Frequent computer users, especially programmers and website developers, look for text editors to enhance their productivity. Whether an individual is developing the next web idea or working on a custom computer program, it’s important to know about the best free text editors for Windows 10 and Unix-like systems. There are many code editors and text editors in the market, and it can get overwhelming when you need to decide which one would work best.
In terms of web development, you will require a text editor for your programming projects. In the past, there were not many options for a developer to choose from. When it comes to software providers, there are only a few top brands that you can go for. There have been several updates in terms of text editors recently, specifically with programming editors. This piece is going to explore the best text editor for programming and coding purpose.
Notepad++
Notepad++ is a popular free to use code editor written in C++. It uses pure win32 API which offers greater execution speed and small program size. It is one of the best code editor that runs only in the window’s environment, and it uses GPL License.
Platform: Windows
Price: Free
Features:
- This free text editor supports syntax highlighting for languages like PHP, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
- Auto-completion: Word completion, Function completion
- This free code editor provides macro recording and playback
- User-defined Syntax highlighting and folding
- Entirely customizable GUI
- Multi-view and Multi-Language support
Atom
With Atom, you gain access to an open source text editor with developers in mind. In fact, the creators of Atom state that they made it just for developers. Also, there’s a community of developers who contribute themes and plugins, much like WordPress or some other opensource tools. An experienced developer should have no problem working with Atom, since it offers clean collaboration tools, a sleek editor, and some great organization tools for keeping your projects in check.
All of your projects can be shared and edited in real-time, helping out teams that are far away from each other or simply those teams that want a more dedicated workspace. Furthermore, Atom has a GitHub package already included with the text editor. This way, your team can create everything from branches to stages in one interface.
Another great thing about Atom is that it’s a cross-platform system, working on operating systems like Linux, OS X, and Windows. The smart autocompletion is one of my favorite features, and the multiple panes should make you feel right at home with several panes open to edit code between files. Much like an iPhone (or WordPress,) Atom has extras that you can install called packages. These are offered to expand the functionality of the basic text editor. You can also install themes to make your editor look prettier and easier on the eyes.
Which Features Make This One of the Best Text Editor Tools?
- Atom is an opensource text editor with a large community of developers. This means you get consistent updates and new themes and packages. Check out the Dracula theme for Atom.
- It’s a cross-platform solution that works on the major operating systems.
- The editor is useful for coding alone, but its true strengths come into play when you need to collaborate with other people. All of the editing and creation can be done in real-time.
- Atom provides a GitHub package for integrating and doing things like pull requests and resolving merge conflicts.
- You can search for new packages and themes right from the text editor.
- It’s fairly easy to edit your code with smart autocompletion, a file system browser, and a find and replace feature.
- Atom offers multiple panes for comparing and editing code side by side.
I would recommend Atom for those developers who want a collaboration tool in addition to the text editor. You can manage projects with other developers and see changes right in front of your eyes. Atom is also nice since it’s opensource–meaning you get it for free, the community is solid, and you can choose from packages and themes. In short, if you like working with WordPress, Atom seems to present itself in a similar fashion.
Bluefish Editor
Bluefish Editor is a robust, open source text editor geared towards programmers and web designers. It’s known as being a fast, lightweight text editor that can open 500+ documents with ease. It has a built-in function reference browser (for PHP, Python, CSS, and HTML) so you can quickly learn about with particular syntaxes. Check out the Screenshots section to find movies/screencasts (such as learning about working with remote files) and screen shots of Bluefish Editor.
Froala
Froala is the next-gen WYSIWYG HTML Editor, which is simple to integrate for the developers, and its clean design makes you feel excellent. It offers a high-performing JS text editor that is easy for developers to use.
Froala has 170+ Bootstrap-based design blocks to help you build beautiful modern websites. You can use it for free in your mobile and web projects. Also, the powerful API is designed to make the text editor easy to interact with and customize. Froala’s editor is available in every framework, and it supports backend technologies that make the work even easier for the developers.
Froala is used across 100 countries and multiple languages, including Asian and East languages. The JavaScript editor is compliant with WCAG 2.0, WAI-ARIA, and Section 508. You will get high-quality code, which means LTFCE, or you can say Legible, Testable, Flexible, Compliant, and Economical.
Get each functionality at your fingertips by using shortcuts that you can activate by specifying some keyboard commands. It works the same in Internet Explorer, Safari, and other browsers. It has a modern design, retina-ready view, themes, intuitive interface, SVG icons, Opoups, custom toolbar, custom style, Iframe, full-screen mode, and a lot more.
Froala’s editor is a fast, lightweight, and plugin-based application. It takes advantage of HTML 5 standards. Get all the features of CKEditor and TinyMCE with an elegant UX for $199/year.
Kite
Kite is a Code Editor that automatically completes multiple line codes. This editor supports more than 16 languages. It helps you to code faster with no hassle.
Price: Free
Features:
- It offers documentation for various languages
- This editor provides a function signature as you type.
- You will get a tooltip on mouse hover.
- Provides support in email.
- Uses machine learning models for software development.
CoffeeCup – The HTML Editor
CoffeeCup’s HTML Editor provides extremely advanced text editing for coding and overall web design management. The editor has a free trial, but in order to continue, you must pay the $49 one-time fee. There’s also a fully free version, but the features are pretty watered down.
We like CoffeeCup for creating HTML documents, but you might consider avoiding it for many other code languages. However, it makes sense to take advantage of CoffeeCup if you’re simply learning a programming language like HTML or PHP.
As mentioned, creating and editing HTML is fairly simple with CoffeeCup. This takes your web design to the next level, especially with the tools for tag references and code completion. There are plenty of components to take advantage of that instantly update various elements across your entire website.
What’s more is that the CoffeeCup text editor comes with several responsive website themes. You may want to start from scratch if you’re trying to learn more about coding, but the themes expedite the process for when you need to generate client websites by a deadline.
Which Features Make This One of the Best Text Editor Tools?
- CoffeeCup has a free version and free trial. Also, the premium version is affordable.
- This is one of the best text editor options with themes. These aren’t completed websites, but it gets you close to some designs that might look appealing for some of your clients. Why reinvent the wheel when you can start further into the process?
- The FTP connection allows you to go live with your website with the click of a button. Publish your website anywhere you want by selecting a server or web host.
- CoffeeCup is one of the more visual text editors, with a standard split-screen view, but also a live preview to see what your code creates on the frontend.
CoffeeCup is a great choice for those interested in learning HTML, CSS, and PHP. The components library, combined with the theme selection, delivers a good starting point for those who are on a time crunch or don’t feel like beginning from scratch.
Conclusion:
So, you’ve decided that you want to create your website. Excellent! However, now that you want to know about one of the most important tools for web development, you’re faced with a problem: what kind of text editor should I choose? It’s true that the most frequently used text editors out there are very expensive – but there is a cheaper alternative which will do the job and is actually better than those expensive alternatives. And knowing how to choose a good text editor can make all the difference in your development.