What is the best text editor for web development?

Question

Hello, I've been using dreamweaver since I started learning basics in html like a year ago, and now I would like to change to a free alternative, since I don't need the WYSIWYG and other dreamweaver functions anymore.

However, I have tried Notepad++ and first it seemed great, but it sometimes crashes after not being able to connect to ftp. Also I really got used to the ftp/explorer, that dreamweaver has, where you are able to transfer images and other things right through the text editor, not just code files.

So is there an alternative for me?

Answer 1

If you have a Mac, Coda and TextMate seem to be favorites.

Answer 2

Aptana is a good one.

Six free alternatives to Dreamweaver.

Answer 3

Textmate is my favorite on the Mac. When on Linux, I really like Gedit with lots of plugins. On Windows, e-Editor is great Textmate replacement.

Answer 4

Sure, there are plenty of text editors & FTP clients available for free. If you like Notepad++ as an editor, keep it and look for a replacement FTP client.

My Mac recommendation for web dev is Coda, which is an editor and ftp client together.

Answer 5

I would definitely recommend a WYSIWYG editor, but you could always give Crimson Editor a try. I used to hear good things about it.

Answer 6

I agree textmate is great for MAC, yet so is BBEDIT lots of nice features plus with HTML tidy it can clean up and validate your code.

Also a nice all in one would be Espresso its a combination of dreamweaver, textmate, cssedit, with ftp publishing tools. Code hinting and more. With some nice skins and nice plugins.

Answer 7

I currently use Notepad++, but I have found ConTEXT useful in the past

Answer 8

The more web development I do, the less I want a WYSISYG editor, they don't generally look like the final version anyway, so having a couple browsers running is usually a must anyway.

I've switched to Eclipse on my Windows systemm and FileZilla for SFTP to the servers.

Answer 9

Believe me, using something simple like EditPlus (or Notepad as a matter of fact) is best for normal HTML and JavaScript development.

For anything fancy, you could use IDE (e.g. Visual Studio etc.)

Answer 10

If you're doing web development, you probably should use the tools every good coder use: a programmable editor like Vim or Emacs and some version control system (I'd recommend using a decentralised one, like Mercurial, Git or Bazaar).

You shouldn't directly edit code from the FTP. That's aiming a really big gun to your foot. And removing the safety.

Answer 11

I don't want to appear as 'the vim freak', but that's what I use and recommend. Incredibly powerful once you master search-replace, regexes, macros and commands.

Answer 12

Textpad is really great, though no Unicode support (boo!)

Answer 13

As for ftp, go with some kind of sync program so you don't have to manually know what to upload (or upload everything all the time).

Maybe something like weex or rsync?

Answer 14

If you want just editing, fast, reliable, etc., go with VIM. If you want a full-featured IDE, right now I don't think you can beat Eclipse. You'll pay in memory footprint and speed, but hoo boy the features you can add. Especially for Java, but they've got support for other languages/technologies either directly or as an add-on.

I used to be a big fan of emacs, but it just doesn't have the user community and ongoing development any more.

Answer 15

Notepad Plus that is the editor I am using. Open source...

Answer 16

JEdit for sure:

• because it's written in Java, you get for free: excellent encoding support, java regex (multiline!), stability...
• scriptable & great macros available;
• excellent plugins, my favourites: XML, BufferTabs, Templates;
• lots of edit modes