Plain Text Editors—Unsung Heroes
By Molly E. Holzschlag
In the whirlwind of high-end tools that make our lives easier, there's nothing so practical as the plain text editor. Think about it. Text editors are available on every conceivable platform. They provide programmers and Web authors a quick and ready utensil to help them be lean, mean coding machines.
If I were on a desert island and had only a notebook computer with no added software, a modem, and a cell phone, I could still write an article and get it off to my editor, or make a major Web site fix.
There are a few more reasons that text editors are so cool. Let's begin with money. We all like it, use it, and need it. Native text editors are free. So you don't spend any of the money you like and need. And, many of these text editors are pretty easy to use—unless you're using vi. Oops, I may just have started a Jihad (Unix and Linux folk tend to choose vi or Emacs, but rarely the twain shall meet), but there you have it, my opinion.
Let's take a little tour of these magical wonders. (See "
Online" for a list of sites with discussions and examples of plain text editors.)
Unix, Linux, and Operating Systems Like That
Designers who use Mac and Windows may not be familiar with these editors, but using them empowers you to make changes directly on the server.
Let's begin with vi. For those who don't know, pronounce it "vee-eye," or hard-core users will laugh at you.
