Most Populare Web Developing Text Editors For Mac

Most Populare Web Development Text Editor For Mac

Two recent articles here on SitePoint talked about how people set up their development environments. Zack Wallace talked about setting up a Windows development environment, and Shaumik Daityari talked about his experience working with Ubuntu Linux.

NetBeans is an open source Integrated Development Environment written in Java. It is one of IDRsolutions’ favourite IDEs for Java coding. The NetBeans IDE supports development of all Java application types (Java SE, JavaFX, Java ME, web, EJB and mobile applications) out of the box. NetBeans is modular in design. Sublime Text is probably one of the most famous text editors available for Mac and for all the right reasons. The software brings a ton of features including syntax highlighting and folding, a high level of customizability, easy to navigate interface, multiple selections, powerful API. 6 Best macOS and Linux Programming Text Editor For Web Development Updated: August 11, 2018 / Home » Desktop Computer Software Notepad++ is by far the most popular code editor in the market, it is free but limited to Microsoft Windows OS only, for those into coding on a macOS and Linux, here are 6 Notepad++ alternatives, the best programming text editor.

In this article, I want to talk about how I set up a development environment on Mac OS X. But first, a little bit of background.

I’m a freelance software developer and technical writer. Given that, I need a wide variety of tools on a regular basis, whether they’re for software development, research, writing or experimentation.

It definitely is demanding having to cover everything from managing code, accessing remote servers and managing databases to writing and reviewing content. However, the great thing about the Mac is that there are so many tools available for it.

The Basic Tools

New Macs come with the iWork suite, Safari, Preview and The Unarchiver, amongst a range of other GUI tools. On the command line, they come with various open source tools, such as SSH, Wget, and cURL. However, these alone aren’t enough. To do proper web development, and technical writing, we need a number of others. Specifically, I regularly use a combination of the following:

Dropbox and Google Drive
Firefox, Google Chrome and Chromium
Pixelmator and Skitch
Colloquy, Skype and Slack
Evernote and Wunderlist.

These tools are pretty much indispensable on a day-to-day basis.

Dropbox and Google Drive allow me to share files with clients. I could use the in-browser versions, but installing the apps makes syncing even simpler.

And no web development environment would be complete without all of the modern browsers. As Internet Explorer isn’t supported on the Mac, like Zack, I use a range of tools – such as BrowserStack – for testing sites in IE.

Pixelmator and Skitch make it simple to edit and make annotations to images. Pixelmator isn’t free, but isn’t that expensive either. You could use GIMP instead, but I find its interface leaves a lot to be desired.

For making and storing notes, I use Evernote. It’s definitely got that space nailed. And all I need for project management is Wunderlist. With it, I can stay on top of all the work I have to do for each client, as well as keep notes about conversations we’ve had and what I still have to do.

The Editors

But now let’s get in to the more serious stuff: editing. I do two types of editing – content and code – so my discussion of editors will reflect that. Regardless of which one you’re doing, there are several very good editors available for the Mac.

When I write, I write in Markdown format. It lets you write structured content in any text editor, without the need for special software (such as Microsoft Word) which can leave you at the behest of one vendor or another. Using tools such as Pandoc, you can export your content to nearly any other file format.

Writing Apps

For writing in Markdown, there are several great native apps available, including MacDown, iA Writer and Writer Pro and Mou. Heck, you could even use TextEdit, though it’s not really well suited to the task. In addition, there are various online Markdown editors, including Gingko, Draft and Bruno Škvorc’s favorite, StackEdit.

I’ve tried and can vouch for all of these, though I don’t use them on a regular basis. For me, the best tool to use is Vim, ideally MacVim. It does take a little bit longer to set up and configure. But once done, it’s amazing. What’s more – it’s free. If you’re keen, or struggling, checkout my Vim configuration repository on GitHub.

Coding Apps

Next there’s code. The Mac has a number of code editors available, irrespective of whether you’re a PHP, Python, Ruby, Go, Haskell or C++ developer.

There’s the ever present, excellent quality Sublime Text 3, which I’ve used often and happily attest to. There’s also TextMate 3, which is light, simple and extensible. But for me, my go-to editor of choice is PhpStorm. Based on IntelliJ, it just does so much; and what it doesn’t do natively, there’s likely a plugin for. Having said that, it’s not free. But the price really isn’t that much, especially when you weigh up the benefits.

Version Control

Next, let’s look at version control. Whether I’m writing or coding, I always use version control. And my version control system of choice is Git. To me, that’s a no-brainer. However, you may be equally as comfortable using Mercurial. If you’re using Subversion, OK. But I can’t honestly support CVS.

Using Git as my frame of reference, there are several good tools for Mac to choose from. Firstly, there’s the more simplistic GitX. Open-source and free, and a Mac clone of Linus Torvolds’ GitK, it provides the key functionality required to manage a Git repository and provides a nice built-in diff viewer.

Then there’s the powerhouse SourceTree. If you’re looking for one app that does it all, one actively developed by a large corporate focused on developer tools, Atlassian, then don’t go past SourceTree. I used it for ages (before I committed to Git from the command line) and it’s excellent.

