The best CSS editors. What is the best HTML, PHP, CSS, JS code editor? Text editors for css html activated
Every web designer and coder needs a good web page editor to create and edit HTML, CSS and JavaScript code. Notepad (Windows) and TextEdit (Mac) are great tools to start with, but as you gain more experience, you'll want to use a more robust and user-friendly tool.
There are hundreds of excellent editors from which you can choose the right one, but many of them are paid. What if you don’t want to violate copyright, but your budget doesn’t have the funds to purchase a commercial product? This article looks at some great free editors.
- WYSIWYG editors. This graphic editors, which allow you to build a page layout and set styles visually, as in the well-known word processor MS Word. They are convenient tool to build a page design, although, as every experienced web designer knows, the code will still have to be “combed” to achieve an excellent result.
- Text editors. This is a tool for directly editing HTML and CSS code. Some editors are general purpose and do not have special options for supporting web code. Others are specialized for using web languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, and have built-in properties for quickly entering HTML tags, CSS properties, and so on. Many of these editors allow you to view a web page in a separate window.
KompoZer (Windows, Mac, Linux)
KompoZer is a great choice if you need visual editor on a limited budget
Komodo Edit - good editor, easy to learn, yet powerful and extensible
Although this is an editor general purpose, it supports HTML and CSS, and has contextual autocomplete HTML tags and CSS properties, as well as a collection of code inserts for various elements HTML. To get the most out of Komodo, you need to install the HTML Toolkit extension, which contains such wonderful features as auto-close tags, CSS appearance preview, and a temporary text generator.
Komodo Edit allows you to view edited pages in any installed browser, or use the built-in browser in a separate window, so you can edit and see the result of your changes at the same time.
The editor has a built-in function for uploading files to the site (FTP, FTPS, SFTP, or SCP), and you can also neatly group your files using the project manager option.
Very useful feature Code > Select Block. It highlights the current main HTML block, such as the currently closed div or ul element. A very convenient function when you need to select an entire section on a page for copying or moving.
Komodo Edit has a lot of powerful and useful functions such as using regular expressions for search/replace, ability to perform external commands, and so on. Fortunately, the editor also has good help system, which makes it easy to harness the power of Komodo Edit.
Aptana Studio (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Aptana Studio is a complete integrated web application development environment with a large set of plugins. Although you can only use it as an HTML/CSS/JavaScript code editor
Notepad++ is a great replacement for Notepad on Windows. Although it doesn't have as many options as other editors, it's great for editing HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other code files
PSPad is another general purpose editor for Windows with a wide range of features useful for HTML and CSS coders
jEdit is a cross-platform text editor with powerful macro command and plugin features. Install the XML plugin if you need to edit web pages
TextWrangler is a lightweight general purpose editor. Despite the lack of special functions for web development, it can be used to work with web pages.
Vim is definitely hard to learn, but once you get past the challenges, you'll never want to go back!
The granddaddy of text editors for programmers, Vim (a direct descendant of the vi editor) is an open-source console text editor. It is the default editor on almost all flavors of Unix, including Linux and Mac OS X. It is also available for use on Windows and many other systems.
Vim is not a system that you can install and start using right away without ever having worked with it before. Most editing commands include weird combinations like :wq and / . It also has three editing modes: mode inserts, in which text is entered; visual mode for selecting text; And command mode for entering commands. This functionality is a legacy of Unix from the days when there were no windows and no mouse.
Why was he on the list? If you master it, you will be convinced of its speed and power. With a few commands, you can do in a few seconds what might take minutes in other editors.
There are a large number of macros and plugins for Vim that make it easier to work with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, including syntax highlighting, autocompletion, HTML Tidy, and browser viewing. Here is a large list of useful links:
- Vim Omni autocompletion
- HTML/XHTML editing in Vim
- home page
Fraise (Mac)
Fraise is an intuitive editor for Mac, with a set of features sufficient for web editing
Like TextWrangler and gedit, Fraise is a wonderful, lightweight editor that's a pleasure to use. It is a fork from the editor. It is relatively new and does not have a proper web server. It is currently only supported on Mac OS X 10.6 ( Snow Leopard), that is, if you are using version 10.5, then you will have to download Smultron.
Fraise has some great options for web editing:
- Code highlighting for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and several other programming languages.
