is that it doesn't colour for PHP. Having working in PHP at work, it would be nice to have some colour. Please someone let me know if I'm wrong

I think I'll give Notepad 2 a try. Thanks for the reviews guys

Dan.

Does Notepad2 support multiple tabs? It looks like it's got everything I need except that. I routinely have anywhere from ten to thirty files open at once, and that many windows on my desktop would drive me insane.

tsWebEditor:
Has support for multiple Tabs, currently have 22 open files, mixed html,css,php; color highlighting for most languages, do what you like with indenting, auto indent, smart tabs, tabs to spaces etc.

Yes, Notepad2 supports auto-indenting.

No, it has no support for multiple tabs.

Yes, it color codes all languages

Do any of these boast ftp uploads?

One thing i do like about Dreamweaver is it's Project System with uploading to a development server.

Emacs. All the syntax hi-liting and indention and stuff you could want, multiple files open, multiple files open in same screen, multiple auto-synching views of the same file, read your mail, send mail, newsgroups, edit directories, run shell commands, edit binary files, select rect blocks, select columns, play GO, keep your diary, day/week/month planner with appointment alerts, calendar in Julian, Gregorian, Hebrew, Muslim, Mayan (3modes), and Chinese, phases of the moon, etags, file merge, file diffs, session management, psycho-analyst, complete configuration of any mode, complete control of all key bindings, each mode can have its own set of key bindings, compile and run without leaving Emacs, and still much more, but the best thing is built in versioning control. Emacs can keep a history of all changes with check in and check out versioning control.

'nuff said.

gary

One thing i do like about Dreamweaver is it's Project System with uploading to a development server.

It's text editor reviews, not website management programs

Ah, but if the files you're editing reside on a machine you don't have shell access to, you'll need a method to GET and PUT the files, and you'll need to be able to manipulate the directory tree just as you would for local files. That pretty much calls for ftp.

Emacs will allow you to run your favorite ftp client, or puTTY, or ssh directly from the editor window.

Speaking of Emacs, did you know that by default The Emacs clipboard, called a kill-ring, holds the last 60 entries? If that's not enough, change it.

cheers,

gary

I think I may split some of these posts, to the text editor topic, as opposed to the text editor review topic.

Textpad's syntax highlighting is customizable. There are php syntax definitions which will add php code highlighting. Check http://www.textpad.com/add-ons/synn2t.html

[edit, php syntax highlighting is included with the most recent textpad versions, but I think you need to remove *.php from the html document class and then add a new php document class.]

I use AceHTML 5 freeware that seems to do most of the things people have mentioned. I use AceFTP freeware as my FTP client.

NoteTab, my favorite, does not have built in FTP but can run shell scripts. For example, the following code will FTP the file that has current focus. In addition, I have scripts that can upload entire directories and such. If you can script it, then NoteTab can run it. This is especially useful for automated operations since one click can generate the code, FTP it, and then tell you whether the job was successful or not.

FTP current file
;
;Upload the file with current focus
;
^!IfFalse ^%p_PWD% NEXT ELSE SKIP
^!Clip "PWD"
^!ChDir ^%p_PWD%
^!Set %Script%=^$GetShort(^$GetTempFile$)$
^!FocusDoc
^!Set %Upload%=^$GetFileName(^$GetDocName$)$
^!AppendToFile "^%Script%" open  www.gov.ns.ca^%NL%XXXXXX^%NL%********^%NL%cd "www/health/policywatch"^%NL%binary^%NL%put ^%Upload%^%NL%disconnect^%NL%bye^%NL%
^!Set %Command%=^$GetSysProgPath$FTP.exe
^!IfFileExist "^%Command%" Next ELSE NoFTP
^!Set %Command%=^%Command% -i -s:^%Script%
^!StatusShow Please Wait, Uploading ^%Upload% . . .
^!Set %Output%=^$GetOutput("^%Command%")$
^!StatusClose
^!Info [L]^%Output%
^!ClearVariable %Output%
^!DeleteFile ^%Script%
^!Goto End
:NoFTP
^!Prompt The Windows FTP.exe program was not found on your computer. Please install it before using this command.

