Nice list. But I Missed Bluefish for Linux.

You should have included it.

I would like to remove my comment from the previous article on here about WYSIWTF editors. This article really helped show a better selection of tools to use. My comment on the other article offended quite a few designers, but the overall concept I was trying to communicate was regarding that code coming from a WYISWTF editor is generally not valid, not going to look the same, and tends to cause more problems you’ll have to edit by hand anyways.

I’ve tried a dozen or more of these editors, including quite a few bigger ones still missing on here such as Eclipse and Netbeans, but that point aside, this is a decent list of other tools the WYSIWTF type people need to start trying out and using.

Someone else quoted the “template” example as an argument about saying hand writing out code in an interview is pointless, but it’s not that I know how many tick marks belong in the doctype, or where the xhtml source is on wc3’s website. It’s that I’m aware it exists and is just as important as the div’s and spans that make up the rest of the code on the page.

Very good!

Sorry, but what does this mean?

TextMate (Power PC Mac)

PowerPC? It works fine on my Intel-based MacBook !

gEdit in Linux works wonders for source highlighting of many different web files. I use that in a GUI environment and just plain Vi for CLI. Thanks for the post! :)

textpad! it still drives me crazy that there’s no textpad for mac…

For me it’s PSPad hands down, and I tried them all!

Best for Windows is E-texteditor - textmate bundles support, fast and cheap!

I use perfect Link [e-texteditor.com]. Alternative to Textmate on Windows, but I want Coda Panic on my Win machine…

I tried them all but the best is komodo edit, and I’m surprised you missed it
Link [www.activestate.com]

In my opinion Eclipse should be in this list too. It’s free, customizable, portable (you can use it from pen-drive if java is installed, there is also a possibility to put java on the pen but it’s more complex solution) and available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

To use Eclipse for webdesign there is a version called Eclipse PDT (PHP Development Tools) but PDT also can be downloaded as a plugin for original (base) version of Eclipse. Moreover you can install Aptana (mentioned in this article) as a plugin in Eclipse. I think that Aptana is more for HTML/CSS and PDT for PHP.

I agree with Akoi Meexx about gEdit!

very nice list overall

I use PHPDesigner (personal edition is free) for my coding and programming - it’s quite a nice editor if you’re into PHP (although it supports syntax hints/highlighting for other languages) and the commerical edition advances on that further.

Also NetBeans is something that should definitely be tried by anyone looking to start learning Java.

Or you could be hardcore and limit yourself to Microsoft Notepad :)

gVim is well worth the time it takes to learn, it’ll save you a thousand times that :)

TextMate (Power PC Mac)

TextMate is a universal binary program - it works on both Intel Mac and PowerPC

Link [www.activestate.com] is easily my favourite editor. It’s built on the Mozilla platform so it’s really easy to customise :)

I like Notepad++. It’s a great editor

Hi,

you fogot Komodo Edit and IDE, this programs are great.

I personally use both gedit and Geany in Linux, I didn’t really like the alternatives in the article when I tried them. As a text editor gedit is the Linux equivalent of TextMate (or at least the closest), it should have been included. Just google on gedit+textmate to see what I mean.

For PHP, I prefer eclipse, with the PHP library. It rocks on Windows and Linux.
Sorry, but I used to work in JAVA, and I prefer the eclipse enviroment.

I’ve been using Textpad for years, but am going to try Scriptly. Great article, as always!

Win: Topstyle, Aptana, Notepad ++
Linux: Screem, Aptana

What about Coda?!

mmm and CSSedit!?!?!

PHPEdit by waterproof …..

I use WeBuilder from Blumentals. It actually is a great editor. Like Homesite but better/more modern.
Link [www.blumentals.net]

Heeyo! Nice list there. What one do you think is the best? It would have been nice if you have had some grades or something at each editor.

I mainly use Netbeans 6 for Ruby programming witch big projects. For smaller I prefer GEdit

I agree with Matt, Komodo Edit is great!

Great follow up to the previous article. I’m a big Coda user myself. I also use CCSedit (for CSS) and I occasionally use Textmate myself. Thx.

> Felipe Diese, Matt
Exactly, Komodo is the best source code editor

Komodo has my vote too.

Thank you for this excellent arcticle.
I use a Mac and I think that Smultron is really good. It integrates perfectly with Transmit/FTP.

I’ve been using Zend Studio for years:
Link [www.zend.com]

I use it primarily for PHP but also for all my JS / HTML / CSS

I am however the only one I know who uses it, but the eclipse / aptana guys in my office don’t seem to have an advantage

Aptana is clearly better with javascript though.

Nothing better than phpDesigner when you’re working with PHP code. Everything just seems to work, and it’s stable and rarely crashes unlike many other ones.

Notepad ++ is the best win editor. My other option would be coda or textmate but since i’m not a mac fan i’, setteling for notepad++.