- Command Close Tag(Command-T) to close the current tag. This really saves time when entering lists.
- Convenient preview in the built-in browser (using WebKit), with a very convenient Live Update option? which updates the browser as soon as the markup and CSS on the page being edited has changed.
- Advanced Find option, which supports search/replace using regular expressions.
- Support for blocks to quickly enter HTML tags and CSS properties.
- Some handy commands for manipulating text, such as HTML validation and converting characters to HTML elements.
Fraise is worth checking out if you're a Mac user and need convenient editor with more features than the built-in TextEdit.
Every web developer needs a convenient tool for creating and editing code, but not everyone is ready to shell out a decent amount for the purchase of the same Adobe Dreamweaver. Moreover, most people do not need to use such a range of functionality that this software combine offers.
Therefore, we have compiled for you a list of the best HTML editors that are distributed under a free license.
Notepad++
An excellent text editor that can be used as a more functional replacement for Windows Notepad, or as an editor with layout and web programming languages: HTML, CSS, Java Script, PHP.
Working in tabbed mode, syntax highlighting, encodings, macros, the ability to install additional plugins, code checking and file comparison - these and other features make Notepad++ a truly useful tool for a web developer.
It is worth noting the ease of the distribution and the speed of the program.
Komodo Edit
A general-purpose editor with support for HTML and CSS, which is a full-fledged platform, the capabilities of which can be expanded by installing various add-ons. The HTML Toolkit is highly recommended, adding features like CSS preview, auto-close tags, HTML 5 support, contextual autocompletion, and more.
Other interesting features include light and dark color schemes, flexible settings for code highlighting, block highlighting, connecting to a site via FTP, etc.
A high-quality help system and advanced functionality make Komodo Edit one of the best editors, and an excellent alternative paid solutions.
Aptana
The main purpose of the program is to work with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and support for other languages is provided by connecting the appropriate plugins. HTML autocomplete and tooltips are a great bonus for a free editor.
Aptana partially supports CSS3 and fully supports HTML5. The distribution package of the program is quite voluminous, but this is explained by its extensive functionality. For a beginner, such a large number of different functions and settings can be intimidating, but in principle, no one bothers you to use the program as a simple editor.
Alaborn iStyle
Another well-made tool, the developers of which were able to find a compromise between interface convenience, functionality and user friendliness. The interface is completely Russian, and as a bonus there is a well-developed help system.
Among other features that this HTML editor offers, it is worth noting:
- speed of operation and low requirements for resources;
- a large amount of reference information built into the interface;
- working with several text buffers simultaneously;
- automatic step-by-step wizards to simplify standard tasks.
KompoZer
If all the HTML editors listed above were text editors, then this one is the only one that allows you to work in WYSIWYG mode. In addition, it can deservedly be called the best of the free ones. Moreover, it can work in three modes: text, visual and combined. Thus, providing the necessary facilities for both beginners and professionals.
Ease of working with code is ensured by a user-friendly interface, built-in CSS editor and support for all HTML elements.
We did not specifically allocate places in the ranking, since each of the listed programs has its own advantages and disadvantages, which can play an important role for one person, and be completely insignificant for another. Therefore, we recommend installing and trying each of the programs in practice to draw conclusions for yourself. Moreover, it is completely free.
Previously, when there was no CSS, the designer had to manually assign a tag to each heading . It was very painful, and then came CSS, which made life much easier for web designers. CSS allows you to define all the styles for your site in one file (or several, at your discretion). This saves time and makes the code more flexible.
But why do we need CSS editors? Every introduction of a new technology has two sides to the coin, in CSS this is reflected in the support of some CSS properties in IE browsers. And so the web designer must find a hack to fix the display in IE browsers.
CSS editors help you write code faster and avoid many mistakes.
1. STYLIZER
STYLIZER is a CSS editor that allows you to edit CSS and see changes in real time. You can simply enter the address of a web page and on the left you will see the web page, and on the right there is CSS code that you can change and the changes will be visible on the left. You can change it manually by specifying properties, or using the WYSIWYG editor buttons.
You can also change the text color dynamically. When you change the color, a spectrum of color appears similar to that found in Adobe Photoshop.
It is impossible to make a mistake in this editor, since here the editor itself will check the values that you enter.
