Text Editor Reviews

Hi

Inasmuch as it is a Linux offering, no.

Trevor

Speaking of Linux (osX, too), Cooledit is um, way cool. From the Debian package description,

Cooledit is written by Paul Sheer, author of the "Rute Users Tutorial and Exposition", aka RUTE—the primo Linux tutorial.

If I didn't use Gnu Emacs, the extensible self-documenting text editor, Cooledit would likely be my choice.

If you run *nix or osX, you should definitely check it out. Sorry Win users, if you don't use Emacs, you can't run Cooledit so you're stuck with lesser editors.

cheers,

gary

hey gary,

i'm sneaking this in here cause i want to try this CoolEdit-- if for no other reason than i've used an audio app of the same name, which is indeed cool itself.

i've been thinking about putting a *nix OS on one of my HDD's. do you have any experience w/ running a dual OS (switchable at bootup) using XP and, Linux for example? if so, what do you recommend i do to get started? i suppose i can use it to my advantage that i have the working XP for downloading what i need, yes?

thanks!

I searched the forum and found out there is no link to my favorite...
Try PsPad http://www.pspad.com/ I use it for almost everything Its free and powerful. (and from my country, so im very proud of it

Looks interesting, I'm gonna take a look. It has many features my current editor doesn't.

Just loaded it.

Promising. Wonder if it uses the SynEdit core?

Trevor

sorry I never heard about SynEdit, try send a mail to the author nad ask, but I think its programmed from the very beginning in delphi, and does not extends "SynEdit". At least I dont know about it.

Hi Jeff,

I've not tried a dual boot setup, though it is very common and apparently not that difficult using one of the Linux boot loaders. To give Linux a try, get Knoppix. It runs Linux from a CD.

If you decide to install a Linux distro, I highly recommend Debian. It's said to be a little more difficult to get started, but I can tell you it is an absolute breeze to administer and has a very competent community support. Ubuntu is a Debian type distro, said to be very newbie friendly.

If it weren't for IE, I wouldn't even have Windows. Fortunately, I can run Emacs in Win, so I'm good to go.

cheers,

gary

thanks! so, does that mean that i can basically just put Knoppix on a CD, reboot, and try some Linux stuff (like the editor mentioned above, for instance) w/out even worrying about a HDD install?

Yep knoppix runs completely from CD creating a RAM drive if I remember correctly, not sure if you can install stuff though, probably can but only for duration of the session. SuZi also has a bootable CD version which leaves behind two smallish config files on the root partition so that your basic settings are remembered next time you boot it.

Both are great for getting a flavour of just why Linux has not taken off in a big way and how it's possible to make desktops that are completely baffling (sorry just antagonizing a certain linux lover ) I getting to love Linux really and shortly will be getting a Mac OSX 10.4 thingy then my windows days will be well and truly behind me; that is until that inevitable call to fix someones broken Win98 OS.

Beware if proposing to dual boot Windows and Linux it ain't that simple and can be fraught with many problems so it is imperative that you prepare very carefully before proceeding and study and follow instructions to the letter otherwise you will find you've scrambled your windows boot sector, anyways it used to be a nightmare but it's been a while since I've performed it so it may well be much smoother nowadays.

cool. i think the Linux thing is going to be put into the "i'll get to it someday" category for now, but i'm really happy to learn that it will be fairly easy to take 'er for a test run.

anyway, as far as editors go-- I'm really quite pleased and impressed w/ TSW WebCoder 2005 (for WinXP) and i find that i like it more and more, the more i use it-- especially because of the PHP / MySQL real-time integration w/ a MySQL testing server on localhost, and not to mention the CSS features. (PHP Developers should DEFINITELY check out WebCoder!!)

but, where do we draw the line between "text editor" and "HTML IDE"? i find it difficult to put WebCoder in the "text editor" category, and there's really too much there for just editing text-- i still edit all of my text/ASCII files in EditPlus because it's precisely what i need for that purpose-- a great search/ replace feature and otherwise no-nonsense.

You're not alone I also use this editor. When I decided make websties based on xhtml+css I got rid Dreamweaver of, and switched to PSpad.
It's my favourite editor.
I'm really looking forward to this feature:

http://forum.pspad.com/read.php?f=2&i=9306&t=8976#reply_9306

Clip list in panel
Now we got clip list by ctrl+space and it's very usefull but sometimes I'd be able to choose it from list). Anyway I recommend this editor.

Greetings

I think I will go ahead and join the ranks. I am using Notepad2 and love it, unfortunately it is not Mac-based, so I have been on the search for a good editor for Mac. I tried Taco HTML Edit and used it for a while until I read a recent post about BBedit's free TextWrangler. TextWrangler is my new favorite for Mac.