Hey David K:

Before you go opening your flap; READ (Or at least use the search function in your browser),

Enjoy! :)

Wow, it seems many of us Linux users got the shaft in this update as many of our applications have been overlooked. I will admit, however, that many of the applications for *Nix out there are pretty awful.

i’m using wysiwyg + css editor: dreamweaver cs3 + topstyle 3

NotePad ++ and HomeSite are tied for my all times faves. I really like skEdit (though it doesn’t seem to be updated too frequently) too, but currently I use the Aptana plugin with my Eclipse installation - it’s really groovy.

Great post!

For PHP –> Zend Developement

Scite is the best editor for me ( i’m using old Scite editor, version 1.66, but it never let me down, though, i’m missing some features like changing tab position, etc )

I use Rapid PHP… It’s very good, and is great for every kind of code editing, not only PHP.

I miss Crimson editor.

TextMate & CSSEdit combo !

Blumentals WeBuilder is great. Fast and lightweight with many features.
Link [www.blumentals.net]

Aptana Studio starts at $0, not $99 as described above. Aptana Studio community edition is open source. Aptana Studio Pro is a plugin that extends the open source edition with a few more features.

SlickEdit is very nice to, Link [www.slickedit.com]

What about Kate (for Linux)?

Two things i am missing here:
Programmer’s Notepad for Windows (www.pnotepad.org)
and Geany for Linux (geany.uvena.de).

I love them.

This would have been SO MUCH MORE USEFUL had it been a ranking rather than a review. Tell me which one is the best. I don’t have time to read 25 reviews, test them and decide on my own.

Why isn’t Link [www.scintilla.org] listed? It’s probably the biggest “competitor” to Notepad++, not to mention it also runs on Linux. Now I know you can’t list every editor out there, but good heavens, some of the editors in your list are just plain crap - slow, bulky, and inefficient. 35 USEFUL source code editors? I don’t think so. I’d suggest you actually use some of them before you claim to be “reviewing” them.

Why no Visual Studio. I realize MS isn’t th IN thing, but I love my VS2K8!!! Definitely worth a mention.

Hey, you forgot wscite.

I am currently doing a project and i have used a few tools so far. I have tried html kit, web builder, dreamweaver, topstyle, aptana, netbeans. I liked certain features of each but i like trying new things out there. I installed linux and i liked bluefish and quanta. I am currently trying microsoft visual web editor express edition 2008 and so far i am liking it. Gonna have a go with komodo edit now, see how i like that.

Notepad2 on Windows

phase5 is missing. easy, free, good! :)

For Css and Xhtml –> Pspad

I can’t count the years that I’ve used HTML Kit for, it’s a great light weight program that I couldn’t do without.

Is this the first such list of editors of this type you folks have done?
I remember requesting an IDE’s list months ago ;)

Thanks, and I’ll definitely check these out.
t3man

What about e - text editor ?
Link [www.e-texteditor.com]
Best I’ve tried so far!

Crimson Editor is the best :)

I love you SMASHING MAGAZINE :D

This list is aversome :D I am using KED which is very simple but helpful and fast text-editor.

You guys have done it again, every time I check my Netvibes, there is always something new that is just a great read.

Keep up the great work guys, you’re doing a fantastic job!

Nice list by the way :)

You left off
Ecclipse
PDT (PHP Developer Tools based on Ecclipse)
Zend Studio

I also go with E on Windows. Shame on you, you left it out! :(

I’ve got HomeSite (Macromedia) open and running right now…

Suggestion for an article: Database management applications. I use the God-awful phpMyAdmin for my MySQL databases, but there *has* to be something better. Smashing?

thanks!! i love the list. i never knew about some of them. i also use Link [www.editphponline.com] to edit php. its fast and its online.

I’d add Programmer’s Notepad - a simple one, but it’s the best notepad replacement I’ve found
Link [www.pnotepad.org]

@Ross (#13) I use Link [www.mpsoftware.dk] (6.02) and it’s got loads more features and improvements over the free (5.02) version… And Michael’s generous with his licensing too… Each license covers you at work and home (last time I read the terms anyway).

It’s got live syntax checking, and will offer completion for all variables/functions (php and user/library defined) and show the function parameters & desc in the suggestion list etc… Great for when you’re using classes and libraries. It has tonnes of features, these are just the ones I like best.

A third vote for Karlis Blumentals’ Webuilder. I’ve been using it for a good few years now, have flirted briefly with Dreamweaver, Nvu, HTML-Kit, Notepad++, etc. but I come back to Webuilder every time because it allows me to code faster and better.

I’ve used HTML Kit for about the last four years but also Aptana Studio…

Good article, but I don’t think it does justice emacs. It just barely touched the tip of the iceberg on emacs’ features.

I can not, I will not, live without CSSEdit. The only feature it does not have is the ability to drive a live preview of firefox, ie7, and ie6 in addition to it’s built-in webkit (safari). I just won’t develop without it.

I love Smultron! I believe you can still download the older versions for Mac OS X Tiger (I’m using 3.0.2). It is great. I recently discovered the project feature… makes theme development a lot easier.

