TextPad or UltraEdit?

[Berend Hasselman]

At my office MultiEdit has been the standard ascii editor for a very long time. After version 4 (if I remember correctly) the program started to become more and more compilcated and opaque.
Multiedit is not easily configured, has a weird user interface (doesn't use standard windows shortcuts such as Ctrl-O, Ctrl-S). Its syntax coloring is very unpleasant to set up. And limited.
Since I tried out TextPad, I always return to TextPad.

I had to setup a text editor for use with the MikTeX environment.
Very easy to do in TextPad. Especially the syntax coloring is easy.

It took some convincing at my office and a demonstration: TextPad is now the second ascii editor. And I didn't have to do a lot of talking to convince people to use it for their LaTeX work. And even inveterate MultiEdit users are going over.
They just like TextPad for its clean and easy user interface.

The only advantage of MultiEdit is that it has a powerful macro programming language. But when do you need it?
If you want to do complicated things with a text file, it seems better to use a specialized tool such as Perl.


Berend

[drxenos]

Thanks, Berend. Good info!

[skaemper]

The only advantage of MultiEdit is that it has a powerful macro programming language. But when do you need it?
If you want to do complicated things with a text file, it seems better to use a specialized tool such as Perl.

Berend

Or Ruby for that matter. I think that if you like TextPad (and you likely do so) for the clean interface, easy-of-use and what-not, then you'll probably like Ruby, too.
And there's a very supporting user community, too - just like TextPad.

Happy editing, programming, TeXing or whatever

Stephan

[SteveH]

Or Ruby for that matter. I think that if you like TextPad (and you likely do so) for the clean interface, easy-of-use and what-not, then you'll probably like Ruby, too.

URL please just to find out more. I had a quick google around but couldn't see anything

Cheers,

Steve

[skaemper]

URL please just to find out more. I had a quick google around but couldn't see anything
Cheers,
Steve

Thank you for asking :
The homepage for Ruby is here: http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/index.html .
You'll find the FAQ for ruby here http://www.rubycentral.com/faq/.
Another site of interest may be this one: http://www.rubygarden.org/
And this is the place where you'll find a Windows installer for Ruby.
Finally there's a ruby news group: comp.lang.ruby
Cheers

Stephan

[mrainey]

Hi,

I'm a long-time UE user, and have never used TextPad. Just dropped in out of curiosity.

I seem to be seeing that TextPad macros are non-editable keystroke recordings. Is this true? I have become totally dependent on the UE macro language to do my job, and have some macros of 500 lines or so (by the way, the UE macro language is far from perfect, but is capable of some amazing things).

Your developer support seems to be shaky, while the UE forums are pretty poor. I can get same-day feedback from Ian Mead or his partner whenever I have a question. The religious issue never comes into play. There are several updates yearly. Yes, sometimes bugs are introduced with the updates - not unusual for any complex software.

I'm really happy with Ultra Edit, but am going to download TextPad just to take a look. It's clear that a lot of sharp people think highly of it.


Mike Rainey

[Peter Wone]

Sounds like you're managing content on a website. I'm not convinced it is appropriate to try to mutate Textpad from a text editor into a site management tool. If you want site management integrated with a syntax colouring editor, such beasties abound. MS FrontPage, for example, already does this quite well. And if you really want to you can make Frontpage using Textpad as its default editor for designated file types.

[SLynch]

I'm a long-time UltraEdit user, too, and enjoy the product quite a bit. (I just wish that UE would incorporate some of the excellent features of TextPad.) I like TextPad and tend to recommend it over UE for people who don't need a 1,000 options. But like other posters above, I've noticed that UE handles large files far better than TextPad.

[mrainey]

SLynch,

You know both programs well, so tell me - what are the major strengths of Textpad vs Ultra Edit? Things that you find really make a difference at the end of the day.

[SLynch]

Among the ULTRAEDIT Positives, as I see it, are:

01) Ability to handle large files quickly, which is what most users cite as the most noticeable difference between UE and TextPad
02) It's easy to save configuration settings, such as KB shortcuts
03) Menu items are 1st letter is also their KB shortcut
04) Lifetime license for the product (a good idea)
05) Key mapping for keyboard shortcuts
06) File tree is useful with its file filter/refresh/copy features
07) Better hidden text markers than TextPad
08) Dockable file tabs
09) "Recent Files" list is customizable or can be nested
10) Active line highlighting
11) Forum on website; decent help file but a very good manual
12) Full Customizability throughout: the ability to change and rearrange menus, toolbars, keyboard shortcuts, dockable windows, dockable file tabs
13) Lots of little and advanced features like:
- double-spacing
- capitalization feature
- Close All Files Except This
- Sum Selected Text
- date/time insert
- print 2 pages on 1 sheet
- page break feature
- convert CRs to Wrap or vice versa
- ability to change file types easily in preferences

Among the TEXTPAD Positives, as I see them, are:

