Notepad++ Source Code Editor

on Wednesday, April 22, 2009

In the past I've always tended to code HTML and CSS in Notepad or Dreamweaver; to make small changes I'd just pull up the no-frills Notepad, if the was a lot of code to wade through I'd use Dreamweaver, because it indents and color-codes the code automatically, to help me find my way around.

I've always wanted to find something between those two options, though. A source code editor that has indenting and color-coding, but without all the unnecessary bells and whistles of Dreamweaver. Darrin Goodman steered me to Notepad++, which seems to be the perfect solution. It's a free, lightweight source code editor that color-codes and indents the code so you can find your way around more easily. Ctrl+Space will allow you to bring up the auto-completion feature, and you can easily preview the code in either Internet Explorer or Firefox right from the menu.

I've only been using it for a few days, and I'm already a convert. It works in many languages other than HTML and CSS, and has an advanced find-and-replace feature. There are also many plug-ins available to fine-tune it to your own needs.

To learn more, or to download Notepad++, go to http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm. And thanks, Darrin, for the recommendation!

A screen shot is below.

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