Text editors are notoriously divisive. Everyone has their own preferences, and each of those opinions are valid. What works for one person, task, or project might not work for another. We all find productivity in different places.
- Best Free Text Editor Mac
- Html Text Editor For Mac
- Text Editors For Mac
- Best Text Editor For Mac Free
- Best Text Editor For Web Development
Sublime Text is an incredibly fast, completely customizable, feature packed text and development editor available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It is built from custom components, providing for unmatched responsiveness and comes with all the amazing features you would expect from a great code editor.
That’s why coming up with a list of the “best” Mac text editors is quite hard. There’s a chance we’ll miss your favorite, or include a cut-price freebie that doesn’t do half the tasks you need on a daily basis.
But that’s OK, because you can tell us all about it in the comments at the end.
Free Text Editors
The following is a list of completely free text editors, with no paid upgrades or extra purchases. You might think that free means “lacking in features,” but that’s not the case with these.
Atom
Atom tries to be a bit of everything, and for the most part it succeeds. It’s a project from hosting and version control maestro GitHubNot Just for Coders: 9 Ways To Use GitHub For Creative WorkNot Just for Coders: 9 Ways To Use GitHub For Creative WorkGitHub is known for the great features it can offer programmers, but it's not only for them. There are plenty of other creative uses for GitHub. Here are nine you can explore.Read More, and it’s completely open source and free to use. Don’t let the price tag put you off; Atom has some serious potential under the hood.
Describing itself as “a hackable editor for the 21st century,” Atom is a great starting point for beginners. It’s a basic text editor out of the box, with optional packages that add more complex functionality. These include a full integrated development environment (IDE) known as Atom-IDE.
There’s support for Git and GitHub, with no need for additional packages. When you want to add features and language support, there’s a package manager which makes this easy. You can also customize the interface to your liking, another important aspect of any such serious tool.
One standout package is Teletype for Atom, a real-time collaboration feature that allows you to work on projects with others. Atom is also cross-platform, so you can transfer operating systems while maintaining familiarity with your favorite editor.
Download:Atom
TextWrangler
TextWrangler is one of the most user-friendly examples of a text editor, with a price tag to match. Now hosted on the Mac App Store, TextWrangler offers an old-school feel, rock-solid performance, and the option of graduating to a more powerful yet familiar tool (BBEdit, below) if you feel the need.
It’s another great entry point for learning to code or use text editors in general, whether you’re writing simple AppleScript projects, editing CSS, or building a website in HTML. It’s also a good choice if macOS’ built-in editor TextEditMake TextEdit More Powerful With These 9 Hidden FeaturesMake TextEdit More Powerful With These 9 Hidden FeaturesNative Mac editor TextEdit has a lot of powerful features under the hood, so here's how to find them.Read More comes up short when editing plain text.
The app isn’t just a stripped-down freebie though. It offers a wealth of powerful tools like grep pattern matching, multi-file search and replace, varied themes, and syntax coloring options. You can also work on files remotely via FTP and SFTP.
It lacks some of the fancier features seen in the premium packages, notably a preview pane to view changes in real time. It feels and behaves like a native macOS app, which makes it particularly user-friendly compared to some of the other examples on this list.
Download:TextWrangler
Vim
Now for something completely different: Vim is a command line-based text editorVim Is Awesome: Make It Better With These 5 CustomizationsVim Is Awesome: Make It Better With These 5 CustomizationsText editors might not be sexy, but they are important. One of the most powerful Linux text editors is VIM (short for, Vi Improved), and here we show you how to extend its functionality further.Read More that comes with macOS. Simply open Terminal, type vim, and hit Enter. You’re now using one of the most respected text editors of all time, but it’s not without a steep learning curve.
Fortunately, Vim comes with a stack of documentation to help you learn how to use it. This includes quick reference and help documents, plus a 30-minute tutorial to get you up and running. Be warned: even figuring out how to access the tutorials is a lesson for those unfamiliar with the command line.
Like other powerful-yet-complex applications, you can accomplish a lot with Vim if you know how to use it properly. This knowledge won’t come overnight, but in a few years you’ll likely be able to accomplish more than in a comparable GUI-based application.
Despite Vim being built into the OS, you might also be interested in MacVim. This is a slightly more user-friendly port, with full menu bar controls for functions and a more up-to-date version of Vim than that maintained by Apple. You can open, save, and access recent documents like you would in other GUI-based editors, which makes it slightly less intimidating for newbies.
Download:MacVim
GNU Emacs
Another great free option with an off-putting learning curve, GNU Emacs is the “free as in libre” version of the Emacs text editor. First released in 1976, Emacs is one of the longest-running open source projects, and it still receives updates today.