01) Best User Interface of all text editors
02) It's easy to save configuration settings, even KB shortcuts
03) Excellent Help file; great user forum/community help
04) Line count feature is easy to read, non-intrusive
05) Key mapping for keyboard shortcuts
06) Word Count dialog is great (should include byte count though)
07) Menus are uncluttered (UE throws EVERYTHING in the menus, but you can remove what you want)
08) Able to view/change document properties on the fly with simple ALT+ENTER key
09) Dockable file tabs
10) Naturally indents text from app. border (Most editors align the text right against the border unless you turn on line numbers)
11) Indenting works flawlessly on every level and easily
12) Find/Replace/GoTo dialog is powerful, easy to understand

The are just a few, and I did not include advanced features such as ctags, function lists, output window, tidy.exe, etc. UE, for example, can handle far more complex macros, but they're easier to build in TextPad. While UE handles columns far more efficiently and with many time-saving features, TextPad indents paragraphs/blocks with simple keys whereas UE wants you to make micro-adjustments.

Hope that helps. I just wish I had a big-enough brain and could program the perfect text editor, but then I'd still need a lot of user input and help to see my shortcomings.

[anpham]

I've only tried opening files on one computer but I've tried both Textpad and UE and noticed that Textpad opened large files extremely faster than UE. I tried to open a 500+mb .bin file with Textpad and it opened instantly. UE on the other hand took over 12 seconds. They are both set at the same settings (line numbers, fonts, etc). I have your basic regular desktop - P4, WinXP. I've used Textpad for years without any problems, never lost a file due to a crash or anything. I also have UE installed on my computer as a backup editor or for other things Textpad doesn't do which I may need occassionally, but Textpad in my mind is a better overall editor. Although everyone here seems to agree that UE is faster than Textpad in opening large files, my experience with Textpad 4.6.2 vs UE 10.00b is that Textpad opens large files just as fast (instantly) and on my computer at least, much faster than UE. Although I usually don't deal with files this large, I did see the remarks in this forum and decided to test it out and this was my personal experience. I stopped coding for around two years and so I wasn't aware of what was out in the market in terms of text editors until recently, but I did look around at all of them and still find that Textpad is still the best.

[Corrinne]

Yes, and I suppose that has to do with how you use TextPad. I agree with most of your points. TextPad is a more elegant text editor for sure, and I read in another post where someone was griping about where Helios has taken it (or not developed it well, that is). UltraEdit, on the other hand, seems to be for power users who need a text editor to do all kinds of other things, like run other programs, functions, outputs, macros, hex editor, tidy.exe, ctags, columnar support, etc.

Functionally, TextPad can't match UE on features and esp. speed and power. But again, for sheer elegance and the user interface, I'm sticking with TextPad for everyday work. What's funny is that if you go to the UltraEdit forum, the same comparison discussions between TextPad and UE are happening there, too. It's just funny is all.

[anpham]

Well I did say I was sharing my personal experience with this editor. I never said it was right. It's not illegal to presume and make logical guesses as to what may be the cause of certain things. My computer isn't some super computer, its just one with a Pentium 4 - XP on it. I have 1.5 gigs ram but its the cheapest generic ram available, and my HD is just your regular 80gig Western Digital straight off the shelf with the 40 dollar rebate. This is the setup of the majority of users who own computers so I don't see any reason why their experience with this software should be any different. This is the same computer you would get if you just bought a Compaq or Dell. I've run Microsoft Word on 100s of different computers and never noticed one single performance issue or variance in behavior on them before. So I don't see why a different computer should interpret Textpad in a different way that causes a editor like UE to open something faster. UE could be faster, but not on mine, it's remarkably slower. As I said this is what it's like on my computer. I am 100% sure that if I went over to the computer in the next room and used Textpad/UE in the same way I would get the same results. I don't see any reason why it should change at all.

It may be true that the development of Textpad may have stalled a bit but there's not much you can do with a text editor unless you start transforming it into something like Dreamweaver. Textpad as it was 2 years ago would still be the best in my mind today. UE does have more features (or just shortcuts) but I personally don't need anything more than a good search and replace. However the topic of this post dealt with how fast these editors open files and this is what I got on mine.

[Corrinne]

That's a good point, and the fact that you experience no problems (most don't), but some consistently do, is inarguable. Which text editor one would recommend to a new user depends on how they intend to use a text editor and what features and functionality they need in one.

For example, MS Word is not for everyone; WordPerfect might better fit their needs or wants or even the new OpenOffice. But if one needs less functionality and power, go with TextPad. If otherwise, go with UltraEdit (for now). And if one doesn't know which to get, I say go with TextPad because it does 90%+ of everything you may want to do anyway... unless you're a programmer of some kind. Then go with UltraEdit.

As for friends and family, I give them eval. copies of TextPad, as UltraEdit is far more complex than an any ordinary user needs. Either way, I don't think you would ever regret choosing TextPad.

[taguchi]

There's a great extended review of all the major text editors included TextPad at:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Ar ... index.html

UltraEdit wins, as you would expect.