First Look: e Text Editor
Editor: e Text Editor
Version: 1.1 Beta 3
Developer: Alexander Stigsen
Platform/OS: Windows
WYSIWYG: No
Price: $34.95 USD
As I said in my last post, I’ve been using my Mac more and more for web development work. When I get around to writing reviews for this site, I do that on my Mac, too, using TextMate and Markdown. Bloody good combo, in my opinion. The problem with liking an editor like TextMate, however, is that you miss having it when you’re on a different machine (or, in my case, on my main machine, which is a PC laptop). What to do? Well, I like to complain to whomever’s near enough to listen. Other’s might choose a more proactive path, perhaps buying a Mac to replace their ancient, not-quite-two-year-old Toshiba lappy with a bright and shiny Macbook Pro. Still others might go a slightly more cost-effective route, visiting Google and typing in “TextMate for Windows.”
And so we have e Text Editor.
What I Like
- e is essentially TextMate for Windows.
- It has a similar (if less attractive) GUI.
- It has a similar menu system.
- You can use TextMate themes in e.
- e supports TextMate bundles (sort of).
- e supports column selection and editing (and mirroring).
- e has a better undo system than TextMate. In fact, the system has the potential to be the best undo system I’ve seen. Using a visual undo history plus branching makes undo “usable beyond the last few changes.” Your undo history is also saved with the document.
- e is advertised as a collaborative editor, perhaps like SubEthaEdit. I don’t have much use for this, but others might.
- It’s going to get (even) better.
Gripes
- You want me to pay for a beta!? It would be ok if it was a bit less buggy, but e isn’t there yet. UltraEdit, which many Windows users consider the best all-around text editor, is $39.95 USD and it’s on version 12. PSPad, another great windows editor with fewer quirks than e, is free. Now, I don’t want to start a flame war, and I’m certainly in favour of e’s creator, Alexander Stigsen, putting food on his table, I just think $34.95 for a product that’s still in beta is a bit much.
- I don’t know if certain TextMate bundles haven’t been incorporated yet (they’re in the menu) but some just don’t seem to work. For instance, I wanted to write this review in e, but every time I selected Markdown as the language, e crashed. Boo-urns!
- A lot of the neat, handy features of TextMate seem to be missing, like auto-completion of quotes and parentheses.
- There doesn’t seem to be Project support in e.
- No code folding.
Overall
e looks really promising, especially as it becomes more compatible with TextMate. And since I probably won’t be updating my laptop anytime soon, I’m really looking forward to e’s improvements in stability and functionality. If you’re on Windows, I suggest giving the beta a whirl.
UPDATE (March 13, 2007): As I mentioned in the forums, I actually did go ahead and purchase the beta of E. Progress is being made very quickly, and Alexander Stigsen has changed focus from collaboration to TextMate compatibility. E is definitely an editor to watch out for.
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