“I miss Crimson editor”

I’m puzzled why you miss it. I just downloaded it last month and have just finished a heavy round of editing with it.

I started with PICO, then Notepad, but for the last several years I’ve been using Dreamweaver’s code view.

I currently use Eclipse (the PDT plugin). I like it.
But I’m considering starting to use Notepad++ with some plugins (folder browser and some more).

Nice list, btw! =)

Another vote for e-texteditor!

Ah, you saved the best for last! ;-)

If you take the time to learn vim, you will forever appreciate it. You will be able to work so fast your fingers will catch on fire.

Ouch! I gotta run put these fingers out.

I really like Link [www.jgsoft.com]

Have a look at this crazy ed.

Link [www.e-texteditor.com]

It’s “textmate for windows” or so they say. Look at the screencast and you can see things like multi line editing (within the line and not the whole line if need be)
“column mode” for editing etc.

Almost made me cry.

为什么没有EditPlus呀。我很喜欢EditPlus的。
喜欢EditPlus的可以看这个高级使用技巧视频哦——
Link [www.cnblogs.com]

——————————————————

Why haven’t “EditPlus”? It’s my favorite. If you are a firend form Chinese(Taiwan),Please read this,You will love it——http://www.cnblogs.com/JustinYoung/archive/2008/05/08/ayi03-plus-editplus.html

notepad++ for Windows rocks especially for the price (free!)

If you’re a CSS developer on Mac, cssEdit is worth it. I thought the idea of a text editor just for css sounded silly, but it totally rocks.

I use Coda on mac, but am finding TextMate more useful. Coda still doesn’t have code folding/collapsing! That should be a no-brainer for any code text editor! a major oversight and downright annoying!

sorry ,my wrong ^_^.

EditPlus in the bottom of article. .

Also a error here——a firend form Chinese（China）。 I hate my poor English. 囧rz~

It’s hard to believe that Zend Studio wasn’t in this list. How could a list of 35 … yes 35… editors be put together without including this? Was there a price point that you didn’t want to cover?

Fantastic list with some fallen faves (Homesite) for good measure. I was raised on the Notepad mentality of coding and still think it is the easiest way to test if a potential programmer “sees” the code or just knows how to drag and drop. Edit Plus is still one of the best out there and what I naturally gravitated to throughout the years. Notepad ++ is what I currently use the most with shell integration with Subversion (SVN) from the file browser. Compare functionality built in has proven valuable and its speed and customization keep me opening this program daily

On the Windows platform, another vote for the blumentals.net guys (WeBuilder and RapidPHP). I spent close to two years looking for a replacement for Homesite, trying virtually every IDE I could find. Finally found it in RapidPHP at less than half the price of (outdated) Homesite. WeBuilder is very similar, but more rounded in scripting languages it supports.

Fantastic collection of editors. I was raised on the programming mentality that the only way to learn is through notepad - you need to “see” the code rather then drag and drop. The favourite overall would be EditPlus - Fell in love since the late v1 and still use it. My current editor of choice is Notepad++ - Excellent speed - not bloated. Great shell integration with Subversion (SVN) in mind and a compare utility that has come in useful more then once or twice.

VS2K8

I mean, are you kiddin? where’s SciTe and FlashDevelop?

Eclipse should have been #1. Granted it is bigger than the others, but can do nearly everything, justifying the size.

It rules.

I’m using the Windows remake of Textmate — Link [www.intype.info]. Really happy with it, does all the PHP, JS, XHTML and CSS need and looks less cluttered and bloated than most others.

EditPlus. If you are a Windows users, check it out. It’s incredibly light, pleasant to look at and work with and supports ‘millions’ of languages (user supported community).

Another fan of Eclipse PDT, although Notepad++ is great for quick edits when you don’t want to launch Eclipse.

Where exactly is the “review” portion at? You simply posted information about each text editor. There was little “review” to this post. Very misleading title. Very disappointed.

Amen,

I’ve been teaching Dreamweaver for 5 years and I have decided to stop based on the fact that I stopped using the WYSIWTF features all together 3 years ago, I have no interest in SPRY, and many of the menus changed in the last release. I still use it as an editor for it’s search, code collapse, and FTP capabilities, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll be switching to one of these soon. I’ve been using Eclipse for AS3 development and I will be looking into the Eclipse based tools here first.

Definetely PHP designer for me! Great for php, but also for normal XHTML and CSS. However, a great list, thanks!

No Aquamacs? That’s what I am using.

Nice list. Again no review. Why not add pros and cons for each editor?

In the poll i missed coda :)

this is a great list, but I think Eclipse should have been at least mentioned. You mentioned Aptana, which is relatively new, but at the same time, Aptana released an Eclipse plugin. I’ve used a lot of editors and I think Eclipse is the real one out there for complex jobs (it has support for literally anything). Of course, not the regular editor for small html/css corrections

I use Notepad++ for HTML/PHP projects, it’s incredibly fast and smart.

