Whether you're a self-confessed script kiddie or black hat, a hobby programmer or professional coder, you need to have an app that's up to the task. If you choose to do your programming on a Mac rather than a PC, below is a list of the best code editing apps that could be mustered.
Brackets is a lightweight, yet powerful, modern text editor. We blend visual tools into the editor so you get the right amount of help when you want it. With new features and extensions released every 3-4 weeks, it's like getting presents all year long. This free IDE for JavaScript provides support for other programming languages as well, including HTML and CSS. Apart from that, it works as an AJAX Editor, and allows AJAX programmers to create and validate AJAX applications within its own development environment. BBEdit is a beautiful code and HTML editor for Mac. It comes with all the advanced features of a powerful code editor. Syntax highlighting, advanced find and replace, autocompletion, quick lookup, multiple tabs, splittable editing windows and much more.
Test them out, see which one suits you, and dive on into the sublimely mathematical, perfectly logical world of Mac-based coding.
1. Vim
The number one choice for probably the majority of programmers these days, Vim is the most complete code-editing tool around. It uses much less memory than its rivals, it's open source, and can be used remotely via SSH.
Related: 3 Useful VIM Editor Tips and Tricks for Advanced Users
That's not all. Vim works on all Unix platforms (so Windows and Linux as well), and is brimming with keyboard shortcuts that make writing long chunks of code a cinch. It may seem like a lot to take in, but all the shortcuts are designed to be memorable (so d for ‘delete,' obviously), making Vim rather accessible.
With its vast community churning out a constant procession of plug-ins and add-ons, Vim is a vast, flexible tool that can be used for many of the most popular coding environments (C, Python, you name it).
It's number one for a reason.
Free Html Editors For Mac
2. Atom
Atom is a fantastic code editor for users of all skill levels. Whether you want to tweak source code or play around with packages, you can do so here. It has a great collaboration tool in the form of Teletype, which lets you seamlessly work on code with fellow users.
You can work in the universal hosting service GitHub from directly within Atom too, doing every function from creating new branches to pushing and pulling code requests. Beyond that, Atom is filled with quality-of-life features like autocomplete, a robust search tool and file browser, and a powerful package manager.
On the downside, Atom is fairly memory-intensive, particularly when handling large files, so be sure that your computer is up to the task RAM-wise before jumping in.
3. Sublime Text
One of the best and simplest coding tools ever available to Mac users. Sublime Text is a notepad-like application that lets you write your code, highlight certain parts using its various syntax detecting algorithms and so on. The app has a number of features including Goto Anything, Multiple Selections, Command Palette, etc. If you think the other apps or things are distracting you while doing your coding work, then you can enable the distraction-free writing mode. It disables everything except for the area where you write your code.
Sublime Text is not free, though you can download the free trial version and it never seem to expires. Nevertheless, if you use and love Sublime Text, it is always good to purchase the license and support the development.
The app is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.
4. BBEdit
This is yet another nice tool for coding programs. BBEdit says it does not suck, and that probably means something good for the coders. The app has a nice interface identical to Sublime Text. The app seems to be inclined towards those who do a lot of HTML coding, and maybe that is why there are a number of options to manipulate webpages in the app. It contains FTP and SFTP support, so there is no issue with uploading your files to your server as soon as you are done writing them. Sounds cool, huh?
5. TextMate
Do you have a load of coding work that needs to be done in a short span of time? TextMate is available to help you out. The app makes coding much easier on your Mac than ever with a number of features it comes preloaded with. Syntax highlighting, Multiple Tabs, and Search and Replace are some of the salient features of the app. If you missed closing a bracket, that happens most of the time you are coding; it completes it automatically for you. So the next time you write a program, there is much less of a chance that it will have errors.
6. Brackets
What is it that you use most often while writing code? Yes, you are right. It is brackets. Brackets by Adobe brings a powerful tool for you to code the next big thing. The app is actually built for HTML coders who build hundreds of webpages a day, or maybe even more. It highlights the syntax making it easier for you to find your code blocks and errors and comes with a Live HTML Development that shows the output of your code without having you save or refresh the page. That is really something cool about this app, isn't it?
7. Textastic
Textastic for Mac is a simple, yet faster, coding tool that delivers what it promises. With features like Auto Completion, it auto-completes some of your code that you would otherwise have to do yourself, saving you some time that you could use to do something else. While most of the other features remain the same as the apps above, it includes a new feature called iCloud syncing. What it does is let you sync your code across your various Mac machines so that you can pick up where you left off easily.
