In need of simple text editor

Hi. I'm creating a website (and learning HTML code) and need an editor besides TextEdit and Pages. Preferably freeware. Any recommendations? Just a simple text editor that edits text and doesn't convert to WYSIWYG the next time you open the document.

Smultron is probably a good bet for you. Much better than TextEdit and Pages, which both don't default to plain text which can make things problematic unless you specify plain text (does Pages even offer a plain text option?).

Thank you vansmith. Darn it, you always show up first but I can't +rep you now!

It is telling me:

It seems as if the file is unwritable or that you do not have permission to save the file “/Users/website_design/last.html”

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It does that every time! Looks like I can only save files once.

Are you logged in as website_design?

Yes, I am.

Even better - open up Terminal and type pico or vi

A terminal-based text editor?

iPod Nano said:

A terminal-based text editor?

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Sure, why not? You'll have some real geek cred if you're coding a website in VI, trust me.

cwa107 said:

Sure, why not? You'll have some real geek cred if you're coding a website in VI, trust me.

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Very true CWA! I have friends who have been using VI since back in my Commodore days! I tried back then and got a headache.

Have fun learning the commands though!

Now a days I just use Textwrangler from the BBEdit folks.

I tried that one but it wouldn't open my HTML pages.

It opens all of mine.

If by open you mean view the actually HTML like a web page, then you are not after a text editor.

Oh, that's right! That wasn't the problem. I at first was not able to change the font size when I was editing documents, but I think I got it now! Never mind! Perhaps TextWrangler is worth a second try!

I'll just stick with TextWrangler, but thanks!

cwa107 said:

Even better - open up Terminal and type pico or vi

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Yes, vi will give you major "nerd cred" but for the sake of sanity, go with vim. You could also go with Emacs but then you'd be running another OS .

I vote for TextMate, it's a great little application for HTML and CSS writing. Although it does cost money, I think it's worth it!

My post evidently got lost. I have found Tex-Edit Plus quite useful and good at clean up. A lot of Applescripts have already been written for it.

cwa107 said:

Even better - open up Terminal and type pico or vi

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vi, sure, but pico? It's the Notepad.exe of Unix editors.

BBEdit is the Macintosh text editor of choice, though. Powerful enough for a Unix sysadmin, easy enough for a graphic artist.