The "perfect" freeware tabbed text editor?

[Thorsten Duhn]

Hello,

it is fine that I know, what editing problem to solve with what
editor, but it bores me a lot to switch between editors everytime.
So now I'm looking for the one and only that fits my needs. Not
easy, I think, I need your help.

I took a set of features I need in my everyday life, at work or
at home for several tasks. These are my needs, everybody else
will have others, but as it covers many arrays of editor features
maybe it is okay to take this as a starting point.

The editors I tested by now (the first limitation: I need a multi
document interface and tabs are great for this): ConTEXT, CPad,
Crimson Editor, EditPad Lite, NoteMaster, NoteTab Light, NoteTab++,
PSPad, SciTE and SuperEdi.

Features I took a closer look at include:
- file encoding UTF-8
- text manipulation (of course)
- snippets and automation
- search & replace
- HTML features

I cannot post the resulting matrix here, so I made a web page:
http://www.freewareguide.de/tmp/perfect-editor.html

I was not able to check every app into deep, so are there errors?
And, are there other editors I should test and add to this list?

I still have not found a winner, but PSPad is leading...

Thanks,
Thorsten

 

[Tony\(UK\)]

Hello,

it is fine that I know, what editing problem to solve with what
editor, but it bores me a lot to switch between editors everytime.
So now I'm looking for the one and only that fits my needs. Not
easy, I think, I need your help.

I took a set of features I need in my everyday life, at work or
at home for several tasks. These are my needs, everybody else
will have others, but as it covers many arrays of editor features
maybe it is okay to take this as a starting point.

The editors I tested by now (the first limitation: I need a multi
document interface and tabs are great for this): ConTEXT, CPad,
Crimson Editor, EditPad Lite, NoteMaster, NoteTab Light, NoteTab++,
PSPad, SciTE and SuperEdi.

Features I took a closer look at include:
- file encoding UTF-8
- text manipulation (of course)
- snippets and automation
- search & replace
- HTML features

I cannot post the resulting matrix here, so I made a web page:
http://www.freewareguide.de/tmp/perfect-editor.html

I was not able to check every app into deep, so are there errors?
And, are there other editors I should test and add to this list?

I still have not found a winner, but PSPad is leading...

Thanks,
Thorsten

Have you had a look at LopeEdit? http://www.lopesoft.com/en/index.html

Description
LopeEdit is a powerful programmer's editor and a replacement of Windows
Notepad. It has tabs to select between open files, supports syntax
highlighting of multiple programing languages (C/C++, Java, JavaScript,
Visual Basic, VBScript, HTML, ASP, JSP, SQL, Cobol, C#, CSS, Pascal, Perl,
PHP), incorporates build-in hexadecimal editor, some util docking windows
(File Browser, FTP Browser, Favorites, Projects Manager, Multiple
Clipboards, Code Templates Manager, ASCII Table, MS-DOS console), etc.
LopeEdit has two editions: LopeEdit Lite (freeware) and LopeEdit Pro
(s****ware). Supported Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP or
later

1.71Mb

I just use it as a text editor - best one I've found apart from MetaPad for
quickness.

Hope this helps

Tony(UK)

 

[Demetris]

[...]

I was not able to check every app into deep, so are there errors?
And, are there other editors I should test and add to this list?

If you don't mind a Java-based editor, jEdit has an impressive array of
features and is highly customizable: http://www.jedit.org/

I use SciTE. Now and then I will open PSPad for one of its many tools
(which I don't usually need). I also like Notepad++.

A few remarks for your table:

SciTE has these:

* text: block operation [columns]
* search & replace: multi line pattern [separator: "\r\n"]
* search & replace: multiple (open) files

And Notepad++ at least this one:

* text: block operation [columns]

Greetings,
Demetris

 

[Mark Carter]

Hello,

it is fine that I know, what editing problem to solve with what
editor, but it bores me a lot to switch between editors everytime.
So now I'm looking for the one and only that fits my needs. Not
easy, I think, I need your help.

And, are there other editors I should test and add to this list?

If your looking for the One True Editor, then you may want to consider
Xemacs:
http://www.xemacs.org/

Features are too numerous to mention them all, but it includes things
like split screens, program language support, programmability, todo
lists, calendaring, emailing, keeping a diary, folding. Basically
everything.

 

[Jonathan Aquino]

jEdit seconded!

I use SciTE for most things these days (fast, simple in the zen sense)
but when I need to do something I can't do in SciTE, I whip out jEdit.
Well, maybe "whip out" is a poor descriptor as it does take a few
seconds to load, being Java based, but it is certainly powerful.
Excellent macro and plugin support.

