Choice of new text editor

[ecto]

Hola all,

I've used Texturizer for some time now, but I'm actually not at all satisfied with it. What's most annoying is:

* The syntax highlighting is slooooow. A really annoying window pops up and does the syntax highlighting when you scroll down far enough in a document (i.e. it doesn't highlight the whole document on load), and also when switching between documents. And then that little window loses focus so you have to focus on it with a mouse click to be able to close it. Wastes "a lot" of my time, at least it feels like it.

* I can't rearrange the tabs with multiple documents open.

What I need:

* A text editor which has fast syntax highlighting, preferably doing it on load and keeping it in memory even when switching between documents in the editor. The syntax highlighting should work for PHP, HTML, CSS, you know.. all the web app stuff.

* I want to be able to rearrange the tabs!

* Freeware is most preferred.

* Preferably customization of keyboard shortcuts.

Any suggestions (which meets the first two criteria above) are gladly accepted

[artistsinhawaii]

I haven't tried this one out in a long long time... but, how about:

http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/


It used to be the defacto text editor for web design.

Dennis

[ecto]

Thanks for the tip. I got a little sceptical when I saw that it hadn't been updated for over two years..  :-\

But I tried it anyway. Unfortunately, overall, it lacks too many features. Ctrl-Shift-Tab doesn't work, you can't reorder tabs, Ctrl-F seems to be quite faulty etc. But the syntax highlighting worked like a charm.

<edit>Ctrl-Shift-Tab does work, but it doesn't go to the document to the left of the current - it seems it goes to the document opened before the current one. That behaviour, simply put, drives me crazy.</edit>

[artistsinhawaii]

did you check the link on that page for that database reader?  I just noticed it.  Looks like a nice tool to have should you ever have a need to write your own sql queries.


Just found this one... dunno.. looks good... http://www.tucows.com/preview/195771 (crimson editor - good ratings)


Dennis

[Joachim Müller]

I can recommend Weaverslave

[kegobeer]

I use UltraEdit32.  I highly recommend it.

[ecto]

Mini-review so far..

@ DataProspector (Database viewer/editor):
* Though I still think I prefer command-line style in many cases, it can be nice having a bit more of a graphical interface to MySQL sometimes (some tables are best viewed as forms imo) (and yes.. I do run phpMyAdmin occasionally, but I don't like doing it via my browser)

@ Arachnophilia:
- Not updated for two years
- Ctrl-Tab doesn't go to the document to the right of the current but to the document opened after the current. That behaviour drives my absolutely crazy..
- Search function plain bad

@ Crimson Editor:
- Can't rearrange tabs
- Search function a bit dodgy (can't choose to search from beginning of document, search window disappears when pressing Search)
- Latest release 15 months old (not really an issue as long as the syntax highlighting is good, and it is.. but anyways)

@ Weaverslave:
+ Syntax highlighting works good
+ Great search function which displays all search results in a little box
+ Lots of other good functions
+ Freeware
- Unfortunately can't rearrange tabs..  :'( Which is pretty important to me when having lots of documents open and suddenly realizing I have to change between two of them many times. But maybe I can live without it, or request that it be implemented.
- Ctrl-Tab doesn't go to the document to the right of the current but to the document opened after the current. That behaviour drives my absolutely crazy..

@ EditPad which I used lots of years ago.. tried the new version now:
+ Good syntax highlighting (for many languages and regularly updated it seems)
+ Can rearrange tabs
+ Ctrl-Tab goes to the document to the right of the current one, which is the way I want it (can't really see how anyone would like it any other way)
+ Also a really good search function
+ Lots of other good functions
- Unfortunately not freeware, and way too expensive (€39.95)

@ SciTE:
+ Syntax highlighting works fine
+ Ctrl-Tab goes to the document to the right of the current one
+ Very nice feature: Ctrl-F7 compiles, which means it parses PHP files with 'PHP -l <file>'. No need to go and reload a web page to check for syntax errors! Maybe this command could be added to other editors..
+ Very small footprint compared to other editors - 415 KB executable (no need to install) with everything needed baked into it. If I had a USB stick, I'd put this file on it.
- Can't rearrange tabs
- Search function very plain and standard


Thanks for the tips guys! Keep 'em coming..

I'll also try UltraEdit-32 ($39.95 though..), and SciTE.

<edit>Tried SciTe, see above.</edit>