- r

* Syntax coloring and function navigation for ANSI C, C++, HTML/XHTML, Fortran, Java, JavaScript, Object Pascal, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python, Rez, Tcl, TeX, Unix shell scripts, and XML. Improved!
* New! Shebang (#!) menu offers integrated access to Unix scripting environments such as Perl, Python, shell scripts, and more
* New! Develop your own TextWrangler plug-ins or syntax coloring modules now with "Codeless Language Modules"
* New! Direct Integration with native Perl environment, as well as Python and Unix shell scripts
* Automatic language guessing and User selectable per/document language setting for supported languages
* Built in function scanner allows easy navigation of source code
* Integration with Mac OS X developer help
* Ability to function as an integrated external editor with Xcode

CSE HTML Validator Lite
FREE - No Adware & No Spyware

According to the web site...
"...In addition to checking HTML syntax, CSE HTML Validator Lite can also:

• Check spelling.
• Quickly change all tags and attributes to lowercase.
• Automatically place quotation marks around all attribute values.
• Strip HTML tags from HTML documents, leaving only the text.
• Quickly change all the headers and/or footers of every page of your web site when you design your pages using the template tool.

..."
I didn't even realize that i had it (so i have no testimonial), but it looks to be a pretty nifty little lightweight IDE. It was installed along w/ NuSphere PHPEd, so it is likely at least worth the price. NuSphere is a premier php dev IDE w/ a high neato-factor for installing its own "web server", and PHP!

by the way-- if you're interested in learning PHP, but "all thumbs" when it comes to advanced software installations, and O/S management - yet maybe you seek an opportunity to try it? then PHPEd is for you! just d/l, install, and you've got a working development version of PHP and a web server! (no, i don't work for NuSphere-- heck, i don't even use the product myself! just wanted to spread the news)

[/]

I've been using Homesite since 1998, and I'm still clinging to v5.5.

However, I'd like to change in favor of a more PHP-oriented editor. TS Webcoder sounds very interesting, but I have recently been recommended PSPad, which seems very interesting (Project management among others...)

Has anyone tested both of these programs ? What about stability, and memory usage ? I'm looking for something lightweight and stable (working on 180 Mb RAM + Win2K)...

Sorry I'm new here and new to CSS. :?: Someone i think mentioned it but i don't remember where.
Which of these text editors can actively show me the changes that I'm making to a CSS file?
I never thought about it until today when I looked at the css of a web page with AIS Web accessibility toolbar. I could change anything in the style sheet and as i typed the changes would show up.

You're not going to be able to do that in an editor - it has to be in-browser for the changes to take effect immediately. You can do the same in Firefox if you have the WebDev extension installed (works better than the AIS toolbar).

OK. Actually I have the Web Developer 1.0.2 for Firefox. But I tried to find something comparable to it for IE. I found a toolbar from MSDN, but that was terrible. The AIS is the best I've found so far.
I've only worked with FrontPage in the past. (That will change pretty soon after reading posts in this forum). So when I began learning CSS and hand coding I continued to use FP, but only in code view. I can have the CSS file in one tab and the html preview page in another, and can toggle between them.
Out of all the text editors that were mentioned, which would be the easiest to use & be better than my current method?

right now im using tsWebEditor..

quite cool though..
but it seems that it doesnt support indentation for html pages...

or am i missing out something?

Thanks all!
I finally moved away from FP :-({|= and now using Homesite (Dreamweaver) that someone mentioned earlier on. Since I'm still learning it's very helpful. It has a built in reference library for all tags in html, css and a lot more.

Also Notepad2 is great. It replaces my old Windows Notepad, not just when I need to make a quick change in code, but everything else as well.

I generally use my Mac these days and can't do without Smultron.

On Windoze I really like Araneae.

Both have more elegant than average UI's, syntax highlighting, code snippets and other nice little touches (without the everything and the kitchen sink approach of Dreamweaver).

TopStyle/TopStyle lite will allow you to "preview" CSS changes in real time.

I'm surprised no one here has mentioned Visual Web Developer Express 2005. I usually use EditPlus, or PHPDeveloper (or PN, gvim, notepad2, VS, depends what I am making i guess) but I recently discovered VWDE while needing to make some asp .net pages.

It has no syntax highlighting for PHP (no surprise), but it is great for html and css as it auto fills and creates tags (and attributes), auto formats and indents, validates your code as you write it (like a spell checker). It is essentially a light weight version of Visual Studio for web development in html and asp .net, so it has heaps of "project" stuff and it makes it almost too easy to connect to your database if you are using SQL server.

