31 replies to this topic

[sithum]

Hi friends,
I have been using Notepad ++ for a while now.
Just wondering, maybe their is a better editor?
It needs to be able to work with CSS/JS/PHP.
Someone recommended to me Bluefish Editor...
I don't have time to be trying numerous software, what are other web developers using? I appreciate any input.

[djbaxter]

<sub>I use Dreamweaver, personally, in split Design/Code view.

However, for fast edits, my go to program is the freeware Crimson Editor: http://www.crimsoneditor.com/</sub>

[NyteOwl]

I generally find my favorite ascii text editor does fine. Notepad++ is decent in Windows, though I've sued Brief for both programming and site editing.

In Linux and BSD i've used  EMACS, Vi, Joe - all work well.

Basically it depends on your likes and dislikes.

The last HTML/CSS specific IDE I used was Homesite till they sold it off and it got ruined. I gave up on such long ago as I was tired of having to back and fix the code they generated.

[primatology]

I used to love Notepad++, but it's seriously bloated and not well-designed. It amazes me that it has such a large following--I don't know what half the buttons do, half of the features I am aware of are slow and/or useless, menus are illogically organized, and capitalization is inconsistent throughout the interface. Plus, the default styles are wacky. I want a monospaced font throughout my code, and syntax highlighting should be limited to color and weight. Not the stupid Comic Sans that's used in CSS and comments. Drives me nuts. It does, however, get the job done.

On Windows, my favorite editor is by far Notepad2. It's just one executable, so it's easy enough to cart around on a flash drive, and it's pretty compact. Syntax highlighting works wonderfully out of the box, it has the features you need (and avoids the ones you don't), and the interface is nice and consistent. It's not an IDE by any means, so you'll have to look elsewhere if you want a more integrated approach. For my uses, though, it's spot-on.

Edited by primatology, 03 August 2010 - 11:24 AM.

[IBBoard]

I've not used an IDE for web design in...at least five years, if not more. They're generally too heavy and badly coded with poor quality output. Dreamweaver has gone standards compliant, from what I know, but it is way too expensive (I could afford it with about a 100% discount!). Most other IDEs seemed to take IE's view on the web, which was always horrendously broken, or took their own view that didn't seem to match anything else.

On the other hand I could whip things up in Notepad in Windows or gEdit/Geany in Linux, write the CSS myself and know that a) it would work, b) Firefox and any other standards compliant browser would render it almost exactly how I thought it would be rendered on the first go, c) it would be compact, d) it would be accessible and e) it wouldn't be full of cruft that the IDE thought was necessary but which looked like a terrible mess when you viewed the source.

[jenbooks]

IBBoard, on 03 August 2010 - 01:49 PM, said:

full of cruft that the IDE thought was necessary but which looked like a terrible mess when you viewed the source.

Oh man you ain't kidding.  I tried out iWeb, and it was *horrible* and a pain to use at that.  Dreamweaver now - wow.  It is really great and doesn't stomp in your code.

Still, a good text editor is all you need.  I like TextWrangler for OSX - has great syntax highlighting for different kinds of code, and a powerful find/replace tool.

For Windows, I remember UltraEdit being great.

[war59312]

NotePad2 for the win!!

Nice and simple!!

Though I am using atm an old beta with code folding @ http://code.kliu.org/misc/notepad2/

Edited by war59312, 03 August 2010 - 08:30 PM.

[jednorozec]

NyteOwl, on 03 August 2010 - 11:05 AM, said:

I've sued Brief for both programming and site editing.

Why do you want to sue Brief?

[NyteOwl]

LOL my standard typo Brief is a nice editor (for windows). Slickedit is nice too. Though they were dfesigned for programming rather web design.

[jednorozec]

I used Brief in the dark ages before Windows. It was the best programmer's editor around at the time. I still run a Brief emulation whenever it's available. How can you not like a company that was called Underware.

[IBBoard]

Not sure if it'll be quite so amusing outside the UK, but I just read jed's post as "I used briefs in the dark ages before Windows" and wondered what his operating system had to do with his preferred form of underwear

[NyteOwl]

ROFL!

[jednorozec]

IBBoard, on 06 August 2010 - 01:40 PM, said:

Not sure if it'll be quite so amusing outside the UK, but I just read jed's post as "I used briefs in the dark ages before Windows" and wondered what his operating system had to do with his preferred form of underwear

If you ever tried to write a program for Windows 1.0 you'd probably wet your pants.

[Nepherim]

My new favorite text editor: Geany

[IBBoard]

I agree - I've made it my standard replacement for gEdit in Gnome I've even got it built for openSUSE on the openSUSE build service with the extensions so that I can have VCS built-in. Should probably check if they've made another release recently

[tranceandy]

I still use Notepad++, very happy with the standard install

[lesture]

When I'm on Linux, I use GVim and when I am in WIndows, I like e (even though I think the name is kind of stupid.)

[MacManX]

When I'm on my Mac, I use Fraise.  When I'm on my PC, I shut it off and use my Mac instead.

[Crish Bronzs]

My vote share between Note pad++ & Dream-viewer.