Sometimes I need to jot down my thoughts but I don’t need a full-blown office suite or a to-do list. I might need to take notes on a book idea, a journal entry, or a stream-of-consciousness (a great exercise for writers). Or maybe a configuration file needs to be edited, and an office suite would wreck the formatting. When those times arrive, I always know what tool to turn to — a text editor.
Some consider the text editor to be mostly used by programmers but that is not the case. A good text editor can be (and should be) used by anyone because it can serve as a digital notepad that is always ready for you and requires very little thought or effort to use.
Also: 5 top Linux text editors that aren’t vi or Emacs (and why they are my favorite)
But which text editors are the best options for MacOS? I have my opinions and I’ll share them with you.
The options I’m looking at aren’t basic note-taking tools but actual text editors. Note-taking tools have their place but when you need something that can handle things like configuration files or opening standard .txt files, you’ll want a text editor. For example, I often edit my Secure Shell config file on MacOS.
Also: 5 easy ways to turn MacOS Finder into a way better file manager
This piece is aimed at non-programmers and people who need something to take notes, edit configuration files, and more. Let’s get started.
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1. Sublime Text
Sublime Text might seem like overkill for a basic text editor and it kind of is. Sublime Text is focused on programming, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an option for the non-programmers out there. And just because Sublime Text is meant for one task, doesn’t mean it can’t serve another.
There are features typically associated with programmers that can be used by others, such as Snippets (you can save specific blocks of text for reuse), powerful search tools, comments, split view, project and workspace support, tabs, sidebar, and more.
Also: 5 MacOS terminal apps that are better than the default
As Sublime Text is geared more toward programmers, there is a bit of a learning curve to get the most out of the application. For example, you’ll need to edit a text file to change the app’s color scheme. It’s a good thing you have Sublime Text to edit that file.
Source: Robotics - zdnet.com