Text Editor Apps and Services

MarkdownPad was a powerful, feature-rich Markdown editor designed specifically for Windows users. It provided a streamlined environment for writing Markdown with a live preview, syntax highlighting, and robust customization options, making it a popular choice for developers, writers, and bloggers.

Leafpad is an exceptionally lightweight and straightforward text editor designed for Linux, BSD, and Maemo environments. It prioritizes speed and efficiency, offering basic text editing functionalities without the complexity of feature-rich editors.

KeyNote NF is a versatile, open-source notebook application offering a tabbed interface, rich text editing, multi-level note organization, and robust encryption for secure information management.

AkelPad is a highly customizable, portable text editor designed for Windows. It boasts a lightweight footprint, extensive plugin support for enhanced functionality, and the ability to handle large files efficiently. Ideal for users seeking a fast and configurable alternative to standard text editors.

Texmaker is a robust, cross-platform LaTeX editor that bundles essential tools like a powerful text editor, integrated PDF viewer, and equation editor into a single, user-friendly application.

jEdit is a mature, feature-rich text editor written in Java. It's highly extensible via plugins and suitable for programmers and general text editing tasks across various operating systems.

WriteMonkey is a portable, full-screen writing environment designed for distraction-free composition. It emphasizes a minimal user interface to help writers focus solely on their text.

Bluefish is a powerful yet lightweight code editor designed for web developers and programmers. It offers a wide array of features for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and many other programming languages, focusing on efficiency and ease of use for building dynamic websites and applications.

SciTE is a free and open-source text and code editor built on the SCIntilla editing component. It's designed to be a lightweight yet powerful tool for programmers and web developers, offering syntax highlighting, code folding, autocompletion, and extensibility across multiple platforms.

UltraEdit is a powerful and versatile text, hex, and code editor designed for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It offers a comprehensive feature set for developers, programmers, web designers, and general users working with text files, code, and binary data.

TextWrangler was a widely-used, free text and code editor for macOS, renowned for its simplicity, reliability, and powerful features derived from its professional sibling, BBEdit. It offered a clean interface suitable for both basic text editing and light coding tasks.

Kate, the KDE Advanced Text Editor, is a powerful yet lightweight text editor popular among developers and advanced users. Offering robust features like syntax highlighting, built-in terminal, extensibility via plugins, and comprehensive customization options, Kate caters to a wide range of text editing and coding tasks across platforms.

Notepad is a fundamental text editor included with Microsoft Windows. It provides a very simple interface for creating, opening, and saving plain text files. It's a classic tool for quick notes and basic text manipulation, known for its speed and lack of complex features.

GNU nano is a user-friendly command-line text editor widely used on Unix-like systems. Known for its simplicity and quick startup, it provides basic editing functionalities for configuration files, scripts, and general text manipulation directly within the terminal environment.

PSPad is a versatile, freeware text and code editor designed for Microsoft Windows. It offers a rich set of features for developers, including syntax highlighting, a built-in FTP client, project management, and a hex editor, all within a lightweight and portable package.

Komodo Edit is a powerful yet lightweight text editor specifically designed for dynamic programming languages. It offers a comprehensive suite of features for developers working with languages like Python, PHP, JavaScript, and Perl, providing smart editing tools, a customizable interface, and extensibility through plugins.

TextMate is a robust and feature-rich graphical text editor for macOS, specifically designed for developers. It offers syntax highlighting, powerful macros, bundles for extensibility, and a highly customizable interface to streamline coding workflows.

Coda is a Mac-exclusive integrated development environment (IDE) designed for web developers. It combines a powerful text editor, built-in file management (including FTP/SFTP/WebDAV), version control integration, and web preview tools into a single, cohesive application.

GNU Emacs is a highly extensible and customizable text editor, renowed for its powerful features and ability to serve as a complete development environment. It is based on the Emacs Lisp programming language, allowing for deep customization and a vast ecosystem of packages.

Mou is a minimalist Markdown editor specifically designed for developers. It offers a clean interface, live preview of your Markdown, and powerful customization options, making it an ideal tool for writing documentation, blog posts, and other text-based content.

Bean is a discontinued, lightweight word processor for macOS, designed for simplicity and efficiency. It provides core rich text editing features without the complexity of larger suites, focusing on a clean and fast writing experience.

