Hi everyone

 

I've <em>literally<em> just started reading through a guide to HTML & CSS, with the overall aim of getting into web design/development as a profession (<em> my newest piece of lingo, lol)

 

I've created my first webpage and encorporated the stuff I've learned so far, using MS WordPad, but I've found there's tons of text editors available and I'm not sure that MS WordPad is the best one. Firefox has a text editor built in to the browser which looks good because everyhting appears on one line (and they're numbered for easy reference).

 

Which text editor would you recommend? Are there any important differences that I should consider or is there a *holy grail* of text editors?

 

This is my first post and I'm a complete newbie to all this stuff so cheers in advance of any help/ideas you peeps can offer.

 

Thanks, tomodo

AFAIK Notepad++ is a fairly popular, supported and feature-rich. Download here.

 

In the beginning the text editor doesn't really matter much. I would recommend a simpler one when you're learning so you learn how to do everything from scratch, but something with syntax highlighting is handy.

 

 

(I'm assuming you're on windows)

Sublime text is very good. The price is $59 but you can evaluate it for free without any kind of limitation.

AFAIK Notepad++ is a fairly popular, supported and feature-rich. Download here.

 

In the beginning the text editor doesn't really matter much. I would recommend a simpler one when you're learning so you learn how to do everything from scratch, but something with syntax highlighting is handy.

 

 

(I'm assuming you're on windows)

 

Cheers for the ideas. I'll have a look at them both and see how I feel.

 

But yeh, I'm on Windows, and looking to learn this from the ground, up. I had a look at spending £700 on some course but they only taught people a small amount of html and mainly used Dreamweaver as the website creator tool. Finally realised it wasn't really worth it after people saying writing from scratch is the best method.

I am using Notepad++. Been trying a lot of others but always came back to it... i really love the simplicity of it. If you are going for professional level then i would suggest you to find editor that suits you best (your preferences, habits, etc) not the one that is for newbies cause you may end up choosing another editor in the future and the new one takes time getting used to. The more you are comfortable with editor, the faster your work goes.

I use Aptana. Its free and feature rich. ONce you get used to it,it will really be good for you. (code completion etc)

http://www.aptana.com/

Free and for Newbies:

 

Windows - Notepad++

Mac - TextWrangler

Dreamweaver fro me - I use a mix of skills, but find the layout and tools really quick and easy, plus I can hand code when needed

Using Notepad++ here too. Multiple tabs and fancy colours makes allllllllll the difference!

 

That and learning a couple of keyboard shortcuts to speed the whole process up. Shift + End to select the whole line from the beggining, Shift + Home to select the whole line from the end. Ctrl + Home to go to top of document, Ctrl + End to go to the bottom. Shift and Arrow Left / Right to select individual letters and Ctrl + Shift + Arrow Left/Right to select individual words. Have fun!

Sublime text is very good. The price is $59 but you can evaluate it for free without any kind of limitation.

 

+1 for Sublime Text 2, it is a great program for developing in pretty much any language. Also it has the best file loading system out there, it can load a HUGE file without any issues and load it up quickly

1. Sublime Text

2. Notepad++

3. Pencil & Paper

 

The list of features for SublimeText is awesome & for a nagware program with a relatively cheap licence it's amazing

 

Edit: Just wanted to add a useful ST video tut https://tutsplus.com/course/improve-workflow-in-sublime-text-2/

Edited April 3, 201313 yr by nellyshark

I would say Notepad++ is the best as it is free and really easy to understand.

I used to use Notepad ++ before TextMate and Coda. Now I swear by Sublime Text. It seems simple enough but it's incredibly powerful (I once saw it knock out a bear!). There's no wrongs and rights in choosing a text editor - just what suits your needs.

 

I saw that the original post was some months ago, but I'm sure there are few people still testing the water for text editors. I couldn't comment on software like Dreamweaver, but I am from the school of thought of handcoding. So whatever float's your boat.