#3 Choose Your Weapon

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Task Navigation 

Let the Editor Choose You


Find the best text editor option available for your operating system

Depending on the operating system that you're using, you'll have different options available to you in terms of which text editor you can install.Some of these editors are not free, but we've listed them because they're robust and available for a short period in a trial mode. Trying them out won't cost you anything financially.

 
There are many more text editors available for each platform and we'd encourage you to search around if none of the editors on this page choose you.
 
If you're running Windows –
  • Notepad++ 
  • ConTEXT
  • E Text Editor
 
If you're running OS X –
  • TextWrangler
  • TextMate
  • Sublime Text
 
If you're running Linux –
  • Gedit
  • Kate
  • Bluefish
 
Spend the next hour or so trying out the various text editors available for your operating system. With each one create a file called 'helloworld.html'. Into that file you should enter the html that you wrote by hand in the previous challenge.
 
If one of the text editors feels more comfortable than the others, then congratulations; a text editor just chose you. You are now a fierce webcraft warrior and you now have your trusty sword.
 
Spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Task Discussion


  • mixmaxmin said:

    I have settled with Notepad++ I am not a high end web developer and I need a simple inteface which can also do some monitoring for me - ensuring tags are properly closed. It can be used to code other protocols as well. There are probably better and more comprehensive tools but for what I plan to do Notepad++ is fine.

    on April 26, 2013, 5:58 a.m.

  • Anonym said:

    As far as text editing goes you can't beat Vim. That bloated cow that RMS preaches about is good too but you could develop RSI or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome after awhile.

    on April 25, 2013, 5:51 a.m.

  • Matthew said:

    I found the 920 text editor on android, seemed like it had the best reviews so will see how I get on with it. 

    on April 22, 2013, 9:34 p.m.

  • Mandy Real said:

    Sublime Text it is for me! I like the minimalist look though visually appealing. 

     

    on April 15, 2013, 9:45 a.m.

  • Agamos said:

    I´ll keep on using TextWrangler, basically because

    1. I´m familiar with it and
    2. some of its integrated features, like the FTP client.

    To see the job done...

    on April 11, 2013, 6:59 a.m.

    mixmaxmin said:

    I've just tried this on Mac and found it to be very good.

    on April 26, 2013, 11:28 p.m. in reply to Agamos

  • Vicky said:

    I was a previous user of editors as Coffee Cup, Hot Dog and DreamWeaver. Right now I am playing with Kopmozer because if I have a quick post that I want to write, I copy it into there and publish it.

    I like Thmible also but since playing with NotePad and all the plugins available it is a great tool. 

    on April 4, 2013, 11:22 p.m.

  • chad said:

    Hello Everyone,

    My main OS (operating systems) are Linux and BSD (an offshoot of Unix). On these platforms I use VIm, Emacs, and gEdit, as my code editors. I sometimes use Bluefish and Arachnophilia as well.

    All of the above have numerous features and plug-ins that work in many different computer languages and make code writing and editing a breeze.

    I also use the IDE (Integrated Development Enviornment) NetBeans. IDE's are for the more advanced programmer, but I believe they should be introduced early on in one's programming education. Hopefully we'll see that in future lessons. The IDE Eclipse is also pretty good.

    Occasionally, but not too often, I work on a Windows box, and there I use NotePad++. It is by far one of the best applications of its kind.

    All of the above mentioned software is free!

    When dealing with HTML, I NEVER use WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get), editors like Dreamweaver or Kompozer. They muck-up the code quite a bit and make it extremely difficult to fix and or or edit on larger sites.

    Chet

    That's a Blog!

    on March 31, 2013, 5:18 p.m.

  • Aggie said:

    Sublime text 2 is definently one hell of a text editor its my favorite !

    on March 18, 2013, 10:59 a.m.

    Vicky said:

    I heard good things about it but it is only free for a certain period of time

    on April 4, 2013, 11:23 p.m. in reply to Aggie

    Eenvincible said:

    It is not just free, it is actually free forever as long as you use the evaluation version. You can keep evaluating it until you decide to buy it!

    on April 13, 2013, 10:04 p.m. in reply to Vicky

  • v4lent1na said:

    I've been playing around with HTML ever since I started coding when I was 14 years old and back then I used Netscape Composer to do it.

    My editor of choiche is Text Wrangler, but I would like to mention Thimble, a new web-based editor by Mozilla. You can find it here: https://thimble.webmaker.org/en-US/

    I like it. It's lightweight, beautifully crafted and no dowlonad required.

    on March 18, 2013, 8:03 a.m.

    Steve said:

    Thanks for sharing this mozilla editor, I do not know and it seems very interesting.

    on March 20, 2013, 7:10 p.m. in reply to v4lent1na

    KHLS97 said:

    I am officially in love with Thimble.  Thank you for introducing it to me!

    on March 27, 2013, 8:49 p.m. in reply to v4lent1na

    vgvenkat said:

    awesome! thanks for introducing it

    on March 31, 2013, 1:19 a.m. in reply to v4lent1na

    ReyDothard said:

    Thank you for sharing.

    on April 15, 2013, 5:13 p.m. in reply to v4lent1na

  • Rodolfo De Nadai said:

    Since i'm linux user now i already text various text editor and for sure my work and day by day editor is Sublime Text 2...

    Easy to use and alot of plugins... i used gedit which is pretty good for noobs...

    In windows Notepad++ is the best, the guys here in the office that using windows almost all of them migrate to Notepad++. 

     

    cheers

    on March 15, 2013, 3:12 p.m.

  • zuizui_123 said:

    Notepad++

    on March 11, 2013, 6:16 a.m.

  • Jae said:

    I'd like to work with Linux I have heard good things about it, but will settle for what I have for now.

    on March 9, 2013, 7:16 p.m.

  • Anonym said:

    Notepad ++ seems like it will be my choice for now.

    on March 5, 2013, 6:12 p.m.

  • n3on3ko said:

    Looks liek it will be notpad++ for me.

    on March 5, 2013, 12:17 p.m.

  • Vinicius Munhoz said:

    Why Sublime Text 2 is on the Mac list but not in Windows or Linux? It is a very good editor. I'm using it for 2 years, and I can't go back to notepad++ anymore, hahaha. Sublime has a timeless evaluation period, so you can use for a long time before deciding to buy or not.

    on March 2, 2013, 7:24 p.m.

  • Flux Capacitor said:

    I think this says it all: 

    on March 2, 2013, midnight

  • bayeauxguy said:

    Apparently I was not the only who confused those two tasks! wink

    on March 1, 2013, 1:09 a.m.

  • Tarcisio Nunes said:

    I use Notepad++ for all my plain text edition, but for HTML edition I use Bluefish.

    on Feb. 27, 2013, 5:55 a.m.

  • Casey Benefield said:

    Whoops. Looks like I did that step in the previous step not realizing it. Here's a blog post :)
    http://thinkblogged.blogspot.com/2013/02/text-editors.html

    on Feb. 27, 2013, 1:05 a.m.

  • SoSaysDawn said:

    For  now it appears NotePad++ it is.

    on Feb. 26, 2013, 9:44 a.m.