Tiffany B. Brown

a mish-mosh of stuff

What’s your favorite text editor or IDE?

When I first started doing freelance coding, I used a ‘borrowed’ version of HomeSite. Eventually my conscience got the better of me (plus HomeSite’s publisher was acquired by Macromedia and HomeSite was dumped), and I went searching for a free editor to replace HomeSite (since I was broke and all).

First I tried 1st Page, which worked well enough. But I ran into some limitations with the software (if I remember correctly, it was its poor handling of FTP), prompting a switch. The replacement? HTML Kit.

HTML Kit was good. Hell, it is good. It’s a program I have enthusiastically recommended. However, when I loaded it on to my new computer for the first time, my antivirus software alerted me of a buffer overflow problem. Buffer overflows can be due to programming errors, or they can be maliciously designed to corrupt data. I wasn’t sure, but I gritted my teeth, said a prayer for my system and continued using the software (with no major problems from what I’ve observed). I have been on the lookout for a free replacement ever since. Besides, HTML Kit is not open source.

Based on Shelley Power’s recent post, I decided to give the open-source package Eclipse a try. Eclipse is designed for Java programming with plenty of plug-ins that expand its capabilities. But after three days, I still couldn’t figure out how to best configure it for my needs. After a quick Google search, I found my next candidate.

I installed jEdit over the weekend. So far, so good. Like Eclipse, jEdit is Java-based, free, and open source. It’s got the standard feature set of any good editor: syntax highlighting, automatic tag closing, and scads of plugins. You can add plug-ins to get SFTP/FTP capability, parse your PHP, clean up your HTML or manage your bookkeeping. jEdit also formats your code as you type. My if…else loops have never looked prettier.

For now, it looks like jEdit will by new development weapon of choice. But I’m curious: What’s your favorite editor and why?

• Related: List of text editors from Wikipedia

• Technoratism: , , ,

  • lee
    I'm just starting out on the development trail, and coming from more of a design background, I thought that dreamweaver would be more suitable with all its chunky bits. But I find myself wanting to code everything,certainly not layout design as dreamweaver was partly designed for. If you stick to the code view it makes for a perfectly good text editor,with constant validation.
  • I know this is an old post, I'll add my 2 cents in anyway. I'm not a big fan of Dreamweaver either, the code it generates is far too bloated. That goes double for Front Page. In general, I'm not a big fan of any WYSIWYG editors. I hand cade everything.

    I searched high and low for an editor to suite my needs (I develop the back end of web applications more so than the front). I ran across Textpad (http://www.textpad.com) about 3 years back. It's excellent if you are looking for a general text editor for a variety of languages...HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP, PHP, Java, C++, etc...
  • david s.
    give a look to a free tool called crimson editor at www.crimsoneditor.com. very good windoze tool, VERY GOOD, except lacks SFTP and code folding.
  • I use CodeCharge Studio for nearly all my Web programming. It is primarily for sites which have database backends and can generate code in Perl, PHP, VBScript, C++, JScript and (I think) ColdFusion, and it can add SSI security if needed. Although its WYSIWYG isn't the greatest, nor does it have the ability to edit CSS in anything other than a text-mode, it can create database-based pages extremely quickly and easily, and has a built-in browser so all work can be done within the interface.
  • That's weird, I sort of brought this up in my last post.

    I'm not a coder by any stretch of the imagination (dabbling in php and javascripts edits). However, I prefer to code my web pages manually. I've recently swtiched from Metapad to Notepad2.

    For blogging, I also use a template of my individual page in Dreamweaver to preview posts that have additional layout considerations (lists, pics, etc). I've actually begun to like some of the shortcuts DW affords.
  • AG
    Yes, I do most of my work in the shell environment, hence 'vi' is the preferred choice. I do very little work on windows boxen.
  • By prototyping, I meant something maybe one more step down the road than wireframing where the decorations matter. Though I find it useful for wireframing as well since they properly implemented CSS2 support in MX 2004.

    Also, I forgot that there are several plugins for Visual Studio.NET (Perl and PHP for a couple) so its not totally useless to non .NET developers.
  • i think the dislike for dreamweaver comes from its size and feature set. in trying to be all things to all people (designers and coders), it has become too big for it to either thing well. i liked homesite. i don't like dreamweaver.

    as for prototyping: i find that a basic, 'decoration free' css/html layout works really well for wireframing.
  • Wow, there seems to be so much dislike for Dreamweaver these days. I use it as a HTML/CSS text editor and programming tool for JSP, PHP, and ColdFusion. Say what you want about the WYSIWYG part, but it is really useful and time-saving for prototyping layout details without switching to a web browser after every small edit. Just don't (EVER!!!) rely on it to generate any scripts or code. Also, there is a coder mode that hides a lot of the bells and whistles. Homesite was merged into Dreamweaver when Macromedia bought Allaire and coder mode is basically Homesite++.

    Most of my real work is done in Visual Studio.NET though (Dreamweaver is horrible for .NET). I haven't used any IDE that comes close overall (I have mainly used things like Eclipse and Emacs). The 2005 version finally puts out decent XHTML compliant code, but I'll stick with Dreamweaver for that. Obviously if you don't do .NET then this isn't an option.

    As for Open Source stuff, I always liked Bluefish (Linux) and Notepad 2. I normally need something that is at least capable of templating though, and I haven't found many open source apps that so it as well and Dreamweaver.
  • Jay
    Yes Tiffany, 98% of my work is on Linux/Unix. If I were a Windows person, SciTE would probably be my weapon of choice.
  • Do you guys -- er, the Vim/Vi users -- develop exclusively on Linux/Unix?
  • AG
    Regarding editors: I second that 'vi' motion. Though I've heard people rave about emacs too ;)
  • Jay
    vi/vim on my linux/unix boxes; either gvim or SciTE on windoze....
  • I have tried all kinds of editors from Zend IDE to plain old notepad and I keep coming back to vim... granted it doesn't have all the doodads and plugins (though the phpdoc plug in is sweet) of others... but I work so much easier in it.
  • I code by hand, but Notepad/TextEdit and the like just gets in the way. I'm on a Mac and have the opportunity to use TextMate, which I take full advantage of (http://www.macromates.com/). It's a beautiful solution, providing for some serious productivity boosters in snippets and macros that are genuinely comfortable to use!

    M.T.
  • Dreamweaver is a bloated mess for anything other than WYSIWYG coding. I don't know anyone who uses it as a text editor/programming tool. Sometimes I wonder WTH was Macromedia thinking?
  • These days, I either use Notepad++. Before that, I used Metapad, and before that, just plain old Notepad packaged with Windows.

    I'm a purist. Looking at Dreamweaver and all those extra widgets is frustrating when I just want to hammer out a simple page or make a quick edit.
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