You also missed ConTEXT, a free programmers editor probably similar to UltraEdit
Link [www.contexteditor.org]

EMS SQL Manager is great, Link [www.sqlmanager.net]

Been using UltraEdit since 2001 or 2002, haven’t found anything better yet. Such a wonderfull tool.

Before switching to vim I used 1st page (by evrsoft) and Arachnophilia.

I hoped to find a review of ConTEXT here. I hope you will do it next time.

Great list, will be helpful to pick a decent text editor for linux (am going to buy an asus eee for train commute editing!!)

For windows i use intype - such a light weight - fantastic little thing - its still in alpha but functionality what is available is just killer - really good!!! I love the multiple selecting / block selecting and then editing!

There are add-ons what other have written - pretty much a library available for all modern languages.

And on the mac - i use text mate.

Keep up the fantastic work guys.

Amrit.

I use Zend Studio. Great list by the way !

Mac: TextWrangler and CSSEdit
Win: TopStyle and UltraEdit

I can’t believe noone mentioned Editpad Pro yet. I think it’s one of the best kept secrets in code editors on Windows, yet I hardly ever see it pop up in lists like these. It’s a very complete editor, with lots of cusomisation options, and has an excellent search function. It supports FTP, projects, source highlighting, intelligent text editing, regular expressions and lots more.

I would’ve loved to see Editpad in this list. It’s a shame a sophisticated piece of software like that gets overlooked.

not sure if this has been mentioned in the comments… one of the best php ones.

Link [devphp.sourceforge.net]

+1 Eclipse
+1 Notepad++

I was a long time user of editplus, it’s still really nice, but a few months ago I switched to e-texteditor and I will not go back. It has certainly increased productivity.

I also use FlashDevelop for actionscript programming, it has intelligent code completion.

Notepad++ under Windows
Bluefish under Linux

PSPad get’s my vote here…been through most of these editors (PC) and sticked to this one, it’s lightwieght, with all the options that matches other editors and more…Also would like to say that i liked UltraEdit (not freeware) and Aptana (not so llightweight IDE)…pspad gets it on guys…

I’m currently using intype for windows, its currently in alpha release but the simplicity of it all is just fantastic - again the editing power in the alpha release is just lush!!! Nothing has a scratch on this - can;t wait for the final release - but still very usable - people have been developing add-ons and have a fairly decent library for languages.

Keep up the great work SM!

Amrit.

MacVim looks great. Thanks a lot for the tip!

SciTE is my favourite. You missed it in the list. :-(

I’ve tried a number of them including Notepad++ but nothings ever come close to PSPad for me

I missed PHPDesigner in that list. Love that program.

The free, lite version of Top Style is a charm for my CSS needs..highly recommended!

Vim/gVim is a fantastic text editor, and I also like the “Cream” config for gVim (http://cream.sourceforge.net)

It should be added that Emacs isn’t just freeware. It’s “Free Software” - which is way more than just freeware.
(”free as in free speech - not as in free beer” Link [www.gnu.org])

WeBuilder or RapidPHP could have got a mention, at least good to see few guys have mentioned it in the comments. I personally have used Rapid PHP for a very long time and counting backwards; Top style, PHP Designer, Dreamweaver(mainly at work) and of course EditPlus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

At the moment I use Aptana- brillint tool!! Notepad++ for some things

Nice list.

If you’re into actionscript, try Link [www.sepy.it]. It can also be used for other languages like CSS, XML etc.

My all time favorite text editr (for Windows only) is Twistpad. Clean design, fast, you can add any syntax you would like (it comes with a lot of them), suports Unicode, spelling, file comparizon, projects and workspaces, Find In Files, spelling… Well anything I ever needed is there. Check it out.

Coda is the best!

I started with Notepad++ but moved on to PHP Designer which is a PHP IDE with great support for CSS! :)

great article! but i really miss PHPDesigner

Coda is amazing. It has saved my company so much money and made me a whole lot more productive, all while being totally fun. Give it a try!

I’m glad you didn’t forget HTML-Kit!
This software is lightweight, fast and highly customizable (show me another editor that offers 400+ plugins like HTML-Kit !). Just brilliant!
I use it since years and absolutely love to work with.

The one problem I have with Notepad ++ is that it has a maximum filesize. If it were not for this limitation, it would be almost perfect =). Ultraedit or V both allow me to open extremely large text files (such as .dat files we receive from mainframes that are 1-14gb.

I agree with #114, I use EditPad most of the time, it’s great :)

I have tried most of these but not quite all. My current favorite: PSPad!

Win: HTML-Kit (-becoming HTML-Kit (Tools)), UltraEdit; TopStyle for CSS
Mac: BBEdit; CSSEdit for CSS

+ Firebug, Web Developer, HTML Tidy plug-ins for Firefox on both Mac & Win.

(FWIW, FTP: WS-FTP-Pro (Win) & Transmit (Mac) )

Good list. Notepad++ is definitely my favourite Windows editor, but Scite should have been on the list too.