I did use XEmacs for 2 years and it was my favourite editor for a
while. But nowadays I just find the others more convenient in a lot of
ways.

 

[NebuR]

If your looking for the One True Editor

Do you do Bible classes?

NebuR

 

[Thorsten Duhn]

Hello,

Have you had a look at LopeEdit? http://www.lopesoft.com/en/index.html

LopeEdit has two editions: LopeEdit Lite (freeware) and LopeEdit Pro
(s****ware).

unfortunately some of my requested features belong to the pro version
(Built-in FTP Browser, File compare, Column mode...)

Maybe I'll do a test nevertheless, screen shots look fine.

Regards,
Thorsten

 

[Thorsten Duhn]

Hello,

I'll try JEdit, but can you give me some hints on these:

A few remarks for your table:

SciTE has these:

* text: block operation [columns]

And Notepad++ at least this one:

* text: block operation [columns]

Regards,
Thorsten

 

[Mark Carter]

Mark Carter <[email protected]>:
Do you do Bible classes?

Well, seeings as we both seem to be in a bit of a facetious mood ...

I Googled for it, and you'll be pleased to know that, indeed, Emacs does
provide such a package. It's called faith.el, and it's available at:
http://gnufans.net/~deego/emacspub/lisp-mine/faith/faith-1.9/faith.el

 

[Thorsten Duhn]

Hello,

If your looking for the One True Editor, then you may want to consider
Xemacs:
http://www.xemacs.org/

I included it in my matrix, but am really unsure about what I marked
there. I dislike the usage of this a lot, for me it's a dinosaur,
hard to beat on strength but died out because too gigantic and
inflexible (f.e. a download of more than 50 mb).

Would you mind checking my matrix and correct me (including menu
items where specific functions can be found)?

http://www.freewareguide.de/tmp/perfect-editor.html

Thanks,
Thorsten

 

[Demetris]

Hello,

I'll try JEdit, but can you give me some hints on these:

A few remarks for your table:

SciTE has these:

* text: block operation [columns]

And Notepad++ at least this one:

* text: block operation [columns]

Regards,
Thorsten

Hello, Thorsten,

Now that I'm looking at it again, I'm not sure I understand correctly
the meaning of "text: block operation". If it means "selection of
rectangular regions of text", then both SciTE and Notepad++ have this:

* Alt+Shift+Arrows, or
* Alt+MousePointer

Greetings,
Demetris

 

[Thorsten Duhn]

Hello,

Now that I'm looking at it again, I'm not sure I understand correctly
the meaning of "text: block operation". If it means "selection of
rectangular regions of text", then both SciTE and Notepad++ have this:

* Alt+Shift+Arrows, or
* Alt+MousePointer

exactly the hint I needed. I just went through the menus...

Thanks,
Thorsten

 

[John Fitzsimons]

On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 12:59:31 +0100, Thorsten Duhn

I cannot post the resulting matrix here, so I made a web page:
http://www.freewareguide.de/tmp/perfect-editor.html

< snip >

Pretty interesting. I don't suppose you noticed which of those did
spell checking ? If you did then did you come across one that would
spell check a directory of files in one go and/or all "open" files ?

I have been looking for a quick/easy way to spell check dozens of
HTML files without doing them one by one.

Regards, John.

 

[meow2222]

Hello,


I included it in my matrix, but am really unsure about what I marked
there. I dislike the usage of this a lot, for me it's a dinosaur,
hard to beat on strength but died out because too gigantic and
inflexible (f.e. a download of more than 50 mb).

Would you mind checking my matrix and correct me (including menu
items where specific functions can be found)?

http://www.freewareguide.de/tmp/perfect-editor.html

Thanks,
Thorsten

Nice table. May I suggest some more?

First, my favourite texted, win32pad
http://www.gena01.com/win32pad/

Second, 2 features for the table I consider important.
1. Instant loading
2. ability to set any set of default colours for text and background.
This greatly improves readability and eye comfort during long time use.
3. Annoying features - eg some versions of win32pad have unwanted tab
and home behaviour.


NT

 

[aafuss]

Babya E-Type 2:
www.winsite.com/bin/Info?21000000038621

 

[Bill V.]

"aafuss"

Baby E-Type

You do Bible classes and you drive around in a small Jaguar?

Bill V.