Emacs is known for its unique methods of getting work done. It relies on a programming language known as Emacs-Lisp, a fork of the Lisp language that was originally specified in 1958. You’ll need to use Emacs-Lisp for even the most basic functions of editing, but it’s also used to expand the editor beyond its humble text-based roots.
These expansions include an email client, news reader, file manager, and games like Snake and Tetris. Under the hood, though, it’s still a basic text editor with features like context-aware editing and support for syntax coloring. There’s full Unicode support and a packaging system for adding new features.
Like Vim, Emacs requires a commitment to learn to use it long before you understand why so many people swear by it. While GNU Emacs is one fork, XEmacs is another that’s worth investigating if you like the sound of this command line editor.
Download:GNU Emacs | XEmacs
Visual Studio Code
Like Atom, Visual Studio Code is a relative newcomer in the text editing space. Not to be confused with Visual Studio, Microsoft’s full-power IDE with a price tag to match, Visual Studio Code is a lightweight text and script editor built around the concept of expanding support with plugins.
There are plugins for writing and running shell scripts in Code, for penning markdown documents, and even writing AppleScript. That’s right; you can use Microsoft’s text editor to create scripts that will only work on Apple machines.
The Visual Studio Code marketplace turns the app into a Swiss Army knife of code, text, and script editing. A reliance on plugins means the app is lightweight and responsive from the start, as you’re not lugging around features and functionality you’re never going to use.
Which plugins are worth getting? Our roundup of Visual Studio Code plugins will answer that for you.
Code uses an attractive dark theme, and it doesn’t feel like a lazy port of the Windows version either. It’s worth a shot, particularly if you don’t get on with the likes of Vim and Emacs. Check out our top tips for boosting productivity in Visual Studio Code10 Essential Productivity Tips for Visual Studio Code10 Essential Productivity Tips for Visual Studio CodeVisual Studio Code blows other programming text editors out of the water. It's free, open source, lightning fast, and packed with productivity features.Read More to learn more.
Download:Visual Studio Code
Premium Text Editors
If you’re looking for a text editor to use at work, or you’re at a stage where your tools can have a serious impact on your productivity and paycheck, you should consider one of these. Luckily they all come with a decent free evaluation period, so you can try before you buy.
TextMate
Powerful, simple, and lightweight, TextMate is the preferred choice of many Mac professionals, and it’s not hard to see why. This editor has support for a range of languages and syntax, tabs, and a language-specific approach that can save you time and effort.
TextMate incorporates snippets, macros, and scoping features that vastly speed up workflow without stepping into full IDE territory. The developer aimed to bring “Apple’s approach to operating systems into the world of text editors” and that’s a fairly good summation of why so many love TextMate.
Despite development stalling from time to time, TextMate maintains a die-hard following of professional users. This has given way to an extensive database of documentation and screencasts, which should help new users get up to speed.
It’s a simple tool to start using, with a clean UI and fair price point. You can download TextMate free for evaluation purposes, though the app doesn’t seem to bother you for registration credentials or a serial number.
Best Free Text Editor Mac
Download:TextMate ($60)
Sublime Text 3
Sublime Text is a self-described “sophisticated text editor” that markets itself as a code, markup, and prose editor. It’s probably overkill for the simplest text editing tasks though, considering it costs $80 for a license.
For those who need a powerful tool, Sublime Text delivers a wealth of features and functions11 Sublime Text Tips for Productivity and a Faster Workflow11 Sublime Text Tips for Productivity and a Faster WorkflowSublime Text is a versatile text editor and a gold standard for many programmers. Our tips focus on efficient coding, but general users will appreciate the keyboard shortcuts.Read More. Some of these are hallmarks of the app, like Goto Anything which lets you open a file and quickly navigate to the relevant line in record speed.
The app creates a project-wide index of all classes used for references, and supports multiple selections so you can change more than one element at a time. To cut down on the time you spend in menus, developers devised the Command Palette for rarely-used functions, and fast project switching with no save prompts.
There’s a vast amount of customizability at your fingertips. Many favor the app for its smooth performance under load and attractive UI. It’s also cross-platform, and you only need a single license to use the app across all your machines and platforms.
Download:Sublime Text 3 ($80)
BBEdit
BBEdit wouldn’t have earned a place on this list were it not for a large userbase that’ll defend it to the death. And that’s just fine, since BBEdit is a mature and powerful text editor that prioritizes performance and reliability above all else.
It’s the quintessential Mac text editor, from the developers who bought you TextWrangler. Despite lacking the freshness of Atom or the crisp UI seen in Sublime Text, BBEdit is built from the ground up for macOS, optimized for macOS, with a macOS approach to text editing.
