Forget about Notepad++, or any other text editor that you use for Windows. For years, developer on Windows facing a lack of a well designed and feature rich text editor (likeTextmate on Mac). If you ever need to do a lot text based programming for web related development then you will know what I’m talking about. IDE is not ideal for such, and a simple text editor isn’t quite enrich your development pace.
Sublime Text is a cross platform text editor for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Currently, the Sublime Text 2 is on beta release, and it’s a free download. You should check it out if you are looking for some feature rich text editor.
So why Sublime Text is so good ? Well, it got some very neat features you might like.
Grid view and Multi Column View
You can re-arrange your workspace, into grid views, or multi column views up to 4 columns. And you can do that all with keyboard shortcuts.
Quick File Find with Sneak Peak
In Windows press, Control + P, to launch the file finder bar, from there it will quickly find and file as you type showing you a real time update and let’s you to sneak peak of what’s inside the file without actually opening it. Notice here, the tab I have a style sheet opened, but it’s showing a sneak peak of the index.php file.
Autocomplete
Who says auto complete can only be alive in IDE ? This awesome text editor automatically detects the language of your file, and it gives you a list of suggestions (autocomplete) as you type. Very smart and very handy.
Method Lookup
Function/Symbol/Method look up. You can press Control + R to launch this quick searching bar to find all the method or symbol or function that you have in your documents. Depending on the language it gives you a list of all the key functions that are in the file, again, another very handy feature to have.
Command Palette
Lastly but not least, the command palette bar. You can launch it by pressing “Control + Shift + P”
This will give you access to all the features and functions Sublime Text offers, including a list of shortcuts for corresponding function. Very easy to look up something without knowing where the feature is located in terms of going though lists of dropdown menus.
Video Overview
If you like me amazed by all of those features, here is a video tutorial to show off some of the features in more detail.