2.TopStyle
TopStyle editor shows supported styles Firefox browsers, IE, Safari and even iOS 2.0. This opportunity can be used in cross-platform design development.
One of the useful features of this editor is the Inspector, which allows you to add CSS properties with one click, which will save time and effort during long and tedious coding.
This editor also allows you to see the compatibility of CSS properties in the browser, which is very useful when writing code for the IE browser.
3. Style Master
According to the developer, Style Master is an editor that can be used at any level of CSS knowledge. The program can use not only a WYSIWYG editor, but also write code manually (it would be very strange if this were not the case :)), with highlighting of each property, for more experienced developers.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of this editor is its ready-made style templates. It has about 20 templates, properly organized, that make it quick and easy to style your website.
4. Rapid CSS editor
Rapid CSS Editor is a convenient, easily customizable program for editing CSS files. It has a text editor with syntax highlighting, code completion, and others.
With this editor, you can format your style sheet the way you want. The built-in code validator will not only keep your style sheet clean, but will also protect you from CSS errors.
5.CSSEdit 3
I’ll say right away that this editor only supports MAC OS. The editor has a beautiful design, but it is not intended for novice users. The data editor also allows you to see changes dynamically, in real time.
An interesting feature of this editor is that you can describe a property in plain English (Selector Builder was created for this). For a beginner, this feature will be quite interesting.
6. EngInSite CSS editor
If you are a serious web designer who cares about writing CSS correctly, placing properties correctly, you will like this editor.
In this editor, you can add a class or identifier using built-in functions, and there is also the ability to convert color from HEX (hexadecimal format) to RGB, which is rare for editors.
The editor also has a code completion function.
7. Stylish Maker
A standard CSS editor that allows you to set font, color, margin, border and other properties.
Compared to the Rapid CSS editor, it has fewer functions, but a clear interface, which is important for beginners who are immediately intimidated by a large set of functions.
8. Simple CSS
Simple CSS is also a simple stylesheet editor. It is free. You can work on several projects at once. There is a preview function that will show how a class or identifier will look after the changes have been made.
Conclusion
I myself only use Notepad++, and I am completely satisfied with it. Of course, for large projects it is most convenient to use such large programs as Adobe Dreamweaver, but for my purposes, the capabilities of Notepad++ are sufficient for now.
Every web designer and coder needs a good web page editor to create and edit HTML, CSS and JavaScript code. Notepad (Windows) and TextEdit (Mac) are great tools to start with, but as you gain more experience, you'll want to use a more robust and user-friendly tool.
There are hundreds of excellent editors from which you can choose the right one, but many of them are paid. What if you don’t want to violate copyright, but your budget doesn’t have the funds to purchase a commercial product? This article looks at some great free editors.
- WYSIWYG editors. These are graphic editors that allow you to build a page layout and set styles visually, as in the well-known word processor MS Word. They are a convenient tool for building a page design, although, as every experienced web designer knows, the code still has to be tweaked to achieve a great result.
- Text editors. This is a tool for directly editing HTML and CSS code. Some editors are general purpose and do not have special options for supporting web code. Others are specialized for using web languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, and have built-in properties for quickly entering HTML tags, CSS properties, and so on. Many of these editors allow you to view a web page in a separate window.
KompoZer (Windows, Mac, Linux)
KompoZer is a great choice if you need a visual editor on a budget
Komodo Edit is a good editor, easy to learn but powerful and extensible
Although it is a general purpose editor, it supports HTML and CSS, and has contextual autocomplete for HTML tags and CSS properties, as well as a collection of code inserts for various HTML elements. To get the most out of Komodo, you need to install the HTML Toolkit extension, which contains such wonderful features as auto-close tags, CSS appearance preview, and a temporary text generator.
Komodo Edit allows you to view the pages you are editing in any installed browser, or use the built-in browser in a separate window, so you can edit and see the results of your changes at the same time.
The editor has a built-in function for uploading files to the site (FTP, FTPS, SFTP, or SCP), and you can also neatly group your files using the project manager option.
Very useful feature Code > Select Block. It highlights the current main HTML block, such as the currently closed div or ul element. A very convenient function when you need to select an entire section on a page for copying or moving.
Komodo Edit has a lot of powerful and useful features, such as using regular expressions for find/replace, the ability to execute external commands, and so on. Luckily, the editor also has a good help system that makes it easy to learn the power of Komodo Edit.