Anyway, I generally stick to EditPlus for PHP, but if you're feeling lazy and want an editor that does half the work of html coding for you, try Visual Web Developer Express.

Is syntax highlighting where some tags are in colors?

And what does the Select Scheme do?

I just installed it... looks good.

Yes syntax highlighting is colouring of the code and of great help in training the eye in quickly, a good editor will have syntax highlighting for many languages one of my favourite lightweight editors I use for PHP (tsWebEditor) has distinct set highlighting for 22 different languages (never realised there was actually that many!) and also each is fully customizable

Thanks Hugo,

For the last couple days I've been using Notepad2 for working through the CSS lessons in "The Missing Manual". I have also installed and tried AceHtml and PsPad. Both are very good with more features than Notepad2. But I like Notepad2 because it is so straightforward. They all force me to get more comfortable with CSS and HTML. I see now that the more CSS I know the less HTML I have to write.

The longer I stay with it, the easier it gets!

Thanks again

NotePad 2 hands down.

I used Dreamweaver for many years, but as I became more proficient in coding (I'm far from being an expert in any sense of the term, but I'm better than I used to be) I found Dreamweaver's penchant for fixing my code to be troublesome. I tried most of the editors mentioned here to date, but found that none of them seemed as easy or as complete as HTML Pad.

From the HTML Pad site: "HTMLPad is a sophisticated all-in-one HTML, CSS, JavaScript and XHTML editor, trusted by thousands of professional web developers and learners in over 50 countries.

Clean and convenient interface, quick startup, true flexibility and powerful features allow you to create and edit HTML, XHTML, CSS and JavaScript code faster and easier than ever, while integrated tools enable you to validate, reuse, navigate and deploy your code in an efficient and sophisticated manner. Built-in CSS editor enables you to easily create and edit cascading style sheets of any size and complexity. Built-in JavaScript editor makes it easy to handle JavaScript."

There are actually four versions of the program: http://www.blumentals.net/htmlpad/compare.php.

HTML Pad is all I need at the moment. Some of the features I like are the "replace in files" function that allows for snippet replacement throughout a site, Tidy validation, Select Tag, Select Tag Block, Select Content (within specific tags), and CSS validation. But the thing I like the most about it is the design/layout that is built for rapid development.

It is not a WYSIWYG editor, but has a customizable split screen viewer that can be used. It also has code completion and buttons that can generate tags, customizable snippet management. It's just plan slick.

But having cut my teeth on Dreamweaver, I find that I miss Dreamweaver's handy, rapid development table WYSIWYG. Yes, there are times that tables can be used. And I find myself going back to Dreamweaver to set up or tweak a table because Dreamweaver makes it so easy. (Maybe I'm lazy. Or maybe I'm old and I don't have as much time as I used to.)

Anyway, my vote is for Karlis Blumental's HTML Pad -- http://www.blumentals.net

Phil

Wise man say...."Work smarter.. not harder"

I am coming from a Flash Actionscript background and learning javascript. I was wondering if there is a Javascript editor like the editor in Flash. Mainly with syntax highlighting but most of all the code hints. I find this helps learn the language faster. Free would be great as well....haha.

Thanks.

Most text editors have code highlighters for java built in. Check out the blurb on each. The one I use (WebCoder 2005, soon to be released as an all new 2007 .net version) certainly does, but no code hints. It costs US$30 I think.

i think the adobe homesite has code hints.
well... it had code hints before adobe bought it.

Thanks.

Just downloaded Aptana for free at http://www.aptana.com/download_all.php
I loaded it and poked around for a few and it seems to be exactly what I was looking for. I would recommend checking it out.

I've been using this pretty much since I started coding.
It's excellent!

Customisable Code highlighting for HTML, CSS, JS, PHP etc
A huge library of plugins ranging from CSS stuff to listmakers - just loads of things that make life easier and quicker.

Does all your FTP (but can't do folders - which is irritating)

Includes HTML Tidy, validators

It's free (with a paid registered option).

www.chami.com

Fat Freddy

I've used it for quite a while now, amongst others, and find recently that I'm using it more and more, as it does so much and for nada, I wouldn't bother with the registration it just seems to allow for a few extra extensions, doesn't actually improve the core editor. I wish the time tracker worked better though!

i'm having a hard time breaking away from Dreamweaver. I spend most of my time using Linux (Ubuntu & PCLinuxOS) for everything but web design. I've tried Quanta Plus. Any others out there that have gone to Linux and are trying to do web design?

I've used Vi and Bluefish in the past. Both work pretty well.
Vi is bare bones, so lots of purists like it. Bluefish is more feature rich. Depends what you prefer

I vote for Ultraedit.