I've used Emacs on a *nix system but have always had a hard time remembering multiple key combinations. For those who have the key-combo thing down pat, though, it is amazing the productivity that is possible. I was using it for SAS programming and was able to edit and run program and intercept the output. On the other hand, I have another stats program called STATA for which I have written a NoteTab macro library that will do much the same thing so the possibilities are there.

DE

[Edited for spelling - did I mention NoteTab has a built in spell checker :roll: that can work with many different language files?]

Am I the only person using Homesite nowadays?

One thing i do like about Dreamweaver is it's Project System with uploading to a development server.

It's text editor reviews, not website management programs

True Dat. And i agree to splitting up the topic.

[edit, php syntax highlighting is included with the most recent textpad versions, but I think you need to remove *.php from the html document class and then add a new php document class.

I see what you mean. I was hoping for an inline colouring scheme where if i add

<?php
...
?>

It would then use a php coluring scheme within the tags just as some other programs do. Unless I'm missing a feature in any of these.

OS X Mac users can get the nifty Taco HTML Edit for free.

Versiontracker.com lists its features

The projects support is nice. Select a folder with your whole site's structure and work with CSS, text files, x/html, and view images images.

Intuitive and elegant like a good Mac app.

I've emailed the developer asking for xhtml support in the built-in validator. Got a prompt reply saying he'd look into it.

Screenshots are available at the developer's site.

And did I mention, it's free?

Allaire got bought out by Macromedia and Homesite then merged with Dreamweaver and has been out of production for several years - that probably accounts for the lack of votes for it.

You're not alone!

My text editor of choice is SciTE

It's a simple cross platform text editor that provides support for many programming languages.

Crimson Editor is a nice free text editor for Windows. You can get it at http://crimsoneditor.com. It has lots of features including tabs for multiple documents, syntax highlighting (HTML, CSS, C, Java...), multiple undo/redo levels, macros, and FTP support so you can save your documents directly on the server. I have been using it for a few months, and I like it.

Another free HTML editor is HTML Kit. http://www.html-kit.com. I just got it recently, so I don't know all of its quirks. It looks VERY powerful, and it has automated tools for every task you can possibly think of. However, it's kind of cluttered and hard to use. I do NOT recommend it for newbies. This tutorial http://www.html-kit.com/e/go.cgi?i=PG_HK_IRONSPIDER should help you make it a little more manageable.

Mike

I was using Homesite but recently changed to Crimson. I think it's one of the best one's out there for its editing abilities and uses for multiple languages.

I've also had a chance to try TopStyle Pro. More functional for websites than Crimson but I wish it had Crimson's editing features. These two combined would make one heck of a great tool.

I agree that HTML-Kit seems unwieldy. Lots of options to customize it and insert tags for you with a click but do people really do that? It also didn't seem to open files in the fashion I would like but I don't recall the details.

I've been using HTML-Kit at work and it's an ok editor and even supports multiple workspaces for different sites that show up in a pane. You can then edit the files directly on the server.

However it's search function is weak and you can't select text on a page while the search dialog box is open which means you have to close it and re-open it.

The code autocomplete is really buggy too. If you decide to put the cursor directly before another word and start to type out an image tag for example, it jumps the cursor into the middle of the word that the image would be preceding. To work it properly you have to make sure there is a space between where the cursor is and the word.

