Atom is a highly customizable code editor. This is why the team calls it a "hackable text editor". From the appearance and colors on the editor to the key combinations for commands and many other things, you can customize Atom as much as you wish and make it very personalized.
It is always exciting for developers from all over the world whenever they get to showcase their best code editor at computer expos and tech conferences. On that note when we talk about free code editors for Windows and Mac to use in the year 2023, we cannot help but wait in anticipation for brand-new features to use right away.
Top Free Text Editors For Mac
Most of these best code editors are free; you do not have to buy any expensive licenses or whatever to start working on them. Just download a trial version of the said software and see if it fulfills your requirements. Afterward, you can convert to paid software for yourself or the company you are working for.
In addition, we will also fill you in on the most amazing code editors that you and your development team can use feature-wise. Since not all code editors are alike, some of them cannot be used for wide-scale projects.
One of the most famous and useful code editors on this list is Atom. Used by millions of developers all over the world, it is an amazing application with a very simple UI that increases its usability.
One of the cool features of this best free code editor is that the developers can submit packages straight from the application. Atom is available for download at multiple platforms: Windows, Linux, and Mac devices. If you are a Mac OSX user, this is the perfect time for you to give this app a shot.
Although this list recommends some of the best code editors in the market, there is still no comparison to Brackets code editor. Yes, it is free, but what makes it really useful is the full barrage of extensive new features.
This application has a lightweight framework designed by the people over at Adobe. Believe me, those people know what they are doing. It is one of the best code editors that is completely open-source and you can modify it to your liking.
Another code editor on this list that as one of the most famous code-editors is NetBeans. It is open-source software that the developers can use to develop applications using programming languages like PHP, Java, and C++, among many others.
With the help of Vim editors and UNIX systems embedded in the software, the application can manage all of the text-editing activities of the developers in no time at all, whether the application is used online or on the premises.
Next on this list of amazing code-editors, we have the software Geany. This application is quite effective because it uses the GTK+ toolkit to accommodate all of the code that the developers push on the software.
A good text editor is one of my favorite tools. I have been using them for decades, first in DOS, then Windows, Linux, and now Mac. I often edit content for the web in a text editor, viewing the HTML markup directly. I can sometimes be quite fussy about the code that is used and how it is laid out.
On Linux, my favorite text editors were Genie and Bluefish, though I also regularly used Gedit and Kate. When I switched to Mac, I initially used TextMate. After some time, though, I turned to Sublime Text, which was updated regularly.
I continued experimenting with other text editors and eventually settled on Komodo Edit. It had the features I needed at the time and an interface that suited my workflow. That included recording many basic search-and-replace macros that were conveniently listed in a side panel. I could launch them one-by-one by double-clicking on the macro name.
Who needs a decent text editor? Anyone who needs to work with plain text files. That includes people who need a casual tool for small edits and those who use one as their primary software tool every day. You can use a text editor for tasks like:
Some text editors are developed with one or more of these tasks in mind. A text editor aimed at app developers may include a debugger, while a text editor aimed at web developers might feature a live preview pane. But most text editors are flexible enough to be used for any purpose.
The appeal of a text editor is that it can be used for so many different things, and personalized in ways that no other type of app can. However, many users prefer to use a more specialized tool, for example, an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for programming, or a dedicated writing application like Scrivener or Ulysses.
It looks great and is rich in features. Sublime Text 3 works consistently across all platforms, which is achieved by the use of a custom UI toolkit, and the app itself is native to each operating system. That makes it more lightweight and responsive than other cross-platform editors.
The app is highly customizable. Settings are changed by editing a text-based configuration file. While that may take beginners by surprise, it makes a lot of sense for those who are used to working in a text editor, and the preferences file is highly commented so you can see the available options.
The app was created by GitHub, which has been subsequently acquired by Microsoft. Despite misgivings by some in the community (especially since Microsoft had already developed their own text editor), Atom remains a robust text editor.
Thousands of packages are available. They allow you to add features such as distraction-free editing, the use of Markdown, additional code snippets and language support, and detailed customization of the way the app looks and works.
TextMate 2.0 by MacroMates is a powerful, customizable text editor for macOS only. Version 1 was highly popular, but when Version 2 was delayed, many users jumped ship to something updated more regularly, most notably Sublime Text. The update was eventually launched and is now an open-source project (view its license here).
Brackets has a focus on web development, and offers live preview displays of HTML and CSS files, updating pages in real-time. A No Distractions button gives you a simpler interface at the touch of a button, and a range of free extensions are available to add the specific functionality that you need.
Komodo Edit is a simple yet powerful text editor by ActiveState and is available free of charge. It was first released in 2007 and now looks quite dated. It is a cut down version of the more advanced Komodo IDE, which is now also available for free.
A text editor designed specifically for Mac will look and feel like a Mac app; dedicated Mac users may find it easier to learn and use. A cross-platform app may break lots of Mac user interface conventions, but it will work the same way on all operating systems.
Users of text editors tend to be quite technical and prefer functionality to ease-of-use. Keyboard shortcuts can speed up your workflow and allow you to keep your hands on the keyboard instead of reaching for a mouse.
Many text editors allow you to have multiple cursors so that you can select and edit more than one line at a time. They may also provide columns so that you can see different sections of the same file on the screen at the same time.
Code completion saves you time and reduces typos by offering to type code for you. This may be intelligent, where the app understands context, or simply a way to access a popup menu of available functions, variables, and other elements. Related features may automatically close tags and brackets for you.
Code folding allows you to use the text editor like an outliner, collapsing sections of your source code so that they are hidden from sight when not needed. Some text editors also allow a live preview of HTML and CSS files, a feature appreciated by web developers.
Some text editors include additional features for writers, like Markdown support and text folding. Many writers appreciate that text editors are simpler, faster, and more customizable than word processors. Translators often use text editors that offer regular expressions for advanced search and replace.
The most appealing feature of many text editors is that they allow you to choose which features you need by offering a rich ecosystem of plugins. It allows you to build a custom app. It also means that text editors are less bloated: by default, they only include essential features.
Plugins are written in a variety of languages depending on the text editor that you choose, and developers can create and share their plugins. You can often access the library of plugins from within the app, then add the ones you want with just a few clicks. Some text editors include a simple way to record macros without coding.
Visual Studio Code also comes with support for extensions and a big extension library which can be used to not only enhance its features but also customize the interface to suit your workflow. Some of the popular extensions are Git Lens, Sublime Text Keymap, Azure Storage, Angular Essentials, Vim, and Debugger for Chrome. Also, the text editor is completely free to download and use.Pros:Support for most languages
Various plugins available
Good performance
Great UI
Free to use
Monthly updates
Cons:You have to install a lot of plugins to make it feature rich
A bit of a learning curve
Can be buggy at times
Download: (Free)
Textastic is one of the most affordable and user-friendly text editors for Mac that you can find. It is a powerful and fast text, code, and markup editor. Textastic supports syntax highlighting for more than 80 source code and markup languages. It also features auto-completion of code for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, C, and Objective-C languages. I also love that the text editor allows users to work in multiple tabs making it easier to review or consult your own code. Other features include the ability to quickly find files, print files, use symbol list to quickly navigate in a file, built-in Emmet support and more.It might not be the most powerful text editor for the Mac, however, it is fairly capable. Also, its easy to understand user interface ensures that you have a less of a learning curve here than with some of the other text editors on this list.Pros:Supports a number of script and markup languages
Simple to use
iCloud sync support
Multiple tabs feature
Cons: 2ff7e9595c
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