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

leglenn said:

I chose UltraEdit - love how I can expand and shrink sections of the code! And everything is automatically color-coded for me.

on Feb. 5, 2014, 5:58 p.m.
Eager2learn2 said:

I settled on http://brackets.io/ in the end,which is not included in the list.It is a free editor too.

on Jan. 24, 2014, 12:31 p.m.
Famon0914 said:

Notepad++ all the way for me!!!

on Jan. 17, 2014, 11:47 p.m.
zar said:

I fell in love with Notepad++, unfortunately I'm using a Mac and Text Wrangler is my second best free option. I tested the paid options and the interfaces are really sophisticaded (SublimeText 2 in particular). Fortunately, Text Wrangler's interface colors can be modified.

on Jan. 16, 2014, 2:48 a.m.
IrishChris30 said:

Notepad ++ for me :)

on Jan. 10, 2014, 1:18 p.m.
Priya said:

Yes! Now i'm using ubuntu machine. So I have decided to take Kate as my weapon!!

on Jan. 10, 2014, 3:39 a.m.
Sergio Romero said:

I have made my decision, NOTEPAD ++ not just because it is the first one on the list but because it was the one that did seemed to suit me. ConTEXT was the 2nd choice but lacked the Numbers for the lines, I somehow find it more appealing with the those numbers. I like to have some sort of order. The last one I had to restart my computer. No gracias, I stick to something that will simplify my existence not complicate it or make me go out of my way to attain something.

on Jan. 8, 2014, 5:21 p.m.
GENTLE JACK said:

Hi, I am using Notepad ++ and i feel it better because of the numerous features and i suggest you try it too

on Dec. 14, 2013, 2:38 p.m.
chasemckenna said:

Now that I think about it I have a Mac at home and PC at work. So I will be using Notepad++ for when I do this at work. and I will have to try some stuff out on my mac at home.

on Dec. 13, 2013, 6:26 p.m.
Tamonten said:

Notepad++ is great

on Dec. 4, 2013, 4:49 p.m.
Manuja said:

Finally, Notepad file when saved as php extension and opened in Chrome worked for me. A little complicated stuff finally solved!!

on Dec. 4, 2013, 3:16 p.m.
Manuja said:

With Windows Environment, I downloaded Notepad++. It looks good to me, and its free to download.

on Dec. 4, 2013, 10:37 a.m.
USGuardian said:

TextWrangler is working good for me...

on Nov. 24, 2013, 8:47 a.m.
Dave A. Koch said:

I've decided to go with ConTEXT. it may be a bit tough. But we will see.

on Nov. 23, 2013, 5:17 p.m.
Anomaly said:

For my Text Editor I chose TextWrangler. I chose it because it just seems easier for me to work with and I really like how it looks and feels.

on Nov. 21, 2013, 7:12 p.m.
Jackson Isaac said:

Xcode for Mac OS X is awesome, just as vim in Linux :)

on Oct. 25, 2013, 11:19 a.m.
Saša said:

Notepad++ picked me

on Oct. 23, 2013, 6:22 p.m.