I have to add a vote for EditPad Pro. It has built in and customizable syntax highlighting, it can open huge files, it can edit files in binary or text, it can fold code sections, regular expression searching, spell check, easily convert between Windows/Unix/Mac text files, and more.

You people should title your articles approriately. These aren’t reviews, it’s a list of features in these editors. You shoud label the article as such!

i personally prefer using weaverslave.
-> Link [www.weaverslave.ws]

SourceInsight is missing here.

+1 for Notepad2. It uses the same Scintilla core as Notepad++, so shares many features such as column select and syntax colouring. But designed to be lightweight, single window and not as extensible.

Also, I use Bluefish on Linux with Gnome.

I missing IntelliJ. A powerful editor, based on java. Available for linux, mac and windows.

If you are a win user Intype is the best. Defenitely.

Link [geany.uvena.de] is a great editor for HTML / CSS / JavaScript / PHP development. It’s for Linux and Windows.

how can the author know what YOUR priorities are? Scan the reviews - look for features that are impt to YOU, and rank them yourself.

I’ll second EditPad Pro. Awesome regex support and many customization features.

Aptana has way more features than mentioned (now it looks poor compared to UltraEdit):
- both Aptana and Eclipe (as someone already said Aptana can be installed as a plugin for Eclipse) have unicode support
- Aptana can utilize Eclipse extensions, so features like CVS synchronization are available for it as well.
- Commercial version (or old free beta versions) supports SFTP
- Aptana supports PHP (via plugin)
- Commercial version has a debugger for Internet Explorer

Is the main difference between Context and UltraEdit the fact that Context does not have an FTP facility built in? Anyone, please comment on this question

For java: netbeans, everything else in emacs ;)

The best is HTMLPad 2009 editor, lightweight, fast, powerful. It’s all you need.

I’m using Coda since a year and there’s no comparison in my eyes. I used Textwrangler, SubEthaEdit and Textmate, but they all have this nerdy feeling of hardcore coders. Well, I’m a hardcore coder, but I like the look and feel of Coda so much. And it’s damn easy to use. The included FTP client makes working extremely comfortable.

Funny, I came up with a new acronym yesterday instead of WYSIWYG, it ought to be:
WYSITCYG, which could be What you see is the code you get, or What you see is the crap you get, if the editor is in the hands of the wrong person. Keeping an eye on your code view and validation, and preventing unnecessary styles makes all the difference in the world using WYSIWYG, which can be a speedy coding tool.

Scite is my personal favourite - I can’t believe you missed it.

I’m using Zend Studio for about a year now. Very convinced about it’s powers, but I’m trying Eclipse aside now. Eclipse has a nice feature for Symfony related projects, to run sf commands in the editor.

I use HateML

I use SciTE for PHP / HTML / CSS / JavaScript editing for almost 4 years. Small, Fast, Reliable. Best highlighting engine.
Minus = No embeded project manager.

I tried Eclipse, but is too slow and resource demanding.

Wow, a lot of nice editors. I have been using TSW WebCoder for years, but just recently, they released a new, dedicated PHP editor. I’m a PHP coder by heart, so I changed immediately. If you’re into PHP, you may want to give it a try. I think there’s a free trial at Link [www.tsware.net] :). Zend is nice too, but a bit pricey, I think!

EditPlus rocks! :)

I adore CSSEdit, slick, huge time saver!
For everything else, Coda all the way! If it had a diff tool, I’d be over the moon.

Man, I used Aptana on Windows, but on Mac it’s VERY broken. And Aptana was the best editor I’ve used, even better than the $100 Homsite 5.5.
I guess I’ll have to develop my own (NOOOOO).

I use Gedit and GVim on Linux. Sure, TextMate with its pretty fancy features is very nice, but Vim is really a great editor. Working via SSH? No probs. Delete a line? dd. Finito. Repeating a long variable name? Ctrl+P helps. It’s really a comfortable editor, especially because you’re actually keeping your fingers on the keyboard.

However, I think that the description of Emacs is a bit lush. Emacs is so extensible, it’s been called an OS jokingly. In reality, it only goes as far as an integrated web browser. No, not just taking any other app. I mean a real, working web browser, in an Editor.
Of course, that is on the fancy side, but Emacs really is the perfect programmer’s editor, because it is a real fully programmable editor (It’s got a real Lisp interpreter in it).

A lot of the editors I find are pretty overrated. Sure, they’re good and all, but the really unique, good editors max at 5, 6, 7 or so.

PS: If you can’t find your favourite Editor there, try hitting Ctrl+F. It’s like magic.

What about LopeEdit? (www.lopesoft.com)

Using UltraEdit - I’m a C# developer and don’t do much web work. I often work with data files, and UltraEdit’s ability to work with columns (which wasn’t mentioned in the article) can be priceless. I only know of a very few editors that can do that, and UEdit has the best UI of the bunch. The ability to switch to HEX has been a valuable tool, as well. Although I still use VS2K5 primarilly, I have used UltraEdit for C#, as well.

