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UltraEdit 11 - Best text editor?

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Scott:
And it only took an hour and a half for an experienced user to figure out?  And I guess I've been nuts to consider the Ctrl key to be a "dead key" all these years...

mouser:
you know, the idea of holding control key to quickly toggle between column and normal selection mode is a good idea.
not having a menu item in edit or view menu to change selection mode, and having to hunt for it in program options, now that is silly.

zridling:
Scott, thanks for the best laugh of the day! :)

You could almost label this review, "Part I." There are some categories of software — text editors is one, image editors/viewers and archiving apps being others — that there are so many products to review that it's easy to get lost in the alphabet soup of programs. Mouser, I liked how you explained little details, e.g., novices might not understand exactly what a project is or what code folding is, but you provide descriptions throughout. Starting and finishing with UltraEdit, and then comparing features against it is a sound approach. If users take the time to go through the list of apps and download a few to evaluate for themselves, they'll quickly see their shortcomings vis-a-vis UltraEdit.

Differentiating between what makes a good general text editor and programmer's editor is key to this review. Some misguided critiques arise solely out of either confusing the two or conflating them. For example, someone like me would disappointed with Zeus or PSPad as a text editor, but someone who codes would likely be delighted. Even the developer of Zeus admits that his is a programmer's editor and is not suitable for large files. It's courteous that he shares that up front, I believe. Like a lot of writers, I use a text editor to compose an article, monograph, or even book, so I need actual, practical "text" features more than coding. (I take the raw text and "drop it" into whatever container program the publisher wants, such as MS Word, InDesign, Quark, etc.) I do basic HTML/XML, and small bits of PHP with my text editor, so choices like UltraEdit, EmEditor, and EditPlus are good for me. But I'm not writing any variant of C code, and thus have no use for VIM, Emacs, SlickEdit, etc. As you say, that's a different category, much like the difference between a word processor and a desktop publishing program.

Next year, IDM will release its UEStudio IDE (Integrated Development Environment), and since UltraEdit will be the backbone of UEStudio, they will be upgraded in sync. That would be a good time to revisit this category, if not sooner.

mouser:
yes, a special review dedicated to programmer's editors will be in the works eventually, and include ue studio and slickedit,multiedit, and probably return to zeus, etc.   it might have been smarter if i talked about the different uses for a text editor and said how this review was really focused on evaluating an editor for general purpose use, rather the use as a hardcore programmer's editor, and left programs like Crimsons and Zeus out of the review completely.

SindbaD:
Hi mouser,
Perhaps it would be a nice thing to value features in importance order. Importance can be different for everybody. It could give some objectivities to value editors. I did it for myself and it helped me to choose tools for me. What do I mean?
Features get value -1 to 5. -1 means that feature has bug, 5 point is the best. And features get an importance value, e.g. 1-3.

After it the value of the editor is SUM(Feature value * Feature importance)
My importance, and it may explain why PsPad won for me:
Using clips easily:  3   (or 4 :) )
Templates for new file:  3
Syntax highlighting:   3
Auto-completion:  3
Fully customizable settings (keyboards, syntax, etc...)  2
Portable settings !!! (settings should be stored in text to move to other PC easily):  3
Support (forum,...):  2
Speed:  2
Code folding:  1
Word wrapping:  1
Column mode manipulation:  2
Setting external tools:  2
Price :) :  1
Search/replace engine:  3
Etc...

I am working now making a decision chart where best editors are valued and user can set his importance order but I can't finish soon.

Best regards: SindbaD

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