 

[Paul_B]

Have you had a look at LopeEdit? http://www.lopesoft.com/en/index.html

Description
LopeEdit is a powerful programmer's editor and a replacement of Windows
Notepad. It has tabs to select between open files, supports syntax
highlighting of multiple programing languages (C/C++, Java, JavaScript,
Visual Basic, VBScript, HTML, ASP, JSP, SQL, Cobol, C#, CSS, Pascal, Perl,
PHP), incorporates build-in hexadecimal editor, some util docking windows
(File Browser, FTP Browser, Favorites, Projects Manager, Multiple
Clipboards, Code Templates Manager, ASCII Table, MS-DOS console), etc.
LopeEdit has two editions: LopeEdit Lite (freeware) and LopeEdit Pro
(s****ware). Supported Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP or
later

1.71Mb

I just use it as a text editor - best one I've found apart from MetaPad for
quickness.

I am extremely impressed. Can't remember a more attractive piece
of software. Beautifully designed. I think this will become my
tabbed editor, metapad being my on-the-fly; might even go for the
upgrade.

Thanks,
Paul.

 

[Richard Steinfeld]

Hello,

it is fine that I know, what editing problem to solve with what
editor, but it bores me a lot to switch between editors everytime.
So now I'm looking for the one and only that fits my needs. Not
easy, I think, I need your help.

I took a set of features I need in my everyday life, at work or
at home for several tasks. These are my needs, everybody else
will have others, but as it covers many arrays of editor features
maybe it is okay to take this as a starting point.

The editors I tested by now (the first limitation: I need a multi
document interface and tabs are great for this): ConTEXT, CPad,
Crimson Editor, EditPad Lite, NoteMaster, NoteTab Light, NoteTab++,
PSPad, SciTE and SuperEdi.

Features I took a closer look at include:
- file encoding UTF-8
- text manipulation (of course)
- snippets and automation
- search & replace
- HTML features

I cannot post the resulting matrix here, so I made a web page:
http://www.freewareguide.de/tmp/perfect-editor.html

I was not able to check every app into deep, so are there errors?
And, are there other editors I should test and add to this list?

I still have not found a winner, but PSPad is leading...

Thanks,
Thorsten

These features are important for me because I need to use the program
for text work, not programming. I haven't found these together in any
notepad replacement program so far:

Print preview.

Printing headers and footers, with user-entered text and control
characters for page numbers, file name, etc.

User-defined page size and margins.

An option for hard word wrapping saved in the file to a user-defined
wrap margin.

Re-wrapping file to different margin.

User-derfined on-screen word wrap margin.

On-screen ruler.

A spell-checker would be nice, too.

Richard

 

[Ian Edmont]

I am extremely impressed. Can't remember a more attractive piece

of software. Beautifully designed. I think this will become my
tabbed editor, metapad being my on-the-fly; might even go for the
upgrade.

Thanks,
Paul.

Yep, agreed. It was a new one on me and one i was impressed with. Well
polished and a good set of features.

Ian Edmont.

 

[omega]

These features are important for me because I need to use the program
for text work, not programming. I haven't found these together in any
notepad replacement program so far:

Print preview.

Printing headers and footers, with user-entered text and control
characters for page numbers, file name, etc.

User-defined page size and margins.

An option for hard word wrapping saved in the file to a user-defined
wrap margin.

Re-wrapping file to different margin.

User-derfined on-screen word wrap margin.

On-screen ruler.

A spell-checker would be nice, too.

CryptEdit comes closer on your criteria than most.

The one area in your list where CryptEdit might not meet up, it's the
matter of "hard wrapping." If you save as rtf, then you can indent right
margins in the paragraphs. But if you mean the kind of thing we like to
do with text files, where we want to insert CRLF's at a user-defined column,
well, that's not something CryptEdit offers natively, and one would have
to invoke a secondary tool.

some URLs for CryptEDit (or more accurately, "Crypt Edit")
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2006/PL2006TEXT.php#Editor:WordProcessor
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_TEXT.php?sortby=subcat
http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/ce/ceditdl.html

My feeling is that text editors in general do not tend to be too oriented
for advanced printing layout features. And in truth, your feature list
makes me think towards things more likely provided in a word processor.

That one criterion you have -- printing customizable header and footer
fields -- I took a look around for this specifically while launching a
large number of editors; as it seemed the strongest "filter" for exclusion.
Only a small fraction of the editors I launched met that criterion in any
manner.

http://www.redshift.com/~omega/clips/edz/var/printheaders/printheaders.htm

That's simply screenshots of the relevant dialog box for each of the
editors that did have something going in this department. And of those
listed, I did not take time to check around for the rest of your criteria.
Instead offer my hunch that CryptEdit is the closest candidate (despite
the one area mentioned where it lacks native functions).