Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
On a Quest for a Superior Windows Text Editor
Author: Micah Alpern Posted: 6/16/1999; 9:58:54 PM Topic: On a Quest for a Superior Windows Text Editor Msg #: 7477 Prev/Next: 7476 / 7478
Hi, I'm a recent Mac convert and I'm looking for a text editor to use on my Windows machine that can approach the level of excellence I've come to except from BBEdit. Notepad simple doesn't cut it (see list bellow). I thought I might ask the Scripting News community if they had any suggestions. The best I've found so far is Homesite, but even it falls short in some important respects. Here are a list of feature that I consider essential in any good text editor. I'd appreciate any suggestions people might have. Thanks.Features I except in a Good Text Editor
(should be easy right? sure…)1. A clean, elegant interface
If you close most of the optional windows, Homesite almost makes it2. Syntax Coloring, for Perl, C, C++, Tcl/tk, Python, HTML, etc.3. A nice line count feature
4. An integrated FTP client
I don’t care if it’s in the OS or a feature of the program, but I need to be able to access remote files on a Unix system without opening another program.5. A really good find and replace feature
Must have regular expression support, search/replace across multiple files at once6. Blink back closing parentheses when right bracket is typed
Critical for debugging programs
Homesite lacks this feature
7. A split screen option, nice for viewing disparate code on one screen at the same time
8. A good spell checker
9. Soft line wrap, on off
10. Convert spaces to taps and vice versa
(work around- could do with find/replace)11. Optional Emacs key bindings
12. Scriptable
13. The ability to have more than one physical window open at a time
I can’t believe I have to put this on the list, but homesite can't do it. It uses file tabs, so can't have more than one open at once.14. A nice compare function
There are responses to this message:
- Re: On a Quest for a Superior Windows Text Editor, Nicholas Riley, 6/17/1999; 6:36:52 AM
This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:50:51 PM.
© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.