Conclusion
Coding has become a part of many people's lives these days, and the apps above should help to get it done more quickly and more efficiently.
This article was first published in March 2014 and was updated in June 2019.
Best Javascript Editor For Mac
Image credit: Closeup coding on screen by oatawa/Shutterstock
To edit HTML and CSS code you only need a simple plaintext editor, the rest depends on your skills and your creativity. However, you'll be more inspirated if you use the proper tools while you work.
We know too that not everybody is able (or want) to pay for a license of a fancy code editor, that's when we love the Open Source. There are many free IDE's and code editor out there and you may want to know which may fit better to my requirements.
To make it easier for you or your team to develop web applications, we have found some really good Integrated Development Environments for JavaScript, which provides you a convenient environment to code, edit, test, and debug web applications.
7. RJ TextEd
RJ TextEd is a full featured text and source editor with Unicode support. It is also a very powerful web (PHP, ASP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS) development editor. The functionality extends beyond text files and includes support for CSS/HTML editing with integrated CSS/HTML preview, spell checking, auto completion, HTML validation, templates and more. The program also has a dual pane file commander, as well as a (S)FTP client to upload your files.
RJ TextEd is developed in Delphi XE6 from Embarcadero and is released as Freeware.
It supports the following features (and more):
- Auto completion.
- Code folding.
- Column mode.
- Multi edit and multi select
- Document map
- Annotation bar
- Advanced sorting.
- Handles both ASCII and binary files.
- CSS and HTML wizards.
- Highlighting of colors in CSS/SASS/LESS.
- Advanced color hint that can convert between color formats.
- Dockable panels.
- FTP and SFTP client with synchronization.
- File explorer, text clips, code explorer, project manager...
- Convert between code pages, Unicode formats and text formats.
- Unicode and ANSI code page detection.
- Open/Save UTF-8 encoded files without a signature (BOM).
- Unicode file paths and file names.
- HTML validation, format and repair.
- Tools available like syntax editor, color picker, charmap
6. Light Table
Light Table is a 'new' kind of IDE, it is a reactive work surface for the creation and exploration of a program.
Despite the dramatic shift toward simplification in software interfaces, the world of development tools continues to shrink our workspace with feature after feature in every release. Light Table is based on a very simple idea: we need a real work surface to code on, not just an editor and a project explorer. We need to be able to move things around, keep clutter down, and bring information to the foreground in the places we need it most. Here's what the default mode looks like.
It is a standalone app, the fact that there's an instance of webkit as the UI layer is completely an implementation detail. It will be packaged like a normal app and it will run locally just like any other editor you're used to. This means that it can run on virtually any platform and will support the big three (linux/mac/windows) out of the gate.
Light table is based on a few guiding principles:
- You should never have to look for documentation
- Files are not the best representation of code, just a convenient serialization.
- Editors can be anywhere and show you anything - not just text.
- Trying is encouraged - changes produce instantaneous results
- We can shine some light on related bits of code
Let's take a look at how these things manifest themselves in Light Table.
5. Netbeans
Quickly and easily develop desktop, mobile and web applications with Java, JavaScript, HTML5, PHP, C/C++ and more. NetBeans IDE is FREE, open source, and has a worldwide community of users and developers.
NetBeans IDE 8.1 provides out-of-the-box code analyzers and editors for working with the latest Java 8 technologies--Java SE 8, Java SE Embedded 8, and Java ME Embedded 8. The IDE also has a range of new tools for HTML5/JavaScript, in particular for Node.js, KnockoutJS, and AngularJS; enhancements that further improve its support for Maven and Java EE with PrimeFaces; and improvements to PHP and C/C++ support.
NetBeans IDE 8.1 is available in English, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and Simplified Chinese.
An IDE is much more than a text editor. The NetBeans Editor indents lines, matches words and brackets, and highlights source code syntactically and semantically. It lets you easily refactor code, with a range of handy and powerful tools, while it also provides code templates, coding tips, and code generators.
The editor supports many languages from Java, C/C++, XML and HTML, to PHP, Groovy, Javadoc, JavaScript and JSP. Because the editor is extensible, you can plug in support for many other languages.
Remember that netbeans support many programming languages, but you as a web developer, we recommend you to download only the HTML5/Javascript built installation from the download page.
4. Brackets
Brackets is a modern, open source text editor that understands web design.
With focused visual tools and preprocessor support, Brackets is a modern text editor that makes it easy to design in the browser. It's crafted from the ground up for web designers and front-end developers. Brackets is an open-source project, supported by an active and passionate community. It's made by other web developers like you!