I know that I am NOT the only Dinosaur out here that uses “Vi”….!!!!

Or, maybe I am……

Excellent list of editors! Thanks!

Another vote for WeBuilder , I switched from crimson editor ( its still availible btw) and have tried a ton and its my favorite.

Nice overview! Although I really miss the external Flash code editors like Sepy.
I really wanted to see the pro’s & cons for these Flash editors.

You have listed Homesite as available for Mac. I have never seen a Mac version of Homesite—I would really like one.

i’ve been an html-kit user for YEARS and love it! but i’m not above trying out something new. great list, sm!

For me, TextMate and Coda is GREAT ;)

Best Smashing Article EVER!

I prefer “PHP Designer” (IDE) as its light and support all major programming language plus there is an intelligent code highlight (ie php+html+css+js in one) and built in JIT error reporting .. plus there is lot of skins too.

anyway here a good list of IDE from wakoopian streams -> Link [wakoopa.com]

BBEdit…..lightweight and simple….only way to go…

Great article, thanks!
I used Aptana for long time, but I don’t know how to turn on win-1251 encoding on linux system, within this IDE (yes i know about utf >)) so I decide to turn back to KomodoEdit (ex OpenKomodo).

BTW: what about Link [www.oxygenxml.com] (yes it’s not free software) or Link [www.netbeans.org]?

ps plz, forgive me for my english ))

A pity it is not available on linux

@Marco, @dmaphy, @Pete I agree with you. After many years using many different IDEs, I finally settled for Geany.We use it every day at work. It is really fast and stable and has all the features you need. I believe it’s a mistake not including it in this list.

I’m another fan of Link [www.editpadpro.com]. I’ve tried a bunch of editors, and it’s simply the best I’ve come across.

It’s killer feature is regular expression support, both for search/replace and for super-flexible syntax highlighting/file navigation schemes. You can download (or create) schemes for just about any file type. I really recommend it. (And the support is great too.)

What about Scite? Thats one of the best in my opinion.

Aptana is based on Eclipse.
I use EasyEclipse for Lamp, it includes all Languages for website developing and more.

I use Netbeans 6.1 with jVi plugin, it’s quite good :)
When I don’t need an IDE I simply use Vi or Textmate (would love a mix between Vi and Textmate).

Can someone let me know of a plain free simple Javascript editor with intellisense?

netbeans 6.1
great for java (also jsp and stuff)
great for javascript (6.1 introduced awesome intellisense for js)
great for xml, ruby etc
it even has some support for php but i didnt try that

it’s pretty heavy but worth trying in general.

I use PlainEdit (www.gaijin.at/dlplainedit.php). Simple to use, and much really usefull Stuff included. Perfect to write HTML and CSS-Code instantly.

I’ll stick with Notepad++ and Firebug (so easy to use!). But this list is interesting because I really didn’t know about all the others. I may check some of them out.

I would have liked to see WebDesign by Rage Software. I’ve been using it and I’d like to see how it stacks up against some other programs for Mac.

Hy,

Great selection of tools. Whenever it comes to editors or widely spread tools there is no clear choice. I think there are so many cool and ‘crazy wickedooo performance’ editors out there, but I’m sure, you won’t change your old editor so fast. I like Textmate a lot, I got used to it, I’m very fast with textmate. But sometimes I take a peek at other fully armed IDE’s, and even install one… Eventually I stay with me beloved Textmate + other tools.

Great work Smashing Magazine, keep it up!

Lukas from Link [www.lrieder.com]

I have to agree with the guys mentioning WeBuilder. It’s the best (modern) replacement for homesite. Notepad++ is also nice if you don’t want to spend any money, I still prefer WeBuilder, though.

The best editor for PHP is Zend Studio . I use it for years and I can’t find better one. Now Zend developed a plugin for Eclipse, but I don’t like Eclipse because isn’t stable.

Good list…
Although Notepad++ is my all time favoruite, i recommend NuSpehere IDE for PHP developement….

I guessed you guys missed out the following editors:
Adobe CS3(DW)
PHP DESIGNER 2008

Where did you leave Dreamweaver, for anybody doing HTML, CSS it has an excellent code view. I am currently using it for HTML related work and Eclipse PDT for my PHP with JS Eclipse (from Adobe) to help me out

HTML Kit Very strong editor. What i love is the auto complete feature for coding its like dreamweavers auto complete. And alot of top features the other dont have.

Coda roxx! Also using CSSEdit MacOS

Intype rocks !

Link [www.pnotepad.org]

I do a -lot- of XHTML/CSS and Programmer’s Notepad is candy. The reason I like it is it’s very lightweight.

Multiple files via tabs;
Syntax highlighting (customizable for each language);
Code collapse;
Find&Replace across multiple documents;
Light interface.

Have not needed any alternatives. :)

what about e-texteditor….that is by far the best editor out in market right now!

