The next part of my challenge was to find a suitable text editor to replace the default Notepad the comes with Windows. I wanted something free so I tried 3 options:
- Notepad++
- ConTEXT
- SourceEdit
I typed out the code that I had previously learned (from memory – yey!) and then played around with the editor to see what it could do. I found Notepad++ to be pretty user-friendly and clear. One of the features I particularly liked is that it draws vertical lines to show you how your code lines up, which makes it easier to get an overview of the structure and spot any errors:
I then chose ‘Launch in Firefox’ from the ‘Run’ menu to see how my webpage looked – easy!
Notepad++ also seems to be very popular with lots of documentation and plugins.
As a newbie, I found ConTEXT a bit less intuitive than Notepad++, although I did like the fact that the developer was happy to be paid in beer!
SourceEdit has a built-in FTP manager and support for previewing the HTML code in the web browser directly from within SourceEdit. However, I didn’t like the interface very much and it didn’t have line numbers.
Verdict: I am going with Notepad++ for now but reserve the right to swap to a new editor as my skills develop and I learn what all the functions are!