Looks like Ultraedit is Windows only. In Linux, I find that Bluefish is my favorite.

I do all web development work in Linux, Debian testing.

I cannot overstate how powerful Emacs is. It has all the usual bells and whistles. You can also open your shell into a buffer and take advantage of all the *nix tools right from the editor. Emacs has native support for three concurrent versioning systems, and there is even built in calendaring/datebook with notices for folks working in groups.

Emacs may look scary at first, because it can do so much. But, you need only learn the parts you use, and there is a built in tutorial to get you started.

Emacs has been ported to more software and hardware platforms than you knew existed, so you can learn it once and use everywhere. —even legacy systems like Windows—

cheers,

gary

Garys on his favourite topic of large flightless birds :rolleyes:

I can confirm that the emu is very scary, I opened it up and ran screaming from the room.

It is all Gary claims though, just not very pleasing on the eye!

slightly steep learning curve

C'mon Hugo. We've been over this before. EMU was an application that let the TRS-80's Z80 cpu EMUlate the 6502 (I think it was). With EMU, TRS-80 owners could also run programs written for Apple machines.

Way kewl.

cheers,

gary

it's still a large flightless bird!

Actually I'm going to be good and have a half hour practise with it also when did it get supported across so many platforms?

PHP Designer

It doesn't only have syntax highlighting for PHP, but for HTML, MySQL, XML, CSS, JavaScript, VBScript, Java, C#, Perl, Python and Ruby.

Depending on what section your cursor is on in the document, PHP Designer switches the syntax highlighting to the appropriate syntax and dims the rest.

With find and replaces functions, built in code libraries, built in dictionary, and much more.

But this comes at a price of 53 USD.

As I understand it, there is only a small bit of C code to implement a Lisp interpretor, and the editor itself is written as macros in the Emacs dialect of Lisp. Windowed versions use the OS's widgets (MSFT) or an open source set of widgets such as gtk (Gimp Tool Kit).

It's this two step approach that allows easy porting to so many platforms. If you wanted, I suppose you could write the whole thing in C, and gain greater speed and a smaller footprint. OTOH, it would no longer be so extensible nor portable.

cheers,

gary

Editplus for me.

I've used it for a couple of years now, project tabs, code highlighting, built in ftp, remote working all the bits i need. I still find new features I didn't know about. It's not free, but it's dirt cheap and as I use it every day I don't mind paying. I also received a free update to the new version so can't complain. I have a version at home that I keep forgetting to enter my key into and it still works, though I really should enter my key.

pspad was mentioned, but i think it got glossed over It's syntax highlighting is fantastic and customizable really easily - I can for example open a html file, and switch it to php highlighting, or a sort of hybrid if I like as well. It has a ftp browser that ties in well, but the most important part for me is that it works well with smartftp, for editing a file thats live on a server. A lot of features I don't use, but would like too - for now I just have them turned off.

I've been using HTML-Kit & have never used anything else, except notepad a few times in the very beginning. Speaking as a beginner, I haven't run into anything causing me to consider other editors.

A few things I don't like though, are 1)that weird behavior when I'm typing 'img src' mentioned earlier in this thread, and 2) it has a Quick Preview tab that I think presents pages like IE6. In order to preview in FF, I have to mouse up to the view tool & select FF from a sub-menu, or take my hand of the mouse & hit f8.

For 1), I'm already accustomed to the behavior & it hardly through off my pace because I have to take my eyes off the working space.

However, 2) bothers me more. Not that the two motions involved in either motion to preview in FF are terrible, but they do disrupt my pace a bit. Especially considering I have to find the mouse again if when I hit f8 (my chosen method for some unknown reason).

It seems like there would be a plugin or method to change the quick view preview in preferences, but I've failed to find a tutorial or FAQS about it.

I would probably change to another (free) editor if I could quick preview in FF.

Now that I think about it more since posting, I don't like that it opens new files with doc type transitional. Thanks to reading here I like sticking to strict doc type. Only recently I thought to save a template of a bare bones layout with strict doc type I created using the generator here. So that's no longer a obstacle and wasn't really a problem with the editor itself (it's possible the default doc type can be changed & I haven't learned enough to know how).

Notepad ++ the best!

I used Dreamweaver code editor for my daily coding work due to it auto-completion and code-collapse feature, and other productivity enhancing features.

But I sometimes use Notepad++ for quick edits if I don't want to wait for Dreamweaver to load.

Sometime when I need to edit or view extremely large text files, I used TextPad. I have personally seen TextPad open up files that are too big for Notepad++ to open. No, not CSS files. I'm talking about 100+ MB MySQL backup files of databases.

Here is my list of editors.

Dreamweaver is the recommended industry standard??