Instead of jumping between file tabs, Brackets lets you open a window into the code you care about most. Want to work on the CSS that applies to a specific ID? Put your mouse cursor on that ID, push Command/ Ctrl+E and Brackets will show you all the CSS selectors with that ID in an inline window so you can work on your code side-by-side without any popups.
Get a real-time connection to your browser. Make changes to CSS and HTML and you'll instantly see those changes on screen. Also see where your CSS selector is being applied in the browser by simply putting your cursor on it. It's the power of a code editor with the convenience of in-browser dev tools.
Preprocessor Support
Work with preprocessors in a whole new way. A developer know how important preprocessors are to a quick workflow. That's why the circunstances make Brackets the best code editor for preprocessors out there. With Brackets you can use Quick Edit and Live Highlight with your LESS and SCSS files which will make working with them easier than ever.
3. Komodo Edit
Komodo Edit is the free and Open-Source counterpart of Komodo IDE (paid software). Komodo is faster and easier-to-use. New integrations with build systems let you stay in-the-zone and get more done. Get your favorite frameworks, languages, and tools in one cross-platform mini IDE (with the free version).
Komodo Edit has a lot of positive reviews and qualifications. Everybody recommends this IDE and you should start using Komodo Edit if you don't want to pay for the full IDE version.
2. Atom by Github
Atom is a text editor that's modern, approachable, yet hackable to the core, that means that you can customize to do anything but also use productively without ever touching a config file. Download, install and start using it !
Atom has a built-in package manager, search for and install new packages or start creating your own all from within Atom. Atom comes pre-installed with four UI and eight syntax themes in both dark and light colors. If you can't find what you're looking for, you can also install themes created by the Atom community or create your own.
- Atom works across operating systems. You can use it on OS X, Windows, or Linux.
- Find, preview, and replace text as you type in a file or across all your projects.
- Easily browse and open a single file, a whole project, or multiple projects in one window.
Atom is a desktop application built with HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Node.js integration. It runs on Electron, a framework for building cross platform apps using web technologies.
1. Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is a lightweight but powerful source code editor which runs on your desktop and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It comes with built-in support for JavaScript, TypeScript and Node.js and has a rich ecosystem of extensions for other languages (such as C++, C#, Python, PHP) and runtimes.
Visual Studio Beyond goes beyond syntax highlighting and autocomplete with IntelliSense, which provides smart completions based on variable types, function definitions, and imported modules. You can even debug code right from the editor. Launch or attach to your running apps and debug with break points, call stacks, and an interactive console.
Honorable mentions
Aptana Studio
Build web applications quickly and easily using the industry's leading web application IDE. Aptana Studio harnesses the flexibility of Eclipse and focuses it into a powerful web development engine.
Aptana Studio 3 expands on the core capabilities of Aptana Studio 2 for building, editing, previewing and debugging HTML, CSS and JavaScript websites with PHP and Ruby on Rails web development.
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CodeLobster
CodeLobster PHP Edition is a free (it requires free registration in the official website after 30 days) portable handy and easy-in-use code editor for Windows that is primarily intended for quick and easy creation and editing of PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript files. IT houses a large range of support for Drupal CMS, Joomla CMS, Smarty template engine, Twig, JQuery library, CodeIgniter framework, CakePHP framework, Laravel framework, Phalcon framework, Symfony framework and the WordPress blogging platform.
CodeLobster PHP Edition streamlines and simplifies the PHP development process. You don't need to keep in mind the names of functions, arguments, tags or their attributes, as all of these are implemented for you with autocomplete features for PHP, HTML, JavaScript and even CSS.
The key features of this IDE that make it reliable for the web development are:
- PHP, HTML, JavaScript, CSS code highlighting.
- HTML autocomplete.
- CSS autocomplete.
- JavaScript Advanced autocomplete.
- PHP Advanced autocomplete.
- PHP Debugger.
- Context and Dynamic Help with search for work with PHP, MySQL, HTML.
CodeLobster PHP Edition comes with stacks of tools including an internal free PHP Debugger that allows you to validate your code locally. It automatically detects your current server settings and configures corresponding files in order to let you use the debugger. Also included in CodeLobster PHP Edition are tools such as dynamic help, advanced autocomplete, HTML inspector (similar to FireBug), Class View window for comfortable work with mixed code. It also supports Drupal automatically installing, autocomplete Drupal's hooks, tooltips for Drupal's function theme Completion list, Help on Drupal API.
If you know another awesome free (or maybe paid) web development IDE, please share it with the community in the comment box down below. Have fun !