I’ll also give an honorable mention to SmartGit as well.

Of these three, the one that I’ve used the most, and highly recommend, is SourceTree. However, as with MacVim being my text editor of choice, I manage my Git repositories from the command line. (I’m not going to suggest that you should use the command line too. But I will say that it’s worth the investment of time to learn how to use it, as it does help you become a lot more productive. That being said, if you’re not a command line person, SourceTree is the way to go!)

The Server

For servers, I take one of two options. I either use built-in servers, such as those with Ruby and PHP, and run without the overhead of much additional software, or I run up a virtual machine. I’ve used VirtualBox and Ubuntu Linux for this, but increasingly I create my own using Ansible and Vagrant.

There’s a whole series of tools that you can call on, and by default there are lots of language libraries and extensions that don’t come with binaries installed on the Mac, and even the versions that are installed may not be new enough. To get around this, I use Homebrew, one of two excellent package managers for the Mac.

Homebrew works similarly to APT and yum on Linux, in that you can search a package repository and install, upgrade, and configure packages using it. For a good understanding of how it works and what it offers, check out Homebrew’s online documentation.

The Database

For database work, I mostly use MySQL. I guess you could put that down to my PHP heritage. But I also regularly work with both PostgreSQL and SQLite as well. To install any of these databases, you can download them from their respective vendors, via the links.

Whilst I’d like to think of myself as a hardcore command line guru, I’m not when it comes to databases. For that I’ve been using Navicat Lite for some years. It’s an excellent tool that provides uniform access to a wide number of databases.

Navicat not only supports MySQL, PostreSQL and SQLite, but also Oracle and SQLServer. It allows for painless creation of any schema element, creating and running queries by hand, searching, creating and updating records – everything you’d expect from a database management tool.

Outside Access

For outside access, I regularly use the SSH library of tools, whether that’s SSH-ing to a remote server, or copying files to or from my development environment. In addition to that, I also regularly use cURL and Wget for grabbing files and for running requests against APIs and performing website interaction.

But if you’re not so command line inclined, there are some really good GUI tools. There’s the venerable FileZilla, as well as the more slick looking Cyberduck and Transmit. Each of these three tools will allow you to manage files remotely with just your mouse.

Wrapping It Up

And that’s how I get my environment set up with all the tools I need. I admit that I do use the command line and command line-type tools quite heavily. But I’ve also covered a number of GUI tools that you can use in their place as well, if that’s your preferred style.

Despite the derisive comments people often make about the Mac, be in no doubt – there is an abundance of software available for it. And because of its BSD heritage, it has access to the open source and Posix-compliant tools as well. So no matter which way you go, you have a wide array of tools at your disposal when working and developing on the Mac.

So, how does my setup compare with yours?

We all use text editors to take notes, save web addresses, write code, as well as other uses. Every operating system comes with a default, basic text editor, but most of us install our own enhanced text editors to get more features.

In this article, we’ve gathered links to many different text editors used for different purposes. You can use text editors for basic text editing and taking notes, writing programming code, producing LaTeX documents, writing a book, among many other uses.

Notepad and WordPad Replacements

Are you looking for more capabilities than the default Notepad in Windows? Would you rather use a graphical text editor in Linux, rather than the built-in vi? There are many options for useful text editors out there.

Some employ a tabbed interface, such as Jarte (which is based on the WordPad word processing engine and integrates easily with WordWeb), EditPad Lite (which also has the automatic backup), and Notetab Light (which can also calculate the value of mathematical expressions entered in the program). Jarte, EditPad Lite, and Notetab Light are all only available for Windows. Jarte is also available as a portable program.

Typically, Vi is the default text editor in Linux operating systems and it’s a keyboard intensive program with no graphical user interface (GUI). A good text editor for Windows that has hotkeys available for its 312 text-processing functions, innovative features, and timesaving tools is TED Notepad, which is also available as a portable program. Emacs is also available for both Windows and Linux, and is customizable. It also includes a file compare utility and a file manager. You can also add Org-mode to Emacs, which is a personal information management and outlining tool. If you prefer text editors with GUIs, Vim and gEdit are both good options and are available. Vim is essentially the graphical version of Vi. For help editing text files in Vi or Vim, see our Beginner’s Guide.

GetDiz is a Notepad replacement for Windows that allows you to edit many text files quickly from within Windows Explorer and has enhanced functionality for dealing with DIZ and NFO files. It can also display ASCII art correctly. Another ASCII text formatter for Windows is TextMorph, which can also convert text to and from HTML and clean up emails (remove all the “>” symbols, etc.), and search and replace by words or multiple paragraphs.

Programmer’s Text Editors

There are many text editors that provide useful functionality for programmers. Most support syntax highlighting for many programming languages, multiple document editing, and are extendable with plugins. Some also allow editing of remote files through FTP.

