Being a coder, you may love to find the best canvas to put your code on. The love of a coder for a perfect text editor can only be understood by a writer who loves to use a fancy text editor for his project. A good text editor makes the work more accessible by creating an environment of beautiful and exciting.
It doesn’t matter, and if you are a coder or a regular computer user, we have hand-picked the best text editor tools for you. Some users need to manage more than one file in a row, so they need the text editor tool that can handle that efficiently. Read the article, and you can choose the best text editor according to your needs.
1. Notepad++ – The Best Text Editor (Free)
You can guess its popularity by the fact that it is already translated into more than 80 languages.
It is a widely used as a text editor and also earned the title of best text editor. You may doubt, but this text editor is almost 15 years old and still the most advanced and easy to use editor online.
But with time, its developers are continually making changes to improve it. And the latest version released this month is enriched with the latest technology updates and features.
It only supports Microsoft Windows. A new Android app is also there in Playstore.
Features:
Notepad++ is not as simple as your windows notepad. It has way more complications and features that you will love to see.
- Notepad++ uses the syntax highlighting and folding, supports scripting and markup languages.
- Extremely simple and user-friendly interference.
- Free to download and use.
- This editor is based on WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), and programmers know it better.
- It also supports several other formats to save your documents like TXT, AU3, BASH, BAT, HTML, CSS, ASM, REG, HPP, CC, DIFF, VBS.
- You don’t have to worry about saving the document as this editor saves the text on its own. So the next time you open the Notepad++ app, you can resume your work.
- Notepad++ supports more than 140 plugins to extend its abilities.
In case if you are new to this editor, then you can watch the video below to understand the basics of Notepad++.
2. Atom
The developers developed the Atom for the developers. This text editor is very much focused on coding. Atom is a clean, sleek and open-source code editor that can do a lot of things, even if it is very lightweight. It supports Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. As this text editor is open source, anyone can edit the app code and can modify it. Because of this, a lot of developers have made tweaks in the original atom software like different themes and some other quick functions for coding.
There are packages that you can install in Atom to make changes in it. Using these packages you can expand the features of Atom, and you can also change the themes. Atom has some other exciting features like editing between two or more files, editing in real-time and smart auto-completing, etc.
Features:
- It is unique, both in functions and looks. Shortcuts help to edit and add code faster.
- It supports file/folder drag and drop facility; thus, it makes it easier to edit them.
- Switch between the tabs and even windows feature takes the user experience to another level.
- You can make changes to all the opened pages simultaneously.
- As it is made for developers, it supports almost all the developing languages like C++, HTML, Java, PHP, JSON, etc.
- It is an open-source project, thus have fantastic support from the GitHub team.
3. Brackets
Brackets is a simple yet powerful text editor. You can have trust in its productivity as the tech giant Adobe makes it. It supports almost all the programming languages. If you are a beginner to coding, then this app is handy as it is very much focused on the beginners.
Brackets have a very sleek design, and it gives you a professional experience. If you are a Mac lover, then you should use it as it is just like a Mac OS app. It supports almost all platforms.
Features:
- Simple, sleek design and have a very engaging experience.
- Supports more than 37 types of files.
- Brackets support all the programming languages; thus, it is a complete package.
- It has its browser where you can run the code.
- Supports the integration with PSD files.
- It comes with free extensions to enhance the experience.
- You can use it as a Cross-platform editor.
- Support from the developers and the community is also pretty good.
4. Sublime Text – The Best Text Editor (Paid)
This got the most reviews and positive feedback from the users. This text editor is also an old one. Although it is not free, it has been the best selling text editor for many years. As this is the premium text editor, it is loaded with features that most of the free editors lack.
It is built on the python language and supports many programming languages. Well, it is not that beginner-friendly as it is a very advanced text editor. Although it is a very robust editor, still it uses very fewer resources. So you can run it on some low-end PC too. That is the reason many users like the sublime most due to its best performance on heavy load.