That means keyboard shortcuts that make sense to the average Mac user, and an approach to text editing that follows many of Apple’s design sensibilities. It also bakes in support for Mac technologies like Bonjour. This removes some barriers for entry seen in other apps, but results in a slightly more cumbersome UI than its rivals.
BBEdit is perfect for HTML and text editing, with support for remote editing via FTP/SFTP. The app is highly customizable, from syntax coloring to menu options, user-defined functions, keyboard shortcuts, and macOS Terminal support right in the app.
Download:BBEdit ($50)
Espresso
Not everyone uses their text editor for building websites, but many who do gravitate toward Espresso. It’s an editor that’s aimed squarely at web developers, and it’s got powerful features to make creating websites a more productive experienceCreating Web Interfaces: Where to StartCreating Web Interfaces: Where to StartWe'll show you how web interfaces break down, then point out the key concepts, tools, and building blocks needed to make yourself a 21st century web designer.Read More.
The big one is a live preview browser, so you can see your changes in real time. The app incorporates Xray layout tools, and CSSEdit visual styling for colors, gradients, shadows, and more. It supports HTML, CSS, LESS, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, Apache, and XML out of the box. More languages are available through plugins.
There’s a laundry list of features that keep users coming back, like customizable snippets and UI, a clean modern design, custom spacing and indentation to keep your code clean, support for tabs, templates and custom templates, powerful find and replace, and multi-line editing for making changes in multiple locations at once.
It’s not cheap at $79, but you can download a trial and see how it works before you commit. It’s a great tool for web developers, but lacking in other areas when it comes to scripting and coding.
Download:Espresso ($79)
So Many Text Editors
There are so many text editors available that we couldn’t possibly include them all, but we thought these were worth a mention if you’re still on the hunt:
- Coda 2 ($80): Another web development-focused text editor like Espresso; worth a look if you’re in need of such a tool.
- PhpStorm (from $90): A PHP-focused IDE with a $90 yearly subscription model; ideal for PHP developers but overkill for many other applications.
- Smultron ($10): A better-than-free text editor with a tidy interface that won’t break the bank.
Remember: The text editor with the most tools isn’t necessarily the best. The best text editor is the one that suits you and meets your expectations. It’s the editor that allows you to get more done. It’s the editor that falls away into the background, allowing you to concentrate on your work rather than the software you use to get your job done.
But you’ve probably got your own favorites in mind already (if you don’t prefer an IDEText Editors vs. IDEs: Which One Is Better For Programmers?Text Editors vs. IDEs: Which One Is Better For Programmers?Choosing between an advanced IDE and a simpler text editor can be hard. We offer some insight to help you make that decision.Read More). We’d love to hear which text editor you get on with the best, and why it works for you. Please add your own suggestions in the comments below!
Explore more about: HTML, Mac, Text Editor, Visual Studio Code.
Please note that TextWrangler is NOT compatible with High Sierra, macOS 10.13. Refer to https://www.barebones.com/support/textwrangler/ for OS version details.
If you are an advert user of a computer, then you would know the inevitable use of text editors on a daily basis. Whether it is the need to take notes or do programming, there is a broad range of functions that text editors perform. Usage for Mac has been increased compared to Windows and therefore looking for best text editors for Mac is not an easy task to choose when there are many best text editors for Mac available in the market. Every OS comes
Html Text Editor For Mac
Every OS comes with the inbuilt ability of text editor like Notes in iOS or Text Edit in OS X providing the same universal function. But 10 best text editors for Mac OS are must for high-end programming.
If one wants to create software and apps that require complex coding, it becomes intermediate necessary to look for the best text editor for programming on Mac. To get a laptop with an excellent writing tool that offers no distraction, it is a must that it should be loaded with 10 best text editors for Mac. So 10 best text editors for Mac OS guide is here to sort out best for you .
Contents
- 2 Best Text Editors for Mac
What is a MAC iOS Code Editor?
Now before you look for best text editors for Mac one must know little about text editor. A text editor is a program that serves the purpose of editing the plain text files. Now a regular text editor is just used for text editing and formatting whereas on the other hand there are programming text editors that are specifically used for writing codes and are intended to serve the purpose of code formatting and indentation.
Best Text Editors for Mac
So here you will get the 10 best text editors for Mac Programming that may even extend the use of debugging.
1. Brackets- Best Text Editor
Bracket is one of the 10 best text editor for Mac coding and is a free and open source that has gained a big name in the tech industry. The most favorite thing about Bracket is that it has an elegant interface and comes with a unique feature called as Extract. It allows you to customize font, measurements, colors, gradients and you can even grab PSD file into the clean CSS ready to use for a web page. Apart from this the text editor also supports extension, inline editors, and previews. It also supports W3C Validation, Beautify for JS, HTML and CSS, Git Integration and much more. These features make this tool stand out of all other text editor tools.