PSPad not only supports syntax highlighting, but also matching bracket highlighting for most popular programming languages. It also has a hex editor, macro recorder, and a differencing tool. PSPad also easily integrates with the free version of the TopStyle CSS editor. Notepad++ also supports bracket highlighting and macro recording. It also supports syntax folding and is highly customizable through plugins using the included plugin manager. Both PSPad and Notepad++ are only available for Windows.

The cross-platform (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X) editor, jEdit, supports syntax highlighting for over 200 programming languages and auto indent, as well as a differencing utility, an FTP browser, and block selecting. It is also extendable using plugins and macros, and there are hundreds of plugins and macros available through the built-in plugin manager feature.

Programmer’s Notepad for Windows supports syntax highlighting using schemes, both built-in and user-defined, code folding and outlining, a tabbed interface with multi-level split views, and the ability to export to HTML (using CSS) and RTF.

If you like the Vi editor in Linux, but prefer a graphical editor that also serves well as a programmer’s text editor, Editra and Komodo Edit are good options. They both provide Vi emulation, as well as support for syntax highlighting in many programming languages and code folding. Editra has a tabbed interface, allows block (un)commenting and (un)indenting, and is extendable using the built-in plugin downloader/installer. Komodo Edit supports background syntax checking and contains a toolbox with shell command integration, macros, and code snippets. Both Editra and Komodo Edit are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Most Populare Web Development Text Editor For Mac

Other options include the following:

Crimson Editor – A very small editor for Windows containing a directory tree view window
Geany – A small and fast IDE for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X that supports code folding, code navigation, a build system, and a plugin interface
Notepad2 – A fast, light-weight text editor like Notepad for Windows with syntax highlighting and runs as a portable program

Microsoft Word Replacements

There are also free programs that act as replacements for Microsoft Word. They can be used as text editors, but they have more formatting features than simple text editors. You can add images and tables, change fonts and color, and insert hyperlinks.

AbiWord runs on Windows and Linux and can read and write OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, and HTML web pages. It has advanced document layout options such as tables, bullets, numbered lists, images, styles, footnotes, and endnotes. It even has a Mail Merge utility like Microsoft Word. You can extend AbiWord with a variety of plugins, which can be selected when you install AbiWord. A portable version is also available that you can run from a USB flash drive.

Angel Writer is a small rich text editor for Windows with a high performance rate that allows you to easily create impressive documents.

Minimalist Text Editors

If you get distracted when you write by the plethora of features in text editors and word processors, you might want to try one of the so-called “minimalist” text editors out there. They are “no-frills” editors that either don’t offer any formatting features or many of the other features of modern word processors, and even third-party text editors, or the features are hidden until you want them. Without all the fancy features staring you in the face, you can concentrate on the task of writing. Below is a list of some of the minimalist text editors we found.

Dark Room– Available for Windows, requires .NET Framework 2.0, and is available as a portable program.
JDarkRoom– Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
Q10– Available for Windows and as a portable program
CopyWriter– Available for Windows and as a portable program
WriteMonkey– Available for Windows and as a portable program
Bookwrite– Available for Windows and Linux
Scribes– Available for Linux
FocusWriter – Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, and as a portable program for Windows

You can even download Word 5.5 from Microsoft for free and run it under DOSBox in Windows.

If you want a simple text editor with the ability to count down from a set word count, try yEdit2 for Windows. If you have to write a certain number of words, yEdit2 can make it easier.

Secure Text Editors

You can also use a text editor as secure place to store private information. There are several text editors that either include encryption as a feature or are specially designed for securely storing text. Notepad++, mentioned in the Programmer’s Text Editors section above, allows you to add encryption functionality using the SecurePad plugin, which is available through the Plugin Manager. SecurePad will encrypt selected text in the current document or the whole document.

Steganos LockNote is a small, simple method for securely storing chunks of information in files. For example, if you purchase a download-only program, you can use LockNote to store the product key or serial number that goes with that program in the same folder, so you always know where to find it.

CryptNote – Available for Windows and as a portable program
CryptoTE– Available for Windows and Linux, and as a portable program for Windows
NotepadCrypt– Available for Windows as a portable program
Xint– Available for Windows
f0dder’s fSekrit – Available for Windows and as a portable program

LaTeX Editors

Do you write a lot of scientific papers, documents, or books? If so, there are several text editors that allow you to easily use TeX/LaTeX (document markup language and document preparation system) through a graphical interface to create mathematical content and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books.

LaTeX Editor (LEd)– Available for Windows and as a portable program
LyX– Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X
WinEdt– Available for Windows
TeXstudio– Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X and as a portable program on Windows and Mac OS X
Texmaker – Available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X

Novel Writing Editor

There’s even an editor that’s meant for writing novels, called yWriter5, available for Windows and Linux. It breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you to keep track of your work. However, yWriter5 does not suggest plot ideas, character names, or write any part of your novel for you. The creative task of writing is still up to you, yWriter5 just makes it easier.

One more text editor to mention is Nano in Linux, which is an easy-to-use text editor you run directly on the command line. Nano is installed by default in Ubuntu and many other Linux distros, and is easier to learn than Vi or emacs.