Aptana Studio (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Aptana Studio is a complete integrated web application development environment with a large set of plugins. Although you can only use it as an HTML/CSS/JavaScript code editor
Notepad++ is a great replacement for Notepad on Windows. Although it doesn't have as many options as other editors, it's great for editing HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other code files
PSPad is another general purpose editor for Windows with a wide range of features useful for HTML and CSS coders
jEdit is a cross-platform text editor with powerful macro command and plugin features. Install the XML plugin if you need to edit web pages
TextWrangler is a lightweight general purpose editor. Despite the lack of special functions for web development, it can be used to work with web pages.
Vim is definitely hard to learn, but once you get past the challenges, you'll never want to go back!
The granddaddy of text editors for programmers, Vim (a direct descendant of the vi editor) is an open-source console text editor. It is the default editor on almost all flavors of Unix, including Linux and Mac OS X. It is also available for use on Windows and many other systems.
Vim is not a system that you can install and start using right away without ever having worked with it before. Most editing commands include weird combinations like :wq and / . It also has three editing modes: mode inserts, in which text is entered; visual mode for selecting text; And command mode for entering commands. This functionality is a legacy of Unix from the days when there were no windows and no mouse.
Why was he on the list? If you master it, you will be convinced of its speed and power. With a few commands, you can do in a few seconds what might take minutes in other editors.
There are a large number of macros and plugins for Vim that make it easier to work with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, including syntax highlighting, autocompletion, HTML Tidy, and browser viewing. Here is a large list of useful links:
- Vim Omni autocompletion
- HTML/XHTML editing in Vim
- home page
Fraise (Mac)
Fraise is an intuitive editor for Mac, with a set of features sufficient for web editing
Like TextWrangler and gedit, Fraise is a wonderful, lightweight editor that's a pleasure to use. It is a fork from the editor. It is relatively new and does not have a proper web server. It is currently only supported on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), meaning if you are running version 10.5 you will have to download Smultron.
Fraise has some great options for web editing:
- Code highlighting for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and several other programming languages.
- Command Close Tag(Command-T) to close the current tag. This really saves time when entering lists.
- Convenient preview in the built-in browser (using WebKit), with a very convenient Live Update option? which updates the browser as soon as the markup and CSS on the page being edited has changed.
- Advanced Find option, which supports search/replace using regular expressions.
- Support for blocks to quickly enter HTML tags and CSS properties.
- Some handy commands for manipulating text, such as HTML validation and converting characters to HTML elements.
Fraise is worth exploring if you use a Mac and want a user-friendly editor with more capabilities than the built-in TextEdit.
For us developers, choosing a source code editor is not something insignificant. This is the environment in which we spend most of our time. Our productivity depends on the code editor.
No two developers are alike, so there is an abundance of code editors from which you can choose the best one for yourself. To understand which one is the best, we will evaluate different criteria on a 5-point scale. We will pay attention to:
- Ease of use- how simple the editor is for beginners, how intuitive it is when we open it for the first time.
- Power- a criterion for all innovations, code editing capabilities, autocompletion, editing modes, etc.
- Extensibility- Does the editor support plugins and additional libraries?
- Aesthetics- we love the beauty in our work, how pleasant the environment is to look at, how neat the code looks in it.
- Speed- how quickly the editor starts, how quickly it opens large files.
- Cross platform- Is the editor available for multiple operating systems?
- Price- the cheapest price gets the highest mark.
Code editors are provided in groups that cater to specific types of developers.
For the Guru
You ask, who are gurus? Basically, these are people who used editors program code even before you were born. The instruments of this group are heavy and wide. They can be launched from a terminal window and, in UNIX tradition, all their settings are defined in a configuration file.
Vim
Released in 1991. The versatile and powerful editor has gained many fans around the world. What makes it special among others is the technology command line. Instead of simply writing code, you select an input mode for text, run a search, and use even more guidance. This editor is imported to all known operating systems. Vim can also be extended with scripts and plugins. This is free software that is already installed on many Linux systems.
Emacs
Development of Emacs began in the distant 1970s and continues to this day. This editor is known for its extensibility. It is one of the first editors to support code highlighting, automatic code alignment, and support for many programming languages. Like Vim, it is also cross-platform and can be used via a terminal window or GUI. Emacs is a free and open resource.