It was ok for a while but being a programmer i like my search features to work nicely, which is why I'm after another solution.

have just been lurking some for a while, but have to put a plug in here for my fav, which I don't see mentioned - Arachnophilia - I started on about version 3, mostly still use ver 4, which he's no longer 'supporting', [a windows only app], and I use ver 5 sometimes which is a java based app that'll run on any platform that can handle java2 - 1.4 or better - a very helpful code editor that does lots more than I need, including some code stuff that others here might find useful

some screen shots [that'll be around for the summer at least]:
handles many file types including java, C, Perl, etc

multiple files/tabs and maps cursor position/line numbers, line numbering can be toggled, html 'beautified'

file type conversions, very configureable, memory cleaner - import .doc and .rtf to html [does it quite well too]

control of prog/editor fonts and tab behavior tab size and tab to space and back

programing, control of syntax coloring, code beautifying, indent - java/C++ compilers/runtime and block indenting

also has preview ability on whatever multiple browsers you want, a good spell checker, and you can add any tags/functions you want including css functions - anyone else use it?

Bill

Just trying out Notepad 2 and I must say its really cool. Although I usually code on the Mac and use BBEdit Lite (because I can't afford the full version and its a bit steep in price for an advanced text editor) but I will be using this when I do any coding on the PC. It does a nice job at identing your code as well. Very shallow I know but hey!!

james

I very highly recommend EditPlus (editplus.com)!

I've been using this editor for years now, it has loads of little querks and stuff, its an amazing, simple, notepad-like editor. I use this for PHP/HTML/CSS, also C and C++.

It has FTP features for those that would like it, also you can create projects and add files to that project, making things easier to manage you files within the editor. It uses a tabbed interface also.

Syntax highlighting, you can also edit the files that cause the highlighting. I.e. add new function names to the PHP syntax file would mean they too would be highlighted.

I've had a look at all the mentioned editors here, and still I would not move from EditPlus to any of these. Seriously download this and give it a shot, I'm sure many of you wouldnt go back to what you're using now.

Dave.

I'm getting a bit freaked out here... I have only known Homesite in my coding years and am grasping to it's final release until I perhaps outgrow it...

It's a bit scary text editor world out there!

I've been trying out a couple of new editors recently but have been finding that none of them have all the features I want.
I have been using AceHTML whose favourite features are the ability to highlight sections of text and enclose them with tags via keyboard shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl + alt + 5 = <h5>) or to highlight a list of stuff, click a button and it adds all the <ul> & <li> stuff automatically. But it doesn't do ASP/PHP shortcuts.
Then I found HTML Gate which is great for adding in pieces of ASP & PHP code that I find I have to constantly type out otherwise (e.g. response.write etc.).
HTML Kit has a good list of all the doctypes, HTML & CSS attributes and you can customise the keyboard shortcuts but I still find it not as easy to use as AceHTML (search & replace & tabs aren't as user friendly).
So my question is: is there any editor out there that does all the things I've mentioned above in the package or is it too much to ask?

I fired topstyle, now I'm back using Crimson Editor, it is solid.

wow. i'm surprised that there was only one vote for EditPlus so far in all of this discussion. it's the only FREE[1] text editor i've ever tried (excluding notepad), so in my ignorance, i perceive it to be a fine little ditty.

something that i'm interested in, however, (and maybe w/ EditPlus's customizable syntax high-lighting, it could be done), but i read through all of this discussion, and unless i missed it, i haven't heard mention of a feature that i think would make a lot of sense, and desirable for anyone who seeks a truly intuitive syntax highlighting for CSS coders-- i'd like to see a text editor which would color code adjacent siblings, whole bits of block-level elements, etc. maybe i'm really being a whiney newbie, but i would very much like to come across a text editor that would do that for me, in this early stage of my learning.

does anyone out there know of an editor that will do that? i must pronounce that i'm a beginner because if i'm wrong in my perception that color-coding complete chunks of code belonging to adjacent elements (and perhaps other chunks as well if logically applied) would be a good thing, i'd like to hear about it. oftentimes i find that if i can take a look at it from an expert's point of view, it might help me to better understand how i should perceive it myself.

blah, blah.. hope that made sense.

