This article features a list of 15 Best Code Editors for Windows, Mac, and Linux. These are the text editors for efficient & more productive programming.
Share your workspace and edit code together in real time. To start collaborating, open Teletype in Atom and install the package. GitHub for Atom. A text editor is at the core of a developer’s toolbox, but it doesn't usually work alone. Work with Git and GitHub directly from Atom with the GitHub package. TextMate - a classic code editor for Mac OS X. As TextMate developers note, this text editor for coding on Mac is able to compensate for IDE system minuses. It is an easy-to-use and scalable app, unlike many slow IDE. TextMate software. Coders use TextMate code editor for its speed. And really, snippets and macros automatize coding noticeably.
Programming is fantastic, and to do it fluently and efficiently, we need a good code editor. These days a lot of different text editors are available for different operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and even these are available for mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS. Doesn’t matter much which operating system that you prefer to use, you’ll find a perfect text editor in this article for writing down your code in an efficient & more productive way.
You can always use notepad or the simplest pre-installed text editor that comes with your operating system for programming purposes. But we all know by making use of specially developed code editors we can enjoy things like color-coding and structural writing.
We’ve focused on different features like Syntax highlights, code autocompletion, editing features like finding & replace, plugins and integrations with third-party tools & services. Keeping these features in mind, we’ve tried to compile this list of best code editors that can simply help you to do more in lesser time.
List of 15 Best Code Editors For Windows, Mac & Linux
Given below is the list of 15 code editors for Windows, Mac & Linux based operating systems.
1. Notepad++
Notepad++ is my personal favorite code editor that I use all the time I’ve to code in any of the programming languages. It is a really simple text editor with all the good and required features for better programming. It is based on Scintilla. Syntax Highlighting, Syntax folding, Powerful Search/Replace, Numerous Customizations, Code-autocompletion, Multiple-Tabs Interface, Zooming and Support for multiple languages are the major features of this cool text editor for Windows.
Unlike most of the other popular coding editors, it makes use of very little memory. I have tried almost every other text editor but never found any software that can replace it in terms of productivity with simplicity. Even if you’re a beginner or even an advanced user, it has all that you can expect from a good code editor.
The original functionary of Notepad++ can be extended using the plugins. You can install hundreds of different plugins for a lot more functions and features. FTP plugin can be used to connect for FTP Client & Server connectivity. This way you can edit the files located on your server right from this software.
Supported Platforms. Windows
Price. Free
2. Visual Studio Code
The best code editor for advanced users is Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code. It is cross-platform, so you need not worry about its compatibility with your operating system. It is open-source and you can find it’s code on Github. One of the coolest features of the VS Code is an inbuilt git. You can handle anything related to git right from the window of this software. It also comes with in-editor debugging, IntelliSense highlighting and a really incredible auto-complete feature.
Another attraction of the Visual Studio Code is the library of extensions and plugins. This library is quite large and contains a plugin to solve every other programming issue. The right use of plugins makes VS Code more than just a code editor, even better than IDE (Integrated Development Environment).
Similar code editors to VS Code usually consume higher memory and are not light at all but it is really light-weight to run on any operating system. The debugging feature right in the editor can save a lot of time. You need to print at the different lines of the code to check where’s and what’s the error. It automatically detects if there’s an error while you write the code and highlights it immediately.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac, Linux
Price. Free (Open-Source)
3. Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a powerful text editor for cross-platform use. Once you started using it, it simply makes you fall in love with itself. Sublime has most of the great features since no other code editing software could think of having them. It has got some lightning-fast search options that allow you to quickly go to the desired part of your code. Developers simply love to make use of Sublime Text, especially when programming with multiple monitors display.
It has a command palette and pretty cool keyword shortcuts that can help you write long code in just a moment. Especially, I like using the HTML autocomplete tags of Sublime. You can quickly create a whole table by writing down a single line shortcut and many more similar things. It is highly customizable, has support for multiple sections and split editing. It also offers instant project switching, distraction-free writing mode, plugins and a lot more.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac, Linux
Price. $80 (Free Trial Available)
4. Brackets
Brackets is another cool open-source text editor supported by Adobe. The interface offered here is minimal but its minimalism is just a cover in front of its powerfulness. Like VS Code & Notepad++, the functionality of brackets can also be extended using extensions. Adobe is known for its designing products such as Photoshop & Illustrator, so brackets included some exceptionally amazing features like Extract that allows you to get the information like colors, gradients, measurements, fonts, etc. from the CSS files or PSD files. Therefore, Brackets is a really helpful text editor for web designers.
