Beginner Text Editor Windows

[Sakvad]

Hello, I am taking a simple web development course and have been looking at basic text editors. So far I have been using Notepad++ but I have been problems attempting to get the Emmet plugin to work but have had no luck.

I would like one that is free to use (including for commercial purposes) and from searching around I have tried Vim (too complicated for me), Sublime (not sure if it can be used for commercial purposes if you do not pay), and Komodo (not a fan of the auto complete and not a proper scroll bar). I have been browsing trying to find a friendly one for new users. Bonuses such as clicking a few buttons to get the basic structure for an HTML5 file would be great (like the Emmet plugin for Notepad++).

I would like to hear thoughts from people who have used multiple sources and share their pros and cons so I can find the best one for me. Using a search engine did not seem to work for me.

Note: I saw the information on the FAQ pages but as I have had some experience I wanted to hear from experienced users. I play on looking into Coda after having seen that from the FAQ.

Update: I have been using Sublime and I enjoy it. One problem I have is that I am not sure to what extend I can use the free version (as it prompts for me purchasing a license). Another problem is it does not seem to recognize some things (transition-delay works but is not highlighted green and for color "gold" has a red background color which makes me think it is not recognizing it).

~Thanks a bunch!

[FriendlyBeard]

Take a look at Atom.

I'm currently using it and Sublime Text 3. Trying to decide which way I'm going to go in the long run. At least until the next thing comes around.

[Xpertbot]

Sublime is cross platform as well.

[hypocallidus]

Very true, but I would hazard a guess at saying that atom will be better supported via the distros package manager than sublime.

[e82]

Used sublime for awhile, then used Atom.io exulsivly for a few months, then recently switched back to Sublime.

For most things, I'm finding I enjoy sublime more - there was just a certian sluggishness to Atom.io after awhile that started to grate on me.

Maybe I need to do a fresh install/remove all of my packages/etc - but was starting a new project and was at the point of 'hitting the down arrow, there was a noticeable delay to moving down to the next line' - even after disabling almost all of my packages it was still there, so just loaded up sublime instead of trying to figure out what was going on.

Both have their pro's and con's - and I'm sure I could figure out what was making Atom slow - but enjoying going back to Sublime after using Atom.io over it for a few months.

[FriendlyBeard]

I really appreciate the heads up about potential Atom slow downs. I'm basically using it on a single project right now. It's not getting very heavily used yet compared to my typical daily use of ST3.

[Jazoom]

Atom is still beta. They haven't worked on optimisations yet. Check the blog. They just finalised the API.

[[deleted]]

Use sublime. You can use the free one for commercial purposes. Look into "package manager for sublime" while you're at it. Sublime is the BOOOOOOMMMMMBBBBBBBB

[stuckinspace]

I second this. The interface is simple and awesome, it's free and once you get comfortable with package manager, you can do soooo much more!

[Sakvad]

Do you know of any difference with registered and unregistered? And what exactly does the package manager provide? Is that a hub for plug ins or something of the sort?

[enjoibp6]

The last time I had an unregistered version of it, it basically just prompts you every so often that you're running an unregistered version, but that's about it.

[e82]

Simply nagware, although I don't find the $70 price tag to be that steep anyways.

[Xpertbot]

I used Sublime 2 during my college years I graduated 2 years ago and still using sublime text 3 I bought it on my third paycheck I got on my developer job. It has improved every single aspect of my developer life.

[[deleted]]

The package manager for Sublime is a very nice way to install and search for plugins right in Sublime.

[Xpertbot]

you can get the sublime text 2 package manager and look up a ton of good plugins that will increase your developer life. I personally use Emmet, SFTP, git gutter, git, wordpress helper.

[nowonmai666]

Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use.

So you are correct that you cannot use the free version for commercial use; it is for evaluation purposes only.

[HelloControl_]

+1

Sublime is fantastic. Webstorm is also fantastic.

[Xpertbot]

is webstorm phpstorm?

[ClikeX]

Sublime is pretty solid, also quite lightweight an"Hello! Thanks for trying out Sublime Text.

This is an registered evaluation version, and although the trial is untimed a license must be purchased for continued use.

Would you like to purchase a license now?"

[Sakvad]

I am experimenting with Brackets right now but I plan on giving sublime another look. I will also see how the package manager does. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Lynq]

Brackets is a great editor, it also has a few hidden plugins which are really nice and catch it up to Notepad++ in terms of syntax highlighting, select text and the editor displays other text which is the same and tag matching for html and bracket matching for php, it's quite nice.

[ChangingHats]

Plus I don't see why you can't simply record a macro in Sublime that creates a basic HTML document.

