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You probably have some powerful IDEs such as Visual Studio or Adobe Dreamweaver installed. But what happen when you just want to edit a single line of code, or maybe you don’t need those advanced features that provided by most IDEs? So, you probably need a simple text editor like Notepad, which is installed by default on a Windows machine.
But, Windows Notepad is too simple and may not enough to handle our daily programming tasks. So, if you are looking for some alternatives for Notepad, then you have come to the right place. Today, we are going to cover 10 free and powerful Windows based text editors pro developers.
1. Notepad++
Notepad++ is an excellent replacement for Notepad. It has a lot of features, such as Syntax Highlighting, Syntax Folding, Auto Completion, Multi Documents tab view, Full Drag and Drop supported, Zoom in and out, Bookmark, Macro Recoding and powerful search feature. Users can have their own custom defined syntax highlighting, and this is among my most favorite feature of Notepad++.
2. PSPad
PSPad is yet another powerful text editors for Windows. It has cool features such as syntax highlighting, multiple documents supported, saved desktop sessions, built in FTP client, full HEX editors, text difference with color-coded differences highlighted and a lot of other features. If these features are not enough for you, then you may view their extensions library for 3rd party extensions.
3. Komodo Edit
Komodo Edit is a free and open source multi-language editor that makes writing quality code easy. It support Windows, Linux, and Mac. Example of the programming languages supported are Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Javascript, CSS, HTML, XML, and so on. Komodo Edit is based on the award-winning Komodo IDE, so you can guess how powerful it is!
4. Programmer’s Notepad
It is a promising text editor which has a lot of features such as bookmarks, code folding, projects and projects ground with multi-level folders, support for unicode files and powerful syntax highlighting.
5. TotalEdit
TotalEdit is free for commercial and non-commercial purposes. It has language-specific syntax coloring/highlighting, fully customizable environment, file explorer, external tool integration and built-in spell checker.
6. Crimson Editor
Crimson Editor is a great code editor for developers which has a fast loading time and very small in file size. It supports standard text editors features such as syntax highlighting, multiple documents supported, spell checkers, find and replace, and so on.
7. NoteTab Light
NoteTab Light is a free Notepad replacement and a handy HTML editor. It has a simple tab interface and able to search text, strip HTML tags and format text quickly. If you want more advanced features, you may go for NoteTab Standard or NoteTab Pro.
8. Nvu
Nvu is a free, open source software program that allows you to build websites and web pages using a simple WYSIWYG editor. It makes creating websites easily like using Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web. Its built in site manager lets you connect and upload contents easily.
9. Amaya
Amaya started as an HTML + CSS style sheets editor, but now it is a complete web browsing and authoring environment. It has standard text editors features, with extra supports on web editing features.
10. RText
RText is a full-feature text editor that can run on any platform. Currently, it supports syntax highlighting for 23 languages include some popular languages such as PHP, HTML, C#, C, C++ and so on.
Cool stuff, I might try out PSPad to see how it is.
I quite like JEdit. Used with it’s FTP plugin it’s really handy.
I am using dreamweaver. it founds to be good for design purposer.
HippoEdit is another great editor worth checking out: http://www.hippoedit.com
Dude,
the title of this great arrticle is:
“10 FREE …Editors”.
Hippo is nice but not free…U$39.- f/one copy.
I have always been a fan of notepad++ that rocks. Nice list, will check out others too.
Why is everybody forgetting E?
http://www.e-texteditor.com/
“e” is a great editor.
Unfortunately, the author seems to have stopped development. (check the latest updates and you’ll confirm this).
It’s still offered f/sale…
So, I reverted back to trustworthy Notepad++.
It works…
Actually development is very much alive. Check the source at GitHub.
Looks like Ive got some more editors to try out! Thanks for the helpful list.
I know it’s text editors and not code editors, but one really good it’s Eclipse.
I’m a huge fan of Notepad++, I always edit code on it when I’m on a hurry, but Eclipse it’s the one I use to develope Java, PHP and Html
Hi Fausto,
You are right! Eclipse is a powerful IDE. These text editors are not meant to replace IDE. They are useful only when you want to do simple edit or coding the stylesheet. For php development, I still stick with Aptana/Eclipse.
This is a great list. These are not your average text editors that’s for sure
And e-texteditor beats them all.
Hi,
e-texteditor is great, but it is not free.
I am currently using Notepad++ but I will definitely give some of these a look.
I have been using Programmer’s Notepad for one year. And I love it.
And, of course, I have set Programmer’s Notepad as default program for opening TXT, INI and INF files.
I’m a fan od InType; Previously used Notepad++, but once I started coding with InType I never looked back. I also loved that the GUI isn’t hideous like most other Win based apps.
Notepad++ is enough for me… lol
Every single download from every possible loaction I have attempted to get a copy of Notepad++ has resulted in TROJANs or SPYWARE and caused my virus software to go berserk…
Any CLEAN download sites would be welcome…
Dude…
just Google this query:
notepad++
and
click on the 1st Results link that appears:
“Download Notepad++”
It doesn’t get any cleaner and safer than that…
Hi xoandre,
SFdude is right. You can download Notepad++ from their main page, it is free from any trojan or spyware.
You didn’t give a mention to Notepad2 which is very simple and fast with syntax highlighting.
Ideal for most basic to medium tasks you require of it. Anything more advanced I’ve found should be done in an IDE.
Hi Ian,
Thanks for sharing Notepad2 with us! It is a great editor.
nice text editors, thanks for the list..
really helping stuff.
Very nice. Before I try any of these, I am wondering if they are *free* or not.
How about RJ Text Editor? It includes FTP Manager, dual panel file manager, color picker and support a wide range of various programming languages now
Hi Phaoloo,
Sorry i almost forgot RJ Text Editor. Yeah, it is powerful and i remember you have a great article that shares about this editor, right?
and what about Vim ?? its free and its multiplataform
Hi Lalo,
You are right! Vim is a great cross platform text editor!
You forgot ConTEXT, I’ve been using this for years.
it’s simple, elegant and is a whole lot nice.
oh and it’s FREE!
in past i was using n++, today inType is great editor but these are tools for quick edit, for big projects aptana rocks!
Great list of editors. Editplus still works best for me though
My favourite isn’t on the list –
http://www.coffeecup.com/free-editor/
I see you have got nvu and I think that its great but I personally use Kompozer which has superseded nvu
Kompozer best way I have found to learn about HTML editing including CSS has been, set of video tutorials that I picked up from a site at http://kompozer-nvu.info/ These these videos demonstrate how you can get a free software called kompozer download it set it up and how to use it.
These videos have made it so easy for me to create amazing websites easily.