Whether you’re a developer or a writer, a good text editor is a must-have on any computer, in any operating system. The humble text editor is great for managing code, writing down quick notes, or just as a distraction-free writing tool. This week, we’re looking at five of the best, based on your nominations.
This tutorial will walk you through the steps of creating your first PDF with LaTeX and Atom. This guide focuses on installing LaTeX and Atom on a Mac, but since Atom is a cross-platform editor, most of the instructions should work on Windows and Linux as well. How to Use LaTeX for Text Formatting LaTeX (pronounced lay-tek or lah-tek) is a typesetting software primarily used to typeset documents containing a lot of math. It's widely used throughout the academic world to publish technical journals or books, but has more applications such as typesetting letters, resumes and much more.
Earlier this week we asked you for your favorite text editors, and while you suggested far more than we can highlight here, there were a few that earned more nominations than the others. Here are the tools you liked the best:
Scrivener 3.1.1 - Project management and word processing tool for writers. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate Download, install, or update Scrivener for Mac from MacUpdate. Take a look at ftplugin/latex if you want to see how I linked the latex compiler to vim. Also see snippets/tex.snippet for some of my personal latex snippets. Hope this helps.
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Sublime Text
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Cross-platform and feature packed, Sublime Text was a crowd favorite in the call for contenders thread, partially because of its amazing feature-set. Plug-ins and add-ons are available for specific programming languages and uses in Sublime Text, the app features extremely powerful search and go-to features, tons of keyboard commands to help you never have to take your hands off the keyboard while you use it, a distraction-free mode that lets you focus right on your work—whatever that work may happen to be, and much much more. Sublime Text has a tabbed interface so you can have multiple documents open at the same time, and a 10,000ft view on the right so you can see where in your document you are at any time. You can select multiple rows to make simultaneous changes, customize shortcuts to suit your own needs, and even chain shortcuts together to perform complex—but fast—operations. It’s remarkably powerful.
Sublime Text is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It’s distributed as evaluation software (meaning it’s free to try, but there’s no time limit on how long you can use it for free) and a full license will cost you $70. A full license is per user, so you can use it on as many computers as you like once you have one. In the call for contenders thread, those of you who nominated Sublime praised its impressive feature-set, developer-friendly plug-ins and API, side-by-side file comparisons, and much more. Read all about it in the nomination thread here and here.
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Notepad++
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Notepad++ has been around for a long time, and many users have only ever used Notepad++ when they’re ready to upgrade from Notepad or Wordpad. It’s stil under development though, and combines the simple interface of Notepad or Wordpad with advanced features that will make writers and developers happy. Some of them include a customizable interface that you can make as minimal or toolbar-rich as you choose, a document map so you can see where you are in your work at any time, a tabbed interface so you can work in multiple documents, auto-completion and text shortening, macro recording so you can customize shortcuts, and more. You also get customizable syntax highlighting, text folding and collapsable parts of the document (to make things easier to read,) and options you can use to launch the app under certain parameters, just to make your work easier.
Notepad++ is free (free as in free speech and free beer) and available for Windows only. You can grab it as an installable app, or a portable app to run from a flash drive or cloud storage service like Dropbox. If you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for in a text editor, it’s a good place to start, especially because it’s free. You can donate to the project though, and if you enjoy it, you should. The code is available too, so if you’d rather contribute, you can do that as well. Those of you who nominated it praised its simplicity, wealth of plug-ins for just about every type of user, and of course, its price tag. Read all about it in the nomination thread here.
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Vim (and Its Iterations)
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Oh boy, Vim. Designed to bring the simplicity of Vi to every platform and person who needed a configurable but not-too-heavy text editor, Vim is one banner of the Holy Text Editor Grail Wars to march under. It’s not without good reason—Vim is cross-platform, free, and while it’s aimed squarely at programmers who want an interface they can tweak to their liking and really get some work done in, you don’t have to be a programmer to get the most use out of it. Instead, you just have to take the time to configure it so it works the way you prefer. It won’t hold your hand (although its extensive help is useful for beginners), but once you remember its keyboard shortcuts and commands, download tons of user scripts to apply to it to streamline your work, and learn your way around, it quickly becomes an essential tool. It supports dozens of languages, keeps a history of your actions so you can easily repeat or undo them, supports macro recording, automatically recognizes file types, and lives—once installed—at your command line.
Vim—and most of its iterations, which include editors that add a GUI to the app so you can launch it without resorting to the command line—are free (GPL licensed). It’s available for any operating system with a command line of just about any type, and it’s charityware, meaning instead of paying for the app, the team behind it suggests you donate to children in Uganda who could use the support via the ICCF. Those of you who praised Vim noted that it takes some commitment to learn, but once you’re familiar with it, the sky’s the limit. Read more in the nomination thread here.
