Also, you may see strange characters in some code (such as small black rectangles). Your first clue is the size of the horizontal scroll bar. Still not convinced, let’s examine a file I just downloaded from my web site and open it in Notepad. Since we are just getting started with the spring, 2016 semester, I encourage you to pick one or more of these as a starting editor and move away from Notepad. To me, this is a huge time saver (particularly when I am trying to debug code provided by a student that has some maddeningly minor CSS error throwing off some aspect of the page. No need to even reload the page in the browser. When you make changes to your HTML, they are immediately reflected in Chrome. You open your web page in Chrome from within Brackets. It is also one of those editors which tie nicely with Chrome for your browser. It is easy to use, up to date, and highly extensible. My most recent was in 2013 (and it has only gotten better since then). I have even published a couple of weblog posts on that tool specifically. C’mon – with Notepad, even adjusting the font size is a pain. Most also auto-complete brackets, parentheses and so forth. All the alternatives I mention can handle HTML and CSS and they color code your work (once they know the file type). If you have your document open in Notepad, you have no idea which line is which once you scroll a bit. You will eventually discover the web server telling you the error is on line 123 (or you will receive a validation error on line 87). Ok, bottom line – just pick one and start using it. At a minimum, Notepad++ installs as part of the PortableApps (by default if I recall correctly). Ok, but one can still run Portable apps (and one can install many of these editors on a USB drive and simply carry that around). Oh, yeah, the school computers are ridiculously locked down. Just stopping at this point, why would anyone still use Notepad? Yet I see many people do it. You see recent files, you can add extensions to expand the capabilities of the editor. Before diving into specifics for each, let’s briefly take a look at their interfaces.īrackets – ok, I already see some major differences – with Brackets, you see line numbers, you can have multiple files open at once. This is mostly because the majority of students in my classes use Windows as their OS for daily tasks. Yes, I focus on Notepad alternatives (Windows specific). I am focusing on simple text editors, not entire suites like Aptana Studio. Here is my list of alternatives (in order of my preference): But all are free (and all can easily be used in place of Notepad). Please stop using that one (for anything). Yes, that venerable text editor that should have been retired somewhere around the time of Windows 98 SE – remember that one? Yet, I continue to see this being used. There are many to choose from.Įvery semester, I observe many students using Notepad. You need to use a text editor which handles text (and does not add bloat to what you create). For students just getting started, you will come to learn that it is never a good idea to use tools like MS-Word to create a web page or to edit an existing one – they insert a lot of bloat and can cause many problems. Sometimes, it is best to step back and look at those simple, little things we can do to improve. This week we start the spring, 2016 semester at school.
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