/edit:
aside: i know one thing, i just downloaded and tried "CrimsonEditor" and, although i didn't give it much of a chance, i closed it after about five minutes to go back to my friend, EditPlus! hands down! i mean, the colors in CrimsonEditor are so dull for text-highlighting, grant it, i'm old and probably going color-blind, but EditPlus is just so bright and just plain feels so much more comfy. i guess there's something to be said about familiarity. i also inherited some software, and i have HomeSite and TopStyle, as well as Dreamweaver. i have never tried HomeSite more than just to open and look once, don't think i ever tried TopStyle, but i do prefer EditPlus's text editing over Dreamweaver's code-view. it just feels right. i wish there were some more of you who have tried EditPlus so i could get a better feel from your experience as to whether i should try another since you've been more in my shoes than those who have never tried it yet.

EDIT:
now a HomeSite + 5.5 user. this very thread inspired me to try out a copy which i inherited. it was sitting here for the longest time. i wish i would have found it sooner! on that note, for anyone who might be using HomeSite w/out the Gecko browser engine, i recommend you install the Mozilla Active X Control which enables the proper use of Firefox as the "internal" browser. NOTE: this also enables the use of the Gecko in any app which supports Active X use of external engines for their internal browsers. (e.g. much to my delight, this made Firefox also work as EditPlus's "seamless browser" as well)

[1]for 30 days, then you're asked to purchase a license, although you can continue using it regardless-- you bum!

Well, being a Mac user for many years, BBEdit is top class.

However, since I've been locked into Dreamweaver on Windows (at work) for last 9 months, I've recently been trying out the new version 8 and have to say, it's the most code-friendly version I've come across. I am very very impressed.

The way it deals with XML and XSLT docs is a huge bonus (can bind XML docs to XSLT docs now)... it's code folding is handy inclusion. I have had serious gripes with the application and would've never recommended it until now.

However, it's a costly beast... so er... Notepad 2!

Both is very good, but I dont know if it is better than Notepad2.

"Both"?

Hi

Its not worth 2 pence, but TSW's WebCoder is my fav.

I do a lot of php and it has very good support.

It has ftp and project management, and oodles more. It supports FF and IE previews (if you are lazy like me), will scan for variables in php and offer them, even trawling through includes.

It will also check against included css files for defined styles. Up to version 5 its free, v2005 is shareware.

It has a very good support forum, and is highly customisable. I used to use ACEHTML pro but switched, and set up the parser to colour the same way as ACEHTML.

Trevor

WebEditor and Dreamweaver me think

larmyia

ah-ha! now i see. i was being stupid and not reading what was in front of my face.

hey, CT, from your report of TSW WebCoder (cause i too am into PHP) i downloaded it. i am very IMPRESSED. it reminds me a lot of HomeSite-- but more like a "second generation", improvement upon the idea-- especially the way the edit / preview tabs are laid out, and the directory browser is on the left. very "familiar" feeling-- i forgot it wasn't HS for a second cause i walked away and came back couple hours later!, and so far it seems solid-- i also took a liking to the commentary of the developer, and i chose to register (free version).

edit:
irrelevant text removed

Is that WebEditor by TSW, as in WebEditor and WebCoder?

edit: oops! that's WebPad, not WebEditor. nevermind!

Hi

I'm using the 2005 version and now have it previewing with no probs with FF 1.07, and the help file is now included, which, if you drop the PHP help file into Webcoder's help directory appears inside the Webcoder help!

It also works fine with my Apache/MySQL/PHP local server for previews.

As long as it comes under the price of AceHTML Pro 6 ($69.95) and Kapser seems to be aiming for $20-30, I will buy it. I NEVER buy trial/shareware, but recently bought Corel's PaintShop Pro X as well.
The times they are a changing!

Trevor

i'm not sure what you mean here. i just d/l what must be the most recent version, straight from http://www.tsware.net/download.php
and i don't have a help file-- the option for the Pro version available for:

Personal use single user USD 39.99
Commercial use
license 1-5 USD 59.99 each

specifically states that is how you get the WebCoder help files. are you saying that w/ a bit of manual tweaking, some magic can be worked on help files for a registered, non-Pro version?