The extension library is large and the size is constantly growing. Brackets also offer integration of git. You can also do W3C validation of the code within this software. The inline-editing, pre-processor report & live preview are some of the coolest features. It is certainly the best code editor for you if you’re more into web designing and are into the adobe ecosystem. The reason being the UI of Brackets is mostly inspired by the other popular Adobe applications.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac, Linux
Price. Free (Open-Source)
5. Atom
Atom is another open-source code editor for Windows, Mac & Linux. It comes with a built-in package manager. It has also got a cool file browser capable of showing multiple projects in a single window and multiple panes support is also there. Like extensions available in similar code editors for extended functionality, atom also supports thousands of different packages that are also open-source. The look and feel of the Atom Text Editor can be changed with a number of available light & dark themes, or you can also create a theme of yours.
You’ll also find a few similarities with the Atom & Microsoft Visual Studio Code. This software also includes a fuzzy search that helps to load up files really quick, project-wide search and replace, multiple panes, snippets, code folding, and UI preferences. Atom also has a good community similar to the VS Code community. When more than one person wants to work on a single piece of code, then the teletype feature of Atom simply amazing. It also comes bundled with a GitHub package that lets you do all the git stuff related to GitHub really quick from within this software.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac, Linux
Price. Free (Open-Source)
6. Coda
Coda is available only for Mac but it a pretty cool code editor. One of the coolest design features of Coda is that it supports the Mac Touch bar and you can switch between the editor, preview, comment lines, etc. using the touch bar on a Macbook. This software is also known for its speed & continuous improvements in performance & design. Local Indexing & CSS overriding are really cool for reducing the hassles of testing. It is also known for its security & panic sync feature.
Numerous plugins are available to extend the original functionality of Coda. Looks like they’re just on the verge of releasing their brand new text-editor, Nova, which seems to be a more powerful text editor for Mac. Currently, it is in the beta stage.
Supported Platforms. Mac
Price. $99
7. TextMate
It is a code editor for Mac OS. TextMate is not that featureful as Visual Studio Code or Atom but is good to go for all kind of programming tasks. It supports multiple carets that means you can make multiple changes at once. A really good File Search and version control support has been provided.
Scoped Settings can make working in different programming languages much easier with shortcuts. Pieces of code can be converted into snippets for easy use the next time. It is highly customizable, supports multiple languages and markup systems. The most common features that are simple to use like Notepad++ are there in TextMate also such as macros, foldable code blocks, live preview, custom themes, clipboard history and more.
Supported Platforms. Mac
Price. $57
8. Geany
Geany is a GTK+ toolkit based code editor. It is lightweight and is translated into more than 40 different languages. Its development status is quite active. It is fast, small, supports many file types and the original functionality can be extended here using many plugins. The code navigation is a highlighted feature. It also supports construct completion/snippets.
The basic features like auto-closing of XML and HTML tags, call tips and symbol lists are already there in Geany.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac & Linux
Price. Free
9. BBEdit
BBEdit is proprietary software. It is a good text editor for HTML and Javascript. All the powerful features of a good code editor including syntax highlighting, better search and replace fast lookup, split into multiple editing windows and multiple tabs workspace.
This tool also has many small but handy features that can contribute to better development. Code Indentation & Color folding are examples of such small features.
Supported Platforms. Mac
Price. $49.99 For Individual License, Free Trial is available is download
10. UltraEdit
UltraEdit is one of the oldest text editors. It is available in multiple languages and has some good development features like built-in FTP and SSH. Syntax highlighting is supported for almost every other language. The editor can switch between different themes. Multiple layouts are something really unique with UltraEdit. File Compare Utility is another attractive feature.
It has a lot more features and these include, Files Find & Replace, File & Project Explorer, XML Manager, Smart Templates, Function listing, block editing, tag highlighting and other HTML tools. Further, it also has Macros & Splitting, fast support for handling large files, informational status bar and a lot more.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac & Linux
Price. $79.95, Free Trial available for Download
11. Vim
Another Cross-Platform Text Editor. It brings the power of the vi editor that comes with most of the UNIX distributions to the text editor software. Vim comes with an extensive plugin system and can integrate with many tools. Macros recording and playback are also supported. It is more a tool for developers by developers.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac, Linux
Price. Free (Open-Source)
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12. WeBuilder
WeBuilder is a text editor for web developers. It has got a pretty nice user interface. You can choose to have the light or the dark theme. Tabbing options like Notepad++ are provided here. FTP support is also provided within this software. Word Wrap, Syntax Highlighting, Bracket Matching, Unlimited Undo-Redo, and Code building are the most basic features of this text editor. Go to anything is a good searching functionality provided here.
