With the advent of Dreamweaver, Coda and Textmate most of us have forgotten the beauty that simplicity entails. These coders are heavier compared to their free and open source counterparts. Although an open source tool does not always have to be the best suited option, they are indeed sometimes capable of editing HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript at the same time making them extremely favorable among both amateur as well as expert coders.
So here we are, trying to compile a list of the 5 best available coders in 2016 which make work a lot easier as website developers. However it is to be noted that these are not ranked in order of their performance, they are indispensible and unique in their own ways.
Atom
This is from Github and is a new addition to the text editor world. Atom is a smooth, easy and smart code editor which has been winning hearts of all coder all around the world. It comes with no less than 50 open sourced package that allows users to create a software which is required for the task at hand. There are a number of features which determine the unique functionality of Atom, these include:
- It comes with a Fuzzy Finder which can quickly access code files.
- It is equipped with fast project search and replacement options.
- It has multiple panes, cursors and selection options for fast editing.
- Default code folding options.
- It comes with a clean preferences UI and file system browsing options.
This free open source software can be supported on the latest versions of Windows, LINUX and MAC without any hiccups.
Notepad++
This has nothing to do with the windows Notepad which has next to no extra support for code editing. This is however an open source editor which bears a GPL license and has been released in multiple languages on a Windows platform. It is composed in C++ and uses STL plus Win32 for achieving a higher exec speed. This takes up next to no space on your machine and we simply love the flawless execution of code edits conducted by this evolved Notepad.
There are other features as well which have made us fall head over heels for the Notepad++ and these include-
- This Notepad ++ is based on Scintilla, which makes it an Omni-potent editing tool.
- The Notepad++ comes with a Tabbed Document Interface design which allows you to work on multiple documents at a time.
- It also has a new drag and drop feature which means faster editing speed.
- Other features include a split screen, folding bookmarks, spell checking and auto completion.
- Syntax highlighting is one option which has saved the day many a times for new coders and web developers.
Currently the Notepad++ supports 56 different languages. The version 6.6 supports COBOL, Cmake, FORTRAN, Haskell, HTML, INNO, Java, JavaScript and Python to simply begin with.
jEdit
It is rumored that jEdit is meant for the mature coders who know what they are doing. This open sourced program is supported by Windows, MAC OSx, LINUX, BSD, VMS and UNIX. This is written in java, making it one of the simplest and most flexible software tools which can be used to edit codes. jEdit has come to the web developers as a boon since it supports hundreds of add-ons, plugins and macros.
Here are a few features which made us a fan of this awesome free tool-
- It has a window which can be split while working on multiple programs. The window can be split both horizontally and vertically.
- jEdit comes with an auto-indent option and auto-syntax highlighting. This makes the editing procedure a lot faster and smoother for all coders.
- The UI supports an unlimited number of clipboards making the copy-pasting work exceedingly effortless.
- It supports quite a number of programming languages which includes LOTOS, COBOL, ColdFusion, Python, Ruby and ActionScript.
- It has a unique “markers” feature which allows you to mark a particular section of the code already checked and then go back to the marked portion later. These markers are saved across all editing sessions for the convenience of a coder.
Bluefish
Just like its name, it is classy, simple and fuss-free when it comes to fast, flawless code editing. This is a feature rich editing tool which can be supported on Windows, MAC, FreeBSD, Solaris, OpenBDS and LINUX. The easy customization options bring for a luxurious user experience. Bluefish is well suited for both beginners and experts who want to create infallible codes for their next task.
Among all the features there were a few which caught our attention. Here is a comprehensive list of the features we found undeniably charming-
- It has an extensive command interface which supports over 500 documents at the same time.
- This very sturdy tool is also very lightweight and can load hundreds of files within mere seconds.
- It features a multi-threaded support for all remote files including FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, CIFS, HTTP and HTTPS files.
- It supports Per Compatible search and replace options which includes sub pattern replacing as well.
- Supports customizable programming language and much more.
Brackets
This is another open-source editor which is here to take your breath away. this is a must-have for all coders since it comes with quick edit, quick docs, LESS support and live preview options. This immaculate software has been released with a MIT license and was created by Adobe Systems for Windows, Mac and LINUX. A few of its salient features include-
- It supports inline editing of CSS files.
- Using Brackets one can edit color properties including an inline color picker. It comes with color adjustment and previewing functionality too.
- Bracket allows Live Highlight of your SCSS and LESS files which make coding a fun and easy task.
- With Brackets you can forget jumping between tabs as you can open a window directly into the code you desire to work with.
- Brackets also supports Split Pane options, Flip Files, Hide panels and provides JavaScript code hints associated with code editing.
Author: Rahul Sharma
By Team FileCloud