#3 Choose Your Weapon

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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


  • Gary L Russell said:

    I constantly recommend Notepad++ especially when you start using the macros and it is highly customizable to adapt to coding standards.

    on July 15, 2013, 1:40 p.m.

  • AmyAmy said:

    Hi

    Bluefish for me.  It was the only one that did not look too difficult.  I put the exercise into it and the editor seems to help a lot. 

    Webcraft Warrior about to emerge  ???????

    http://amyscoolpc.wordpress.com/

    on July 14, 2013, 12:26 p.m.

  • Beth said:

    I'm going to use HTML-Kit.

    on July 9, 2013, 12:33 p.m.

  • Kronos007 said:

    I think I started to like the notepad++ in windows and I changed it to the blackboard setting as it is much easier to read.  I love the setting to change your programming language so it picks up what you are typing and change the colours to help you.

    on June 27, 2013, 12:59 p.m.

  • jewerson said:

    notepad++ seems very up to date. ive only used notepad, notepad++ is full of help functions as well

    on June 27, 2013, 12:30 a.m.

  • Nicolem said:

    Sublime Text 2! that task took some time to research all the pro's and con's of each :-) Goodluck to everyone with this task, there are some great blogs out there to help :-)

    on June 26, 2013, 4:22 a.m.

  • Anonym said:

    I have Adobe CS6 installed since I'm doing a lot of photo editing and illustrations. I'll be using Adobe Dreamweaver CS6.

    on June 22, 2013, 6:12 p.m.

  • Cristian Gomez said:

    i choose vim :)

    on June 20, 2013, 10:29 p.m.

  • MRD0981 said:

    I have OS X and tried VIM, but found Text Wrangler MUCH easier to use!  Thanks for the suggestion.

    on June 20, 2013, 11:01 a.m.

  • S1Gen said:

    Sublime Text 2 is my chosen text editor to use!

    on June 15, 2013, 11:14 p.m.

  • BlueHwyaden said:

    I decided to go with notepad++; this is because I am already familiar with how to use it.

    on June 13, 2013, 9:09 a.m.

  • Felix said:

    I couldn't believe what i saw after using Notepad++ as compared to notepad. I think i will stick to Notepad++. It's amazing!

    on June 13, 2013, 5:05 a.m.

  • randomdeveloper said:

    I have an old Mac, TextMate is trialware, Sublime Text 2 and TextWrangler are not compatible with my old Mac (OS X Leopard), so vim is my choice (in the old days my mom taught me how to use vim)

    on June 7, 2013, 9:37 p.m.

  • GENTLE JACK said:

    Upon trying notepad++ and notepad that comes the windows 7, I prefer notepad++ simply because I feel comfortable using it.

    on June 1, 2013, 5:11 p.m.

  • Yusup Saepul Rohman said:

    Already using notepad++, kate, gedit, bluefish, and now stick to vim..

    on May 31, 2013, 2:53 a.m.

  • Red_Squall said:

    I decided on two editors.. I'm not sure which one I'll be using "regularly", but they both seem to do the job for me.

    The editors that I chose were Notepad++, and Code Writer.

    Code Writer was an interesting find... I'm using Windows 8, so I went into the Microsoft market and downloaded it. It seems to work pretty good, and I like the metro styling it has.

    on May 29, 2013, 2:36 a.m.

  • Briana said:

    I usually use notepad++, but for these exercises, I've decided to try out sublime text 2. I like the darker interface.

    on May 25, 2013, 11:39 a.m.

  • Anonym said:

    I went with Notepad ++.  Simple, basic, free. 

    Also, uncomplicated, no adds, website works.  These are key criteria for me. 

    on May 20, 2013, 1:13 a.m.

  • CircaDesigns said:

    Since I'm hoping to get a little newer iMac in the next month or two, I'll stick to using Dreamweaver for now.

    on May 17, 2013, 2:22 p.m.

  • MeteorMick said:

    I'm liking Sublime Text, partly because it's cross-platform, and I have several different computers that I use regularly. I'm a little dubious of the price tag, though.

    I also like Notepad++, but that wouldn't work for my non-windows machines.

    on April 29, 2013, 6:02 p.m.

    Denise Cheek said:

    I am running into the same problem MeteorMick, I have an iMac and a Laptop PC and work on both of them, but I'd hate to pay for anything right now.  I may later if it does seem like it will become a problem.  For now I am using Text Wrangler on my main computer (the iMac).

    realcheekydesign.wordpress.com

    on May 14, 2013, 4:43 p.m. in reply to MeteorMick