I have been using ‘Web Design’ (http://www.ragesw.com) for a couple of years now and it is a great Mac piece of software for intermediate web designers!

My favorite texteditor is definitely PsPad. It’s free, very powerful, fast and lightwight.
The only one I’ll try soon is Sublime.

Don’t forget Bluefish for Linux.

On Windows, I’ve taken a liking to Link [www.pnotepad.org]

Find this page while I am looking for replacement for Notepad++, Great & thanks! ( why get rid of Notepad++? because the development community of notepad++ involves many politics.)

Aptana Studio lo instale pero luego que no lo supe usar lo desinstale, pero vaya sorpresa que me dio, me bloqueo mis otros servicios de FTP y me dio conflicto con otro JAVA
malisimo en ese sentido
me hiso perder tiempo encontrando la solucion
tube que restaurar el sistema

malo malo malo

Just what I’m looking for. Trying on Webcoder.

My favorite is definitly sublime text. If you are waiting for Intype, try sublime …you won’t wait anymore : )

Editplus rules! I will be checking out a couple of the others mentioned, but editplus handles filesizes most others don’t, has selective column highlighting (since v1 I think), has the speed like nobody’s business, is very lightweight, only has a nagware thing, has the regular expression down pat, text/language highlighting, is very inexpensive…. I’ve used it forever.

I’ve tryed almost all of the list, and i’m using notepad++. It’s not the more powerfull, but some of the powerfull IDE are unfortunally to slow when starting. Notepad++ is incredible fast and it fits for me.

really nice editor, Its very easy to code in these editor

Edit Plus is most incredible fast and it fits for me.

Its s better than dream viewer and all the editors………..

I’ve tried a wide range, and stayed stucked with Jedit - definitely the best for large numberts of document handling ( like websites ) and search&replace power

i miss scite … the best ever!

There are for shure many other editors out there, but not to mention SciTE - which runs on nearly all operating systems - is a miss.

ultraedit and notepad++ are my favourites ;)

If you work with XML or related technologies (XSLT, Schemas etc.), Oxygen is very cool. Use it daily, well worth the price (although, as a student, I paid the academic price, it may not be worth it if you are paying the full price).

Disappointed NuSphere’s phpED wasn’t on here. I tried Zend, Eclipse, etc, but all were terribly slow (blame java) compared to similar C/C++ coded editors, which is where I found phpED and has been my favorite since ( Link [www.nusphere.com] )

PsPad rocks.
-_-

easy - Textmate on my mac, E on a pc - hands down!

pspad hands down

thanks for list

Damn I want Panic Coda for my PC…
Damn I want a Mac :D

nice list

Slickedit is the rolce-royce of editors.

not mentioned HippoEDIT Link [www.hippoedit.com]
very nice editor, with several unique features, fast, lightweight and extensible
would suggest to somebody editing scripts in different languages or just one good source viewer

Nice List!

I miss my favorite editor “PHP-Edit” from Waterproof-Software [http://waterproof.fr/]

gVIM is great .. i used it for everyday use … and for css editing I used to use Notepad++ because I let my css opened and when I close notepad and open it again it still present with the last document I edited.

:D

Does anyone have a good recomendation for an interactive PHP editor?

Right now I use HyperEdit on the Mac. It has no syntax hiliting or much assistance of any kind, but it runs the PHP interactively as you type and displays the output as either rendered HTML or text output. I use it for this feature alone. Before considering a different PHP editor it’d have to do something like this (or maybe have an interactive debugger).

I also use Aptana and AquaMacs (emacs). Both have nice PHP editing capabilities, but neither lets me interactively test my PHP code in the same way. So I tend to use them for HTML, CSS and Javascript instead.

I use Geany and sometimes gEdit at work. Oh, and Aptana for javascript because Geany’s doesn’t work well with it.

Have to second that - phase5 is a great classic and has just been Link [www.phase5.info]

SourceInsight not mentioned in the article and only one commenter missed it? It has project management, code navigation, symbol lookup, regex search, project wide replace, rectangular selection… you name it, it is there. And such a small download size too, unlike eclipse or netbeans. Never found a better source code editor for C/C++, Java projects. It is a commercial software though.

please include edit.com under DOS also =)

Scite is the best editor ever!!!

You should check out Multi-Edit. It is a multi-language tool like no other.

Link [www.multiedit.com]

I have used it for over a decade and nothing else compares.
KMF

Where is Geany??? It’s a multi-plateform and light editor. Should be included in your list.

E Text Editor really should have had an entry of its own. It doesn’t just “ape TextMate” (it does support its bundles format, though) but actually improves upon it in many areas, with features such as the unique branching undo history, lightweight version control, improved search, a bundle manager for easy bundle installation and so on.

how could you ever forget and not mention anything about Geany? plz add it on

phpEdit is my choice
I wish there will be phpEdit on Mac someday without emulators

Another missed one: VEDIT ( Link [www.vedit.com] ) which has been around a long time and has tons of experience - super fast, etc.