For professionals
Code editors in this category are fully equipped with development tools. They are easy to use and have powerful tools. Developers can write, compile, test and run in one application.
Eclipse
Eclipse is most often used for developing Java applications. This software supports plugins that make it possible to support additional programming languages. There are plugins for C/C++, Ruby, PHP and others. Eclips offers powerful code hinting built on documentation and real-time syntax checking. Large companies, such as Google, provide their development tools for this platform. You can easily create applications for Android and App Engine. Eclipse is free and open source.
Aptana Studio
Aptana is a development environment designed for heavy AJAX applications. This environment supports most popular web languages: PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Ruby, Python and others using plugins. There is also Git integration, the ability to test the application on local server, and many useful code snippets for each programming language. Like Eclipse, Aptana is free and open source.
Netbeans
Another environment for Java, but like Eclipse, can be extended for additional languages: PHP, Python, C/C++ and others. The application runs on Linux, Windows and OSX. Netbeans can speed up the desktop application development process with Drag and Drop constructor. The downside is performance - Netbeans can be slow on large projects. This code editor is free and open source.
Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is part Adobe applications Suite designed for web designers. It supports only the most popular web programming languages - PHP, ASP.NET, JavaScript, HTML, CSS. Very beginner friendly, with support for WISIWYG editing, live viewing, testing on a remote server and application development with using jQuery mobile and Phonegap. Dreamweaver is available on OSX and Windows. If you buy the entire package of applications for $399, there is no point in using it. But if you buy it separately, there might be something to it. It will be even easier.
Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an all-in-one development environment for Windows. This editor supports a large number of languages: C/C++, C#, VB.NET and F# which are built into the environment. It has powerful tools for code completion, line-by-line documentation, error checking, debugging, form design, creating database schemas and much more. The price starts at $500, but the express version of the program is available for free.
Xcode
Xcode is Apple's solution for OSX development and iOS applications. Supports C, C++, Objective-C, Objective-C++, Java, AppleScript, Python and Ruby. With Xcode, you can write, debug, and test applications. Has an interface designer and emulator mobile devices, for testing iOS applications. Xcode was used as a paid editor, but now they offer it for free.
Coda 2
Coda is an all-in-one editor for web developers. Supports file transfer via FTP, code and file structure navigation, sites and site groups, MySQL management and much more. With the new Coda 2, you can use your iPad to view. The stable price is $99, but you can get it at a discount for $75.
For aesthetes
These code editors are beautiful, lightweight, easy to use, and extensible. There is a lot of talk about them, many provide plugins, write articles, and offer solutions on how to make this or that editor better.
TextMate
TextMate is basically a graphical text editor for OSX. Supports macros, code storage, snippets, shell integration, project management. Text Mate 2 will presumably come with everything you can get. The editor costs about $50.
Sublime Text 2
Sublime is a beautiful cross-platform editor. It is fast and rich in functionality for almost every programming language. Supports multiple selections, code folding, macros, projects and more. Full-screen editing is also possible, which looks great on large monitors. Runs on Linux, Windows and OSX. This editor comes with an unlimited trial period, but you need to buy a $59 license that can be used on every computer.
For pragmatists
Notepad++
This powerful and lightweight editor is a must-have for every Windows developer. Although the name suggests an advanced notepad, it is a powerful tool. It's easy for beginners, but it's also suitable for professionals. Notepad++ supports every popular programming language. Supports split workspace into two editing windows, FTP browser, macros and powerful text editing capabilities. Notepad++ is absolutely free. It's possible.
TextWrangler
TextWrangler is a free and lightweight editor for OSX. Supports all programming languages. Offers powerful search and replace functionality, text manipulation, file comparison, FTP support and much more.
CodeLobster
CodeLobster has simple and powerful functionality for web programmers. Suitable for all versions of Windows OS: 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, ME, Server. Flexible configuration of the working environment, tooltips for functions, debugging, and a todo list. This editor is recommended specifically for web developers; it can easily be extended to work with various frameworks: CakePHP, CI, Drupal, JQuery, Yii, Smarty, Symfony, WP, Facebook. A lightweight version of the editor is available for free. With a set of tools for $40, a full set of plugins and extensions for over $100.
The best code editor is...
Couldn't find your editor on this list? Tell us what your favorite editor is in the comments below!
