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Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

carrot63
Grafter
Posts: 599
Registered: ‎12-07-2007

Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

I'm a Mac user with little experience of Windows software, but I'm going to be doing some web/CMS work in a Windows environment and I'm looking for a few suggestions on good tools for that platform based on others experiences:
A text editor. A decent one, not notepad or MS word in text mode but something along the lines of BBedit on a Mac, that offers tag balancing, regex find/replace, the ability to turn text wrap off etc. Built in FTP would be useful but not essential.
A visual webpage editor. A sort of "dreamweaver very light". Nothing flash, but something that will do simple layout, understands CSS, outputs clean code and offers a switch from layout to code view. I normally use Dreamweaver, but it's overkill for this (and the budget!). It's mainly for generating snippets of code quickly, not laying out whole pages.
I'll only be using it for a short while, so I'm looking for options that are reasonably inexpensive, probably shareware.
Any suggestions for personal favourites you have experience of would be much appreciated.
18 REPLIES 18
zubel
Community Veteran
Posts: 3,793
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎08-06-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Notepad++ is a great little editor
UltraEdit is another one.
Textpad is a commercial offering
HTH
B.
carrot63
Grafter
Posts: 599
Registered: ‎12-07-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Barry, thanks for that. Notepad++ looks like it fits the bill nicely.
Denzil
Grafter
Posts: 1,733
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

<a href="http://www.kompozer.net/">Kompozer</a> is quite good as a WYSIWYG web editor and it's free.
bobpullen
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 16,869
Thanks: 4,950
Fixes: 315
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

I use Editpad Lite.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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benl
Newbie
Posts: 11
Registered: ‎09-08-2008

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Text Editor, I used textpad.  You are suppose to pay but the trial never runs out.  http://www.jedit.org/ is another one I use.  It has better regex suport and has a plugin for matching tags. 
For WYSIWYG I use the old Netscape composer.  http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ ; It's kept alive by the Sea Monkey project. 
This maybe an overkill for you are doing but you could try this http://www.aptana.com/ ; Its a full IDE.  I uninstalled it because it was too bloated for my use and it messed with my file associations. 
MikeWhitehead
Grafter
Posts: 748
Registered: ‎19-08-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

I'd recommend Notepad++, as has been mentioned previously. Can't say I really use it though - start run notepad is much easier for a lazy dev, and I don't mind about colour coding.
Edit: Decided after writing this that I was just being a little TOO lazy, so i've removed MS Notepad and replaced it completely with Notepad++ - same method of starting, yet it starts a much better editor.
Prod_Man
Grafter
Posts: 287
Registered: ‎04-08-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Hello there,
I use Notepad 2 on Windows, does everything I need.
Doesn't fill the OP's original Specificaion for RegExp Searches.
As for (S-)FTP, I use WinSCP.
I like it particularly because it allows quick access to PuTTY,
when using an S-FTP Session it can save a lot of hastle & time!
As for a "Dreaweaver but Very Light", bound to be something which does what you want but I wouldn't know where to look.
I just use my Browser and a Local Web Server / Work directy on my Webspace and backup regularly.
**
With respect to creating a CMS, security is a must have for any dynamic content.
My website has caught 61 exceptions which consist of: SQL Injection, bad XSS atempts and string termination.
Nothing has got through so far Smiley
**
@MikeWhiteHead: Syntax Highlighting can save hours worth of Hair Pulling. Cheesy
If you're a well practiced developer it may not be a necessity but can be a useful visual aid.
Jim,
MauriceC
Resting Legend
Posts: 4,085
Thanks: 929
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Not quite a plain text editor, but it can be really useful as a coding tool.
PHPdesigner2007 personal
Ignore the PHP naming, it also handles CSS, Javascript, C++,HTML  A nice simple to use tool.
There is also the newer 2008 version available as a trial download - but a paid for option - no personal version

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

paulh
Rising Star
Posts: 1,283
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

i use a DOS port of vi ... but then i'm not quite right in the noodle
Ben_Brown
Grafter
Posts: 2,839
Registered: ‎13-06-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Quote from: paulh
i use a DOS port of vi ... but then i'm not quite right in the noodle


vi is made out of win though. I do prefer vim however for it's syntax highlighting and better usability.
chillypenguin
Grafter
Posts: 4,729
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

I am sad that it has taken 8 replies before someone mentioned Vim. are there no real men left on this forum. Hardcore vi programmers!!!
MikeWhitehead
Grafter
Posts: 748
Registered: ‎19-08-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Then why didn't you mention it yourself? Tongue  Real men don't use text editors - they use mind bullets to force each and every bit into memory locations Tongue
paulh
Rising Star
Posts: 1,283
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Quote from: Ben
vi is made out of win though.

i have no idea what that means ...
Strat
Community Veteran
Posts: 31,320
Thanks: 1,609
Fixes: 565
Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Any suggestions for a plain text editor?

Ohhh....these hardcore bit shufflers Undecided Wink
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