On Linux I always use VIM for code editing, but sometimes I use Kate on KDE. I also use gedit, you can download more plugins.

On Windows I use Notepad2.

GridinSoft Notepad and GridinSoft Notepad Lite which is free

How can you leave out Multi-Edit? Are there any real programmers reading this, besides me? SlickEdit is also very good. No doubt, only two of us use these; as they are quality tools that require an investment of money.

For real programming, it’s Multi-edit. If I ever learn CMAC I may be able to throw away everything else. With Multi-edit I can code my own plug-ins and recompile the editor with my own add ons. Now that’s an editor.

My web work is also done in Mutliedit (sometimes I use Dreamweaver for quick and dirty DB work) with TopStyle as the CSS editor.

My problem with Aptana is it’s bloated. It’s nice, and does some nifty things, however CSS is NOT one of them. TopStyle is better, which sucks as an HTML editor, though.

I used to use Notepad++ for doing non-real programming. Sadly the author is more concerned with pushing his politics down my throat, and I for one am fed up with techies who think they can preach to anyone on anything; mostly about things of which they are clueless.

HTML-Kit is poorly designed, and a nightmare to find what you need on the site or in the updates screen

Notepad2 is great, by the way for quick and easy edits. It’s a very good TEXT editor.

Fookes software (NoteTab) has lousy customer service, and is another (like HTML-Kit) that feels the need to have an idiotic update screen that seems to be designed for people who work for the company and not for customers.

Komodo Edit is bloated and crashes frequently. It’s also not very fast, especially when compared to Multi-Edit and Slickedit.

I used Link [www.editpadpro.com], for me one of the most usefull :)

i use dreamweaver css3. i really love this editor

i use eclipse to make this web Link []

Notepad++ da best source editor… )

Hi webmaster!

Hi webmaster!

Hi webmaster!

Hi webmaster!

I use vim for few years, but on windows I use sublime text editor, the most beautiful code editor, which support Textmate’s syntax, and python plugins

thanks

thank

well , i work with Aptana now …. hmmm … use it 3 months already and i think i found my software. Can do all XHTML , CSS , PHP , Javascript works with it …

hey where is the Dreamweaver
Link [www.ashad.info]

I definitely miss Link [www.blumentals.net] from Blumentals Software. A great Editor!

I definitely miss WeBuilder 2008 from Blumentals Software. A great Editor!

I came from UNIX world, and was used to the power and flexibility of stream editors and other commands in UNIX such as sed, awk, grep, wc, lex, yacc, etc.

when I started working in Windows, the first thing I did was to try to find something similar in Windows. perl is good, biterScripting is good. Both provide excellent scripting ability and both can run in batch mode or in real-time, and both can process documents from the web, your company’s network, and on your local computer. Above all, they are rather intuitively simple, so you can get started fairly quickly.

You missed Webuilder(Win)
Bluefish(Linux)

I Use Scriptomania from Breedsoftware.com
I actually had a free licence for it.

crimson editor its simple

Smultron !!

Nice overview. I love these type of articles with comments, because I hear about editors I haven’t heard of before.

However - check out Link [texteditors.org] which has a huge list of editors organized by “family”.

I use Geany (read the manual, lots of features including snippets), Notepad++ (for quick and dirty), netbeans or jdeveloper for java development. I also usually have komodo edit installed - it is slow starting up, but has some slick features (a project can contain local and remote files and directories).

You could say that I am an editor junkie. Also check out scite-st and textadept both based on scite/scintilla but with lua lexers and enhanced scripting: Link [caladbolg.net]

Notepad++ rulazZzzzZ, purely written C++. efficient speed, stabilty and highlighting for all popular programming languages. invicible editor on the world…

No Notepad++ developer, im only user.. :P

summary: speedy, “full open source (C++)” source code editor for Win32…

I use the danish “Stones WebWriter 4″ which does html, javascript and css. I have used it for many years, but for large projects I use XSitePro v.2 which does the css automatically. It makes webdesign easy for internet marketers.

I didn’t read all the comments and it’s an old post but still… I enjoy using ZDE. the build-in object thingies help me get around all the time!

My favorite code editor is Notepad++.
Right now I’m experimenting with Netbeans IDE as an integrated development environment, seeking out powerful software that generates nothing more than repetitive tasks. I enjoy hard coding because I’m a new comer and I see the value in it now, so I just look for simple applications that are highly extensible.

JEdit for notepad duties, Eclipse/Aptana for everything else.

The killer feature (for me) in both is the ability to remap keybindings so I can use ijkl (modified by ctrl, alt, shift) to navigate the document.

Also cross-platform is critical.

Aptana+PHP Plugin = Rapid Application Development! Unless you know vi/m. I want to learn vi/m merely because I’d love to NEVER have to take my fingers off the keyboard. But I regress. I love Aptana too much right now, and I’m only running the free version.

I’m using Aptana on triple boot, Ubuntu 9.04, Windows 7RC, and Windows Vista. Still need a Mac to try it on ;-)