NINJA-IDE is a free and open-source, cross-platform integrated development environment specifically designed for Python development. It offers a range of features to improve productivity, including syntax highlighting, code completion, debugging tools, and a built-in terminal. Its extensible architecture allows for customization through plugins and themes.

TeXnicCenter is a free and open-source IDE for LaTeX, designed specifically for creating and managing complex documents. It offers a range of features to streamline the LaTeX workflow, including syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and an integrated PDF viewer.

Geany is a powerful yet lightweight text editor that bridges the gap between basic editors and full-fledged IDEs. It provides essential development environment features like syntax highlighting, code navigation, and a built-in terminal, making it suitable for a wide range of programming tasks.

ReText is a straightforward yet effective text editor designed primarily for authoring documents in Markdown and reStructuredText. It provides essential features like live preview and syntax highlighting, making it a suitable choice for writers and developers who prefer lightweight, plain text formats.

BBEdit is a powerful and robust text, code, and markup editor for macOS. Renowned for its stability and feature set tailored for developers and writers, it offers advanced search and replace, syntax highlighting, and integration with developer tools.

gedit is a free and open-source text and code editor for the GNOME desktop environment. Known for its simplicity and clean interface, gedit provides essential features for both general text editing and basic code development, making it a popular choice for users seeking a straightforward and efficient tool.

Atom is a highly customizable and extensible open-source text editor developed by GitHub. Built on Electron, it provides a modern, hackable platform for developers, offering robust features like syntax highlighting, Git integration, and a vast ecosystem of packages to enhance productivity and tailor the editing experience to individual needs.

Vim is an advanced, highly configurable text editor designed for efficiency, particularly favored by developers. Operating primarily in the terminal, it offers powerful editing capabilities through keyboard commands, syntax highlighting, and extensive plugin support, making it a cornerstone tool for programming and advanced text manipulation.

Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose. It's known for its speed, powerful features, and extensive customization options. With features like multiple cursors, GoTo Anything, and a robust plugin ecosystem, it's a favorite among developers and writers alike for boosting productivity and creating a tailored editing environment.

Mark Text is an open-source, simple, and elegant Markdown editor. It provides a unique writing experience by combining the benefits of both Markdown's plain text format and a live preview, making it a powerful yet user-friendly tool for writers, developers, and anyone who needs to write in Markdown.

Markor is a free and open-source plaintext and Markdown editor for Android. It offers robust note-taking capabilities, task management using the todo.txt format, and a range of features for organizing and managing various text-based content, all while working offline.

AceText is a powerful, portable text management tool designed to streamline your daily computer tasks. It combines a robust clipboard manager, versatile text expander, and organized note-taking system into a single application, boosting productivity for writers, programmers, and general users alike.

ZenWriter provides a tranquil and minimalist writing environment designed to eliminate distractions and promote focused creativity. Ideal for drafting, journaling, and any writing task where a clean workspace is paramount.

Notepad++ is a widely-used free and open-source text and source code editor for Windows. Built on the Scintilla editing component, it offers a rich set of features for programmers, including syntax highlighting for multiple languages, code folding, macro recording, and a tabbed interface for managing multiple files efficiently. Its lightweight design ensures fast performance even with large files.

HippoEDIT is a robust yet lightweight text editor for Windows, designed for programmers and power users. It offers syntax highlighting for numerous languages, extensive customization options, and a feature set aimed at enhancing coding and text editing efficiency.

TeXShop is a free and powerful LaTeX and TeX editor designed specifically for macOS. It provides a seamless environment for creating complex documents with advanced typesetting capabilities.

Frescobaldi is a dedicated text editor for LilyPond, the powerful music engraving software. It provides a rich environment specifically designed to simplify the process of writing and editing sheet music using LilyPond's text-based input.

MadEdit is a discontinued, cross-platform text and hex editor designed with developers in mind. It offers syntax highlighting, a hex editing mode, and various customization options within a lightweight, tabbed interface. While no longer maintained, it provided a range of features useful for coding and binary file manipulation.

Quoll Writer is a dedicated writing application designed to provide a focused and organized environment for authors, particularly those working on long-form projects like novels. It combines distraction-free writing tools with robust project management features, allowing writers to concentrate on their narrative while keeping track of characters, plot points, and research materials.