What's a Windows text editor that matches this criteria ...

Question

My Situation: I love e editor, however I'm on a new computer and my license is being used on my old one. I can't exactly afford another license, so I'm looking for a free editor that meets the follow criteria:

• Decent syntax highlighting
• Ability to view a directory and its contents on the side panel, without the need to create it as a 'project' (Very Important)
• Easily themable (I like dark themes)
• Tabs

Also would be nice:

• S/FTP support
• Code snippets/bundles
• Multi-line editing

And is not (Simply listed because they're common suggestions, but I've tried and not found them to meet my criteria):

• Vim/Emacs
• Notepad++
• Crimson/Emerald Editor
• Programmer's Notepad
• Wordpad/Notepad :P

Thanks. Oh, and as a reference, here's a picture of my current setup: Link

Edit: Thanks all to those who suggested. All 3 (JEdit, Cream, and PsPad) are solid candidates for anyone looking at this thread.

Answer 1

You may scoff at this, but Cream is a very un-Vimlike offshoot of Vim. Here is an article written specifically for Textmate (and e) fans who want to try it.

Answer 2

PsPad. Excellent free text code editor.

Also does FTP site based editing as if it was in a local folder. very handy.

Ron

Answer 3

You're willing to spend all this time and effort asking about and evaluating other editors which will almost certainly not have all the features you want, yet you can't shell out $35 for another licence?

When I'm making decisions like this, I always value my time at $100/hour so if this were going to take me more than 20 minutes, I'd just buy another licence.

Time is the one commodity you can't recover; you can always make more money...

Answer 4

jedit. I believe that it does everything on your wishlist.

Answer 5

Actually Pax Diablo brings up a good point. If you are that hard up for the cash, put up a quick donation site and count me in for $10. You'll have a new e license in no time.

Answer 6

Pick your poison here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_text_editors

Answer 7

"When you register e, the license is bound to you, and not to one specific computer. This means that you can use you license on as many computers as you like. There is also no limit on platforms, so it will also be valid on future versions for Linux or any other OS." (http://e-texteditor.com/blog/2007/licensing) There's no need to buy another license!

Answer 8

I know off topic posts are generally frowned upon, but dude... That's my neck in your avatar. ;)

EDIT Reply to Kharan: (Can't comment yet. My Rep is weak.) It's real alright. Better photo here.

Answer 9

I would like to recommand Gedit. There was Windows version.

I haven't ever used Mac but I think Textmate must be the best text editor. When I'm on Windows, I really like e-Text editor. But later, I have to move on to Linux(Ubuntu) for an requirement. I searched for Textmate/e-Text editor like text editor for Linux.

I found out, Gedit is not a bad one. Here is my Gedit...

By your requirement, Gedit already have a decent syntax highlighting and Tab. Didn't have Project pane but Document List and File Browser combination is not bad, I think.

Easily themable? Gedit haven't many ready made themes. But you can easily create your own themes by creating xml color schemes base on default themes (In ubuntu 8.04, default themes directory is /usr/share/gtksourceview-2.0/styles).

As for me, Embedded terminal, Word completion and Code snippets are also important. Gedit have plenty of useful plugins for those feature.

There were many customization tutorial for Gedit. You may need to spent your time on customization. :)

Answer 10

try Komodo edit, its free and can do the things you mentioned afaik.

http://activestate.com/Products/komodo_ide/komodo_edit.mhtml

The sidebar folder feature is called "live folders, and its on the right side bar. It also has vi emulation, dark themes, tabs, sftp support etc..

Answer 11

You also might want to take a look at EditPlus.

Answer 12

The e text editor license is per user not per machine. So, you don't need to buy another license to use it on a different machine, just copy the license.