HTML Editor Reviews | Reviews and Discussion of (X)HTML Coding Tools

Review: E Text Editor 1.0

I first previewed e back in December, and while I thought it looked promising, it was buggy and costly for a beta. Four months later, e’s developer, Alexander Stigsen, changed his focus from collaboration to TextMate compatibility and I purchased the beta, which I’d initially balked at. Since then, on an almost weekly basis, new features have been added to e and it’s become my main editor. E is a code monkey’s dream.

What I Like

• As I said in my initial preview, e is TextMate for Windows and it sports my favourite TextMate features:
  • TextMate bundles and snippets (you’ll never go back after using this style of snippets).
  • TextMate syntax themes (I’m superficial — I admit it).
  • Column selection and editing (simply a brilliant feature on any editor).
  • Bracket/quote auto-complete and automatic indenting.
  • Code collapse.
• Out of the box, e has one feature sorely lacking in TextMate: E supports multi-text selection (yes, I know about the Duane Johnson bundle, but E’s implementation is far more intuitive). If you hold down CTRL, then double-click/select multiple words, you can then edit all of these words at the same time. Clear as mud? Watch the video.
• E’s undo system is very good. You can see a visual list of your changes, even where edits forked off in different directions. The undo history is saved with your file.
• E’s find and replace gives you immediate visual feedback, highlighting found queries as you type. This is especially helpful when you’re using regex to search. I love this!
• Smart wrapping. I don’t know why more editors don’t have this. See what I mean.
• Despite my earlier criticism, e is pretty affordable, especially now that it’s out of beta.
• Unbelievable release cycles — I don’t think Alexander sleeps. While in beta, a new update was released almost every week. Stagnant, e is not.
• E is under 5MB to download.

Gripes

I’ve only got two gripes:

• E is pretty slow to load on my machine — sometimes up to 25 seconds. Not a huge deal, but if I just want to open a file to quickly take a peak, I’ll use something like NotePad++ instead.
• I forget the second one.

Wishlist

• Find in files.
• Faster load times.
• Bracket highlighting.

Overall

Go get the trial and test it out. If you’ve used and like TextMate, but work primarily on a PC, you’re going to like e. The price is good and the editor is solid. E’s features, such as the bundles and snippets, make coding a pleasure and really speed up your work. Alexander has promised some great new features in the upcoming versions, and frankly I can’t wait; E has been one of the best software investments I’ve made.

23 Comments

1. Great review. I think one of the most promising things Alexander has in the pipeline is a Linux version, thus completing the “Textmate Compatible” ecosystem. Plus e is the one thing, apart from Photoshop, I really miss on Ubuntu. I could probably learn to live with GIMP in place of Photoshop, but I know I couldn’t live without e. Once e is on Linux, there’s going to be little to keep me from switching to Ubuntu as my work environment of choice.

   Comment by Charles Roper — August 10, 2007 @ 5:16 am

2. [...] a good review of E here. Installation was smooth and the auto-update of my existing cygwin installation was pretty slick. A [...]

   Pingback by link[rel=’developer’] » Textmate on Windows - Introducing ‘E’ — August 16, 2007 @ 8:16 pm

3. I use e Text Editor daily for HTML, PHP, GROOVY, TEXT, pretty much everything. I made a web editing application for html that ties this editor into my online CMS applications.

   Comment by Tony Landis — November 28, 2007 @ 1:00 pm

4. Great Review.. I have been looking for something like TextMate for my PC.. dreamweaver is a pig, and Notepad++ really lacks features… Will be testing it today!

   Comment by Ben May — October 3, 2008 @ 4:40 pm

5. I like e-texteditor, but I have had a really crappy customer service experience. I am having an issue with the editor and sent multiple emails to the developers. I have no received any reply. That right there is enough to make me wish I hadn’t spent any money on it. I would not recommend this application to anyone. I have been unable to open it (it errors), for going on a week now, and have not even received any reply to my emails.

   Comment by Matt — November 9, 2009 @ 10:20 am

6. I really knew about much of this, but in spite of this, I still considered it was beneficial. Excellent blog! Fantastic blog, very informative. I urge you to continue to write such wonderful pieces of literature, it really inspired me! I often read your blog and always find it very interesting. Thought it was about time i let you know…Keep up the great work

   Comment by {how to earn money fast — October 27, 2011 @ 1:01 am

7. Hey, Great tips, I got some great value out of this post. thanks

   Comment by Computer tips — November 10, 2011 @ 10:17 am

8. Today, taking into consideration the fast lifestyle that everyone is having, credit cards have a big demand in the economy. Persons from every area of life are using the credit card and people who not using the credit cards have lined up to apply for 1. Thanks for revealing your ideas in credit cards.