You can save keystrokes to create shortcuts to write less to actually write more with Emmet plugin available for WeBuilder. Advanced Color Picker and advanced functionalities for HTML Editing are provided. It includes HTML code autocomplete, tag matching, tidy validator, and multiple browser-based previews. The developer tools which are useful for debugging are provided within the preview. Similarly, features are provided for CSS and PHP. It includes shadow assistant, gradient assistant, box editor and more. Even there’s an assistant for Google Fonts.
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These features make WeBuilder a true code editor for Web Developers!
Supported Platforms. Windows
Price. $59.95
13. CoffeCup HTML Editor
CoffeCup HTML Editor is another great text editor for web developers. It is a good software for beginner developers. Good Organization and file arrangements are offered. There’s a component library that can save a lot of your time. There’s also a tool for autocomplete suggestions and code validation.
Visual Code Selector and Live Preview is also included with CoffeCup HTML Editor. It is ready for the next generation of the web with meaningful markup and semantic code. It also has a built-in FTP uploader to quickly upload or download the files from your web server. There are also some inbuilt templates provided for faster web development.
Supported Platforms. Windows
Price. $29, Free Trial is available
14. Espresso
Espresso is a web editor for Mac. It is another great tool for web developers. Live Preview is offered within this software with a special feature known as Browser XRay. You can add relevant design to your webpage by analyzing it with the Browser XRay feature. It works with all popular browsers including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. The changes are made directly and you can view them live and need not to reload the page or even no need to save it.
There are a lot of other cool features that include Zen Snippets, Toolbar Favorites, Auto Ideation that works for HTML, CSS, and Javascript, templates and workspace with multiple tabs. Quickly open files with Espresso and browser easily with Navigator. Plugin Power and Fantastic Find are other attractions in this code editor. This tool has also got some really cool CSS editing features for better and faster web design.
Supported Platforms. Mac
Price. $79, Free Trial is available
15. Bluefish
Bluefish is a lightweight integrated development environment that has got multiple document interface and project support. It also comes with FTP, SSH, and SFT support. It also has a snippet sidebar. There’s an unlimited undo-redo feature with auto-recovery and full-screen editing. The Search and Replace are quite powerful and there’s customizable programming language support.
Auto File Recovery is a cool thing in Bluefish and you can work without the worry of losing anything in case something happens unexpectedly. There’s also a feature to quickly upload or download your sites. Code Blocking and auto-completion of the code is also supported by Bluefish. Multiple encodings are also supported.
Supported Platforms. Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Solaris
Price. Free
Conclusion
Although there are so many powerful code editors available these days, there are only a few which are winning the heart of most developers. The topmost text editors listed in this article are not just the best but also are the most popular among the developer community throughout the world.
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You can choose to have a code editor as per the supported operating systems. For Windows, I always prefer to use Notepad++ for general programming tasks. If you usually have to work on different operating systems and environments you can choose a cross-platform editor like the Visual Studio Code or Atom.
In case, you’re involved in activities that require a lot of time you pulling or pushing from git, then I highly recommend you to use any of the two great IDE kind of code editors, VS Code or Atom. These are two which has got most of the features among their alternatives. So, if you’re working on a project that is expected to take time in days, then any of these two is the best choice.
Also, check out the following articles.
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TextEdit User Guide
You can use TextEdit to edit or display HTML documents as you’d see them in a browser (images may not appear), or in code-editing mode.
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Note: By default, curly quotes and em dashes are substituted for straight quotes and hyphens when editing HTML as formatted text. (Code-editing mode uses straight quotes and hyphens.) To learn how to change this preference, see New Document options.
Create an HTML file
In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose File > New, then choose Format > Make Plain Text.
Enter the HTML code.
Choose File > Save, type a name followed by the extension .html (for example, enter index.html), then click Save.
When prompted about the extension to use, click “Use .html.”
View an HTML document
In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose File > Open, then select the document.
Click Options at the bottom of the TextEdit dialog, then select “Ignore rich text commands.”
Click Open.
Always open HTML files in code-editing mode
In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose TextEdit > Preferences, then click Open and Save.
Select “Display HTML files as HTML code instead of formatted text.”
Change how HTML files are saved
Set preferences that affect how HTML files are saved in TextEdit.
In the TextEdit app on your Mac, choose TextEdit > Preferences, then click Open and Save.
Below HTML Saving Options, choose a document type, a style setting for CSS, and an encoding.
Select “Preserve white space” to include code that preserves blank areas in documents.
If you open an HTML file and don’t see the code, TextEdit is displaying the file the same way a browser would (as formatted text).
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