I Need a Text Editor

[Mary H]

Hi,
I use Cyber Duck as my FTP program but I have just recently discovered a problem.
I have done most of my web design on a PC and use Notepad2. If I didn't have it, I would just use Notepad. Then when I needed to make a change I did and reloaded it. No problem.

I was making a change to a web page I have designed and was using my iMac. I downloaded the file I needed to change but could not access the code. I could view the source code but I couldn't change it. When I tried opening it in TextEdit I would only see the finished product and no code. When I took off what needed to be removed and reuploaded the file there was a lot of extra junk on the page. I had to go back to my PC to correct it.

According to Cyberduck I have no editor installed on my computer.
So how can I use Text Edit to correct this, or is there a free Mac text editor available. If not which one would you recommend.

Thanks,
Mary

 

[Scooby_Doo]

a few options

Mary,

There are a few things you could try.

1. If I remember correctly TextEdit by default tries to open .html text files by interpreting them as a simple web browser might. If you want to look at the plain code you can by changing the preferences for TextEdit. Go to Preferences choose the Open and Save tab and check the box that says Ignore rich text commands in HTML files.

2. There are plenty of great options for a dedicated coding text editor. One of the most popular is Smultron

another option that people seem to like is Coda by Panic. It will integrate a text editor and a ftp client all in one along with a lot of other great features. I haven't tried it myself but a lot of people seem to like it.

Hope this helps!

 

[danny_w]

I love Text Wrangler (free) and its commercial cousin BBEdit. They are true programmer's editors, with the main difference being that BBEdit has built-in support for CVS and Subversion.

EDIT: BTW, I also use CyberDuck.

 

[Mary H]

Thanks

Thanks a lot!

That makes life a lot easier.

 

[angelwatt]

I'll throw another vote for TextWrangler. It's handy in this case because it can save in any of the line-ending formats Mac, Unix, or Windows. That way you can save it in a format that a Windows user would more likely be able to edit.

 

[ghall]

I swear by TextMate though it isn't free. http://macromates.com/

 

[danny_w]

I swear by TextMate. http://macromates.com/

I know a lot of people do the same, but I just could never get used to it. And to me the CVS and Subversion support in BBEdit is far superior, which is what really sold me.

 

[InLikeALion]

Regarding free editors, I throw my support solidly behind TextWrangler. I've been very happy with it for html, css, and javascript editing. I too use it in conjunction with Cyberduck. See my sig.