   Comment by davegreen221 — November 10, 2011 @ 10:25 pm

9. Thanks for these pointers. One thing I additionally believe is the fact that credit cards offering a 0% rate of interest often appeal to consumers together with zero interest, instant authorization and easy over-the-internet balance transfers, nonetheless beware of the number one factor that will void your current 0% easy road annual percentage rate and also throw one out into the very poor house fast.

   Comment by micheal2u — November 11, 2011 @ 8:15 pm

10. Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam comments? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any assistance is very much appreciated.

    Comment by call of duty 3 modern warefare — November 13, 2011 @ 11:47 pm

11. When I came more than to this post I can only appear at part of it, is this my net browser or the internet internet site? Really should I reboot?

    Comment by giant twist comfort cs — November 14, 2011 @ 3:06 pm

12. Hello, friend this is a Wonderful post. I like a lot this, I have already shared it on FB.

    Comment by Cinematic Profits — November 15, 2011 @ 8:58 am

13. Thanks for this interesting article. I value good content when I see it. I learned a few new ideas today about how to make money online.

    Comment by Mickey} — November 15, 2011 @ 11:31 pm

14. You may or may not find this information directly relevent to the topic at hand but all readers could greatly benefit. No matter what you’ve tried in the past, you’ve got to check out Make Money with Kindlin at http://makemoneywithkindlin.com for the very best tools for making money online.

    Comment by jerry — November 16, 2011 @ 12:32 am

15. Thank you for this interesting post. I appreciate good info when I see it. I discovered a few new ideas today about how to make money online.

    Comment by Dan — November 16, 2011 @ 4:27 am

16. I was recommended this website via my cousin. I’m now not sure whether or not this submit is written by him as nobody else know such distinct about my difficulty. You are incredible! Thanks!

    Comment by UGG Sundance Limited Edition 5728 — November 17, 2011 @ 12:17 pm

17. I’ve said that least 4245740 times. The problem this like that is they are just too compilcated for the average bird, if you know what I mean

    Comment by a4245740 — November 18, 2011 @ 8:46 pm

18. Thanks for writing your ideas. Being writer, I am generally looking for unique and different approaches to think about a topic. I uncover excellent inspiration in doing this. Thank you again

    Comment by Berry — November 18, 2011 @ 11:53 pm

19. My spouse and i have been so joyous Michael managed to finish up his studies using the precious recommendations he discovered when using the site. It’s not at all simplistic to simply always be giving freely strategies that many the rest might have been selling. We already know we’ve got the website owner to give thanks to for that. The explanations you’ve made, the simple blog menu, the relationships you will help instill – it’s got all powerful, and it’s really facilitating our son in addition to our family reason why that situation is amusing, which is certainly unbelievably indispensable. Thanks for the whole lot!

    Comment by airbnb — November 19, 2011 @ 1:57 am

20. WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …

    Comment by Bonita Melius — November 19, 2011 @ 3:07 am

21. You must take part in a contest for the most effective blogs on the web. I’ll advocate this web site!

    Comment by InterKarate.co.uk — November 19, 2011 @ 3:54 am

22. My husband and i ended up being now ecstatic that Louis could do his inquiry through the entire ideas he acquired while using the weblog. It’s not at all simplistic to simply always be releasing helpful hints some people could have been making money from. We really acknowledge we have got the writer to be grateful to for that. All the explanations you have made, the easy web site menu, the relationships you can give support to foster – it’s many terrific, and it is assisting our son and our family know that that matter is satisfying, which is especially fundamental. Many thanks for the whole lot!

    Comment by outsourcer — November 19, 2011 @ 5:22 am

23. Needed to create you this little bit of word just to give thanks yet again for your pleasant tactics you have provided here. It has been wonderfully open-handed of you to provide extensively exactly what some people might have marketed for an e book to help make some cash on their own, and in particular since you might have done it if you ever wanted. The tactics additionally worked as the easy way to recognize that other individuals have the same fervor like my personal own to realize many more regarding this issue. I know there are some more pleasurable instances ahead for individuals that read through your site.

    Comment by computer mic — November 19, 2011 @ 6:04 am

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.