RE: Previewing inside of WebCoder: i had no problems w/ the FF preview from the start, however, the following may have helped that: after installation, upon first launch, there's a startup wizard which walks you through a few of the features to ensure your "first impression of WebCoder is the best possible". i proceeded w/ this wizard which includes a test for Mozilla preview-in-WebCoder as stated therein that "mozilla doesn't always work for preview in WebCoder because it isn't yet set to be as compatible w/ other progs as IE" (which i assume is referring in part to the need for having the Mozilla Active X control installed). mine passed in the startup wizard, but that might be because i have already installed the Mozilla Active X Control for using FF as preview in HomeSite+.

RE: preview on LocalHost: yes, all that must be done, should any readers here choose to try WebCoder, is to select from the program menu-- Functions>Settings>Preview>ServerMappings and then to make the appropriate adjustments there.

[/]

Hi

No, on the homepage you will find a link to Webcoder 2005 FinalBeta 2 (I think) which is this link:

http://www.tsware.net/redirect.php?mode=beta&id=16

But it will only work for 45 days.

Trevor

Perhaps I will get some ppl that are more hard core who will state wtf, but I like Stylemaster from westciv a lot. I use it with dreamweaver 8 and of course I can use notepad etc or any of the others mentioned. In fact I think I have tried them all But for the most part I find it useful and lots of features.

Those are mainly for web development, but I do use notetab as my all around editor for just text. I don't like mixing different text editors to force them into an all in one text editor. I have several different ones that do differnet jobs for me and with the features I'm looking for.

Just my two cents worth.......

Hey, Trevor, is Webcoder 2005 FinalBeta 2 newer that v5 then? if so, have you tried using that help file w/ v.5.0 at all?
what's up w/ the 45 days? he just wants you to be satisfied and ready to go w/ the current stable release by then or something i guess?

there are a few things that i don't like about WebCoder, but in all, it's what i've been using thanks to your recommendation. my fave is the ability to customize the buttons/ toolbars.

can't get the "quick edit" to work though-- "crashes" i guess you could say , although the app doesn't shut down. does it work for you, and if so, what is it?

you've obviously been using it longer than i-- do you recommend any special fave aspects of it which i might want to check out but i might not have realized exists, or simply haven't tried yet?

inspired by WebCoder, i decided to try Eclipse/PHPEclipse, which seems like the ultimate freak show of one sick IDE, but something's not jiving w/ my system and it's crashing, although i am able to edit and save files-- it just bugs me that it's obviously not working right.

not sure what ya mean by that, T1138.

I haven't tried it, I'll paste them over right now!

Hey, what dya know, it worked! I pasted the 3 files (php_manual_en.chm, viewhlp.chm and WebCoder.chm) inot the help directory.

2005 is later than v5. It's now at finalbeta 4 btw.

The 45 days is because he has the intention of charging for 2005 as shareware, approx $20 I think. That's because he was a teenager when he wrote the app, and now he needs to buy his own food. It was charge for it or or abandon. He has a very strong user base, theoverwhleming majority have agreed to pay, I think to get the next version.

It was a bit flaky for me too in v5 (and he admitted it was a first try) but it is rock steady in 2005. Also, the preview in Mozilla was flaky, but now with the Active X add-in, it works fine.

Not really. My main change was to alter the color scheme for the parser, I'll attach it here, just paste it into your data ... settings ... syntax directory along with the default.

I suppose the way you can customise it so much, F8 to load the dialog and you can find the place to change the settings for the syntax coloring.

2005 will trawl through included and linked css php etc files to find variables, names etc for autoproposal.

I found I had to install Apache/MySQL/PHP myself, and whilst it took ages to get it working, it now does.

Trevor

hey, thanks for that! that's very cool, and human of you.

Have any of you tried Quanta Plus? It's open source and seems to be very good.