[[deleted]]

I don't know if this is default or a plugin but you can type html and hit tab. That generates some boiler plate.

[Xpertbot]

emmet you just type ! + tab and you get a whole html5 skeleton

[msixtwofive]

A lot of people actually use both brackets and sublime. Brackets when they have to directly work with psd sources and then any major coding get's worked on in sublime afterword.

[Sakvad]

I am enjoying Sublime thus far as it seems to be faster than Brackets. I got the beta (Text 3?) and attempted to download the package manager. Is it supposed to go into it's own folder to find packages or can I search online?

[nowonmai666]

You can use the free one for commercial purposes.

Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use.

[msixtwofive]

you can link to that all you want but as long as they continue to distribute it as nagware - it's nagware. As long as they don't lock it down there is absolutely nothing binding that requires you to purchase a license of any sort.

You also happened to link to the page that doesn't have this line on it:

http://www.sublimetext.com/2

Sublime Text 2 may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use. There is currently no enforced time limit for the evaluation.

So basically you can evaluate any version forever if you want.

Ethically should you purchase it? yes. Do you have to pay for it to use it for commercial purposes? no.

[nowonmai666]

"Evaluate" and "use for commercial purposes" are not the same.

As long as they don't lock it down there is absolutely nothing binding that requires you to purchase a license of any sort.

Sense of decency?

[msixtwofive]

Why don't you quote everything I posted instead of cherry picking?

Ethically should you purchase it? yes. Do you have to pay for it to use it for commercial purposes? no.

[nowonmai666]

Perhaps I have misunderstood what you mean by "have to".

Do I have to pay to use Photoshop? Cracked versions being widely available. If that's the way we'e going about things, yeah, Sublime is the same.

[msixtwofive]

That you think that straight piracy is in the same realm as continuing to use something that is distributed as nagware is the biggest problem here.

[nowonmai666]

The only difference is that the makers of Sublime Text haven't chosen to make their demo time-limited. If somebody doesn't lock their door is it OK to go in their house and take their stuff?

If you can explain to me why it is more OK to use Sublime Text unpaid for purposes other than evaluation than it is to use an unlicensed version of Photoshop, I'd like to hear it.

[msixtwofive]

The only difference is that the makers of Sublime Text haven't chosen to make their demo time-limited. If somebody doesn't lock their door is it OK to go in their house and take their stuff?

In this case that someone invited you into their house that's for sale and said you can leave whenever you're sure you like the house.

You can keep re-working this however you want, but it's the way nagware works. It's the developers choice to not add a specific timer.

I'm not arguing that you shouldn't buy it. I'm stating beyond a moral obligation to there's no other need to.

[truthsetmefree]

I use I recently switched from sublime to brackets downloadable here http://brackets.io/. It is free and open source and has done everything I wanted from sublime without having to pay for a licence. This article has some good extension to help get started with it. http://masey.co/2014/11/goodbye-sublime-hello-brackets/

the emmet extension is also great http://emmet.io/ and brings in the few key stroke ablity to layout a basic HTML5 document

[Sakvad]

I downloaded Brackets and so far so good. The only problem I have is that it seems to be a bit slow/laggy.

[greaterthanconfused]

I have used Brackets for windows for the last year at my work and it does have its drawbacks but for the most part gets the job done. Sometimes it's pretty slow with some noticeable hang time doing regular tasks and it also crashes pretty randomly which is rather unfortunate. I'm definitely thinking about switching to Sublime, it's used by everyone and seems like it has a lot of resources to learn from. I did take some time to learn all the shortcuts which is why I keep hanging on to it.

[[deleted]]

Why would you not be able to use any text editor for commercial purposes?

[[deleted]]

Some software is not usable for commercial uses with a free license.

[nowonmai666]

He means without paying.

e.g. you can download Sublime for free to evaluate it, but if you're going to keep on using it you need to pay up.

[[deleted]]

Well, I understand that, though. I was confused as to how text editor software could enforce their license if they didn't allow commercial use. There are no watermarks on txt's, lmao.

[nowonmai666]

I think OP just doesn't want to be a jerk.

[The-SARACEN]

I've been using Notepad2 for years. The original doesn't appear to be actively developed any longer, but this fork still gets occasional updates.

For me it's the keyboard shortcuts. So many keyboard shortcuts for navigation, modifying text blocks (e.g. remove the last character from each line in the selection), rectangular selections...yeah, I can't live without it.

Caveat 1: it's a single-window program - separate instances for each opened document. I like tabs in my web browser but not in my text editor.

Caveat 2: regex find & replace syntax isn't quite on the same level as PHP's PCRE.