I've been using dreamweaver since I started learning basics in html like a year ago, and now I would like to change to a free alternative, since I don't need the WYSIWYG and other dreamweaver functions anymore.
However, I have tried Notepad++ and first it seemed great, but it sometimes crashes after not being able to connect to ftp. Also I really got used to the ftp/explorer, that dreamweaver has, where you are able to transfer images and other things right through the text editor, not just code files.
So is there an alternative for me?
If you're doing web development, you probably should use the tools every good coder use: a programmable editor like Vim or Emacs and some version control system (I'd recommend using a decentralised one, like Mercurial, Git or Bazaar).
You shouldn't directly edit code from the FTP. That's aiming a really big gun to your foot. And removing the safety.
I don't want to appear as 'the vim freak', but that's what I use and recommend. Incredibly powerful once you master search-replace, regexes, macros and commands.
Aptana is a good one.
Textmate is my favorite on the Mac. When on Linux, I really like Gedit with lots of plugins. On Windows, e-Editor is great Textmate replacement.
Sure, there are plenty of text editors & FTP clients available for free. If you like Notepad++ as an editor, keep it and look for a replacement FTP client.
My Mac recommendation for web dev is Coda, which is an editor and ftp client together.
I currently use Notepad++, but I have found ConTEXT useful in the past
Believe me, using something simple like EditPlus (or Notepad as a matter of fact) is best for normal HTML and JavaScript development.
For anything fancy, you could use IDE (e.g. Visual Studio etc.)
If you want just editing, fast, reliable, etc., go with VIM. If you want a full-featured IDE, right now I don't think you can beat Eclipse. You'll pay in memory footprint and speed, but hoo boy the features you can add. Especially for Java, but they've got support for other languages/technologies either directly or as an add-on.
I used to be a big fan of emacs, but it just doesn't have the user community and ongoing development any more.
JEdit for sure:
- because it's written in Java, you get for free: excellent encoding support, java regex (multiline!), stability...
- scriptable & great macros available;
- excellent plugins, my favourites: XML, BufferTabs, Templates;
- lots of edit modes
It depends on what you want to do:
- If you want to do an heavy J2EE app, you should use Eclipse, Netbeans, ...
- If you will mostly do PHP or Python with a bit of CSS/Javascript, you can use PhpStorm, Aptana, Sublime text, ...
- If you want to focus on frontend (HTML, CSS, Javascript), you can go on Espresso, Brackets and the upcoming TweakStyle. Each of them have a different added value depending on what you want to do.
I would definitely recommend a WYSIWYG editor, but you could always give Crimson Editor a try. I used to hear good things about it.
I agree textmate is great for MAC, yet so is BBEDIT lots of nice features plus with HTML tidy it can clean up and validate your code.
Also a nice all in one would be Espresso its a combination of dreamweaver, textmate, cssedit, with ftp publishing tools. Code hinting and more. With some nice skins and nice plugins.
Textpad is really great, though no Unicode support (boo!)
As for ftp, go with some kind of sync program so you don't have to manually know what to upload (or upload everything all the time).
Maybe something like weex or rsync?
I cannot believe nobody mentioned komodo edit, by activestate. It has tons of features (including some ftp stuff), great autocomplete (just missing some new html5 features in the autocomplete, that's all), treats javascript inside of html files as if it were part of a js file (aptana doesn't treat javascript as javascript unless it is in a .js file, doesn't support embedding it into html files). It support lots of languages (php, js, html, css, asp, ...), auto-indents (something I was surprised not to see in sublime text html), provides a description of functions (e.g. if you type document.getElementById( it will say something like getElementById(string id) returns the element with the specified id, which is sometimes helpful). It also has syntax highlighting, but not just for errors: if you type if(x=f) it will say strict warning: assignment instead of testing. I tried Aptana studio for 10 minutes, noticed that the autocomplete was missing, javascript didn't work in html files, stopped using it. Then I tried sublime text 2, also hated it. It was missing auto indent, autocomplete, and a lot more. I have using komodo edit for months and it is definitely the best.
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1244515/what-is-the-best-text-editor-for-web-development