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Maura McCormick
3,926 PointsIs there a free program or programs that you recommend to edit css and php files on a MacBook (running OS X 10.7.5)?
I'm cheap.
7 Answers
William Li
Courses Plus Student 26,868 PointsOops, wan't aware that you're running OS X 10.7.5; now I'm not sure the editors on the list would work on 10.7, they are all very new, except Sublime Text, I think the requirement for running Sublime is 10.6+. Also, give TextMate or TextWrangler a try, they should work great on 10.7.
Maura McCormick
3,926 PointsBrackets started working for me somehow. I've been using it. Thanks.
William Li
Courses Plus Student 26,868 PointsHere're some great ones:
- Brackets
- Atom
- Sublime Text Note: Sublime Text is a proprietary program, but it gives you indefinite trial.
Maura McCormick
3,926 PointsThanks. I'll try Brackets. My OS is too old for Atom and I'm not comfortable with an "indefinite trial".
Jonathan Cousins
4,160 PointsYou're missing out. Sublime is probably the best text editor out there. (Brackets is a close second, imo).
Maura McCormick
3,926 PointsI got Brackets installed and opened, but couldn't get it to open the file for me. TextEdit works. I thought it might be good to have something with more features, but whatever. Maybe later.
Rich Bagley
25,869 PointsHi Maura,
I use TextWrangler mostly and on their website it says Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later (10.7.5, 10.8.5, 10.9.3 or later recommended) so looks as though you'd be OK with that.
Hope that helps with your decision :)
-Rich
Maura McCormick
3,926 PointsSo what are the features that these programs have that are so useful and helpful that a straight text editor like TextEdit or Notepad doesn't have? When am I going to need those features?
Jonathan Cousins
4,160 PointsThe pure text editing power (like vertical editing) that Brackets/Sublime provide have saved me untold hours of repetitive tasks. Just look at the animation on sublime text's homepage to see what I mean.
In addition, sublime (or Brackets for that matter) have extensibility. This means you can find and install extensions (or packages) which add additional functionality. Emmet is my current favourite. It has sped up my coding and helped me become a better HTML/CSS coder.
William Li
Courses Plus Student 26,868 PointsJonathan's comment is right on the money. It's important to choose the right tool for the job. Using TextEdit or Notepad to write code is like using the steak knife to cut down the redwood tree.
Jonathan Cousins
4,160 PointsI was thinking butter knife...