You can download this versatile text editing tool from the link
2. Text Wrangler
The next pick in the list of 10 best text editors for Mac is Text Wrangler that is developed by Bare Bones. It includes all those features that are must for hardcore programmers and developers. Those who want to change the order of certain columns in a CSV, or a server admin that requires writing scripts. It is a free tool and is almost similar to Notepad ++ allowing you to do all necessary editing and is a tool worth looking forward. This tool can be considered as the short version of BBEdit and is the simplest tool to use as the script writer.
So do try this popular text editor for Mac by downloading it from the link-
3. BBEdit
The developing company of BBEdit, Bare Bones claims that it is one of the best text editor for Mac OS. This tool is Holy Grail for Mac users. It is mighty and incredibly rich text and HTML editing tool that proves to be best for Web developers. It supports advanced features like editing, searching, and manipulation of text. You can also use this tool to command files, folders, text, and servers and also boasts the syntax support and color coding. But when you get such highlighted features under one umbrella you need to pay the price and is not available for free to support your needs.
Follow the link to use this tool
4. TextMate
Talking about another massive and freely available text editor for Mac programming is TextMate that has made its approach to Mac users. This tool has easy to use graphical interface, neat and is powerful of UNIX command console that is equally useful for both dedicated and amateur programmers. It combines some great features like search and replaces within the project, auto-indentation, column selection, word completion from the current document, dynamic outlines, and regular expression support. It is a text editor that also supports Xcode and helps in building Xcode projects efficiently. With this tool, you can also use its inbuilt themes for visual liking.
Get this tool for free
Text Editors For Mac
5. Sublime Text
With the wide variety of features and high customization options Sublime Text is the popular text editor that offers you the best interface. It is one of those text editors for Mac that supports code and markup. It has one of the fastest search engines, and the best part of this software is that it offers shortcuts and has powerful plugin API that is highly customizable. Its full features are accessible only after paying a certain amount, but you can use it for free for unlimited time.
Get this text editor for Mac free download from the site
6. Atom
Atom as a text editor for Mac is new in the market but is very much capable of doing your coding job. It is open source software that is available for free and is maintained by Github. It comes with massive user submitted package library and its impressive features are file system browser, fuzzy search, multiple tabs for editing, code folding, and multi-selection for quick edits, It also supports extension library, four UI and eight syntax themes in both dark and light colors. Apart from this it is also considered as the best text editor for Mac python.
Download this tool for free.
7. Textastic – Best Coding Text Editor
Another cross-platform text editor for Mac users is Textastic. It has made the coding easy job not only on Mac but also on iPhone and iPad. A unique feature of this tool is cloud syncing. If you are doing your coding work on Mac and want to switch to your iPhone or iPad then carry on from where you left without any effort. Therefore it is an excellent tool for on the go edits and quick in functionality. It is a versatile tool that supports almost 80 coding and markup language. Thus it is one of the 10 best text editors for Mac coding.
Get this out of box tool from the link given
8. Ultra Edit
The name Ultra Edit is a lot famous among developers from so many years and comes from IDM Computer Solutions. The main strength or USP of this tool lies in their editing capability. It supports HTML, PHP, Javascript, C/C++, Perl, Python and bundle of programming languages. With this tool comes features like features syntax highlighting, column/block editing, file/data sorting etc. It has integrated FTP client as well as SSH/telnet support. Most of its features are accessible with its premium offer but is a tool that is worth a buck.
9. Code Runner 2
Best Text Editor For Mac Free
It is another hardcore coding or text editor tool that you will love to use for prose writing. This tool unlike others supports themes that come from textmate and has ample of customizing options. Its attractive features that make programming job easy include symbol navigation, auto complete for words and bracket matching. In addition you get argument execution with input sets, an interactive console, and much more.
Want to use this versatile tool get it now
10. MacVim
Best Text Editor For Web Development
Well, the list comes to an end with another famous 10 best text editors for Mac OS X. This text editor is free with primitive interface. This unique software is packed with standard OS X keyboard shortcuts lessening the learning curve a little. With this tool you get transparent backgrounds and full screen mode for distraction-free coding. It comes along with tabs and multiple windows with a fully-loaded ODB editor.
Want to try now and wait no more
Conclusion
So these were some of the most versatile, top selected and the top text editors for Mac. They will make your machine more useful. These are our best picks and are highly recommended 10 best text editors for Mac. One must give a try for they are build to serve the purpose of programming, coding and web designing. Hope this will make your search easy and sorted,