It is a cross-platform tool so that you can run it on multiple platforms. You can get a free trial to test the editor. But after that, you have to pay $80 charges per user to use the tool.
Features:
- It has all the premium features, including multi-window editing, cross-platform editing, and Python API.
- Using Python API, you can integrate Sublime text into your plugins or any other third-party plugins to make things according to your will.
- It is very user-friendly, and you will get addicted to its user interference.
- It has dozens of shortcuts that make the work more comfortable and you can do code with fun.
- Customization options for sublime text are more than amazing. You can modify almost all the software according to your will.
5. Vim
Meet the oldest text editor on the list. Vim was created in 1991, and it is still in the is of most popular text editors of the world. It is still in use by some classy developers. No doubt, it is receiving the updates even now that makes it the most extended alive text editor on this planet.
It has very simple interference and supports all the platforms, including Apple OS X. It is designed for both types of use, CLI, and GUI. Because of the age of this text editor, you can have the surety that it has the best collection of the plugins and packages to extend its abilities.
Features:
- Most advanced text editor to date, but you have to learn the interference with time, as it is not that easy to understand.
- Easily integrate with third-party tools so that you can do your work with ease.
- It is also an open-source project. On GitHub, you can vote for its extra features. Moreover, it has an active community so that you can have trust in them.
- It works on all machines so that you can use it as a cross-platform tool.
Not everyone likes Vim because of its old interference and user experience. Most Vim users are experienced programmers. New programmers rarely like Vim.
6. Coda 2
This is the text editor that Mac lovers love – the reason is its interference that is very much similar to the Mac OS. Coda is a premium text editor, and it got solid reasons for that, you can have all the features in this editor that you can imagine of. So many features in only $99 will not bother, especially for a mac user. You can trust this platform as this is here for a decade now.
Being a text editor, Coda supports syntax highlighting for almost all the languages. And it has all the necessary features like find and replaces in multiple documents, autocompletes, auto tag closing and auto commenter feature. Besides a text editor, Coda 2 is a complete package for all types of coding, and it is a perfect tool to make a fully functional website.
Features:
- If you are using it on a new Macbook pro, you can switch between the tabs and windows using the Touch Bar.
- Syntax highlighting is 4-10 times faster than the old editors.
- It has the cleanest and fastest interference among all the text editors, and it has a price for that.
- There is a massive library of plugins for your Coda 2 preferences.
- You can connect the Coda 2 with the internet and can edit the files using FTP, and you can also publish them remotely.
- Supports the iPhone app so that you can use it as a cross-platform text editor on your Mac and iPhone as back to back.
- You can sync your data with coda 2.
- CSS override feature allows you to edit the CSS code live, and you can preview that on Coda.
The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
You can use several best text editors like:
- Atom
- Notepad++ (best text editor)
- Coda 2
- Vim
- Sublime Text
- Brackets
Text editors are the tools to edit codes and text on your computer. They are the complex form of Notepad. Here are some examples.
- Atom
- Notepad++
- Coda 2
- Vim
- Sublime Text
- Brackets
A text editor is a tool used for editing and viewing the text files. A text editor is a modified form of simple Notepad, and you can develop a complete website using a text editor. Some of the top text editors are Notepad++, Brackets, Atom, etc.
Yes, it is a text editor, but it is a straightforward text editor. Notepad is also a text editor with fundamental functionalities.
Yes Notepad++ is a code editor, but it is a text editor that can be used as the code editor. It has all the feature to write, edit, and handle the code.
Conclusion:
Now it is your choice. You have all the top text editors in front of you. Read the perks of each and select the best text editor that fulfills your needs.
If you are on a Windows platform and want a free text editor, then Notepad++ is the best option to choose. And if you are on Mac and want a free text editor, then Atom is your guy to carry on. If you want a premium text editor tools as a Windows user, then Sublime Text is the best text editor. And premium users of Mac can purchase Coda 2 for the best experience. Tell us in comments, which is your favorite text editor tool.