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Atom
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Calling itself a text editor “for the 21st century,” Atom earned a lot of praise in the nominations round for being a text editor designed for the needs of today’s developers. It’s built by the team at GitHub, and incorporates some of the lessons the team there learned by managing so much code on a regular basis. It’s flexible, customizable, themeable, and even though it’s relatively new, it already has a large following and tons of plugins, thanks to its open API. It operates like a native application, and even the application package is customizable so you only get the modules you need. It packs a tabbed interface, multi-paned layout, easy file browser, and easy learning curve so you can get up and running with it quickly. There’s also solid documentation to help you get started if you need it. Only downside though: Atom is currently in private beta, and you’ll have to sign up for an invite and cross your fingers if you want to give it a try.
Atom is currently OS X only (10.8+), although Windows and Linux versions are on the roadmap. It’s also free to use while it’s in beta, but when it’s finished and released, the team behind it says it’ll be “competitively priced.” Those of you who nominated it praised its customizability and available plugins, and pointed to the tool’s potential to become one of the best and most powerful text editors we’ve seen in many many years. You can read more about it in the nominations thread here.
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Update 07/2015: Atom has released its first stable, 1.0 version, along with fully supported versions for Windows and Linux! You can check out the details here.
Emacs (and Its Iterations)
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If you’ve used an operating system with a command line interface, you’ve had Emacs available to you. It’s been around for decades (since Richard Stallman and Guy Steele wrote it in 1976), and its the other major text editor to stand behind in the Holy Text Editor Grail Wars. It’s not the easiest tool, but it’s definitely one of the most powerful. It has a steep learning curve, but it’s always there, ready for use. It’s had a long and storied history, but the version that most people wind up using is GNU Emacs, linked above. It’s richly featured, too—Emacs can handle almost any type of text that you throw at it, handle simple documents or complex code, or be customized with startup scripts that add features or tweak the interface and shortcuts to match your project or preference. Similarly, Emacs supports macro recording, tons of shortcuts (that you’ll have to learn to get really familiar with it), and has a ton of modules created by third parties to leverage the app for completely non-programming purposes, like project planning, calendaring, news reading, and word processing. When we say it’s powerful, we’re not kidding. In large part, its power comes from the fact that anyone can play with it and mold it into something new and useful for everyone.
Emacs is completely cross platform, with versions and derivatives available for Windows, OS X, Linux, and just about every other operating system on the planet. It’s free, as in both free speech and free beer, and comes with detailed help, tutorials, and guides to help you get started using it if you’re new to using Emacs. Those of you who praised it in the call for contenders thread highlighted its flexibility and power, complete customizability, and the fact that you can play Tetris in it, which is admittedly a nice bonus. You can read all about it in its nominations thread here.
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Now that you’ve seen the top five, it’s time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the Lifehacker community favorite. Best snipping tool for mac.
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Honorable mentions this week go out to TextWrangler (OS X) and UltraEdit (Windows/OS X/Linux). TextWrangler, as BBEdit’s lighter brother, works equally well as a writing tool as it does a development tool, although it’s designed to be the latter. It’s a great general-purpose text editor with an auto-saving cache that keeps all of your data and documents intact even if you don’t save them to disk between launching the application and closing it. UltraEdit on the other hand, is another crowd-favorite and sports a customizable layout, built-in FTP, find and replace that supports regular expressions, syntax highlighting, and more. Plus, it’s cross-platform. They’re both great options that just missed the top five if you want something more than the top five offers.
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We really can’t say how many amazing nominees we got in the call for contenders thread this week. If you’re wondering where your favorite editor is, odds are it was nominated back in that thread, so make sure to go check it out. Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don’t just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn’t get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it’s a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at [email protected]!
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Title photo by Darrell Nash.
Markdown provides a convenient way to add formatting to a plain text document, while leaving it in plain text. It’s simpler and faster than adding HTML markup, and doesn’t have the lock-in of using something like Microsoft Word.
The syntax was created by John Gruber way back in 2004, and seems to become more widely used every year, especially in blogs and forums. It’s an easy and efficient way to create online content, and has a number of benefits for writers and bloggers.
Because Markdown is just plain text, you can create it with any text editor. That’s part of its appeal. But using an editor designed for writing in Markdown has a lot of advantages, depending on your needs.
Here are some features you might expect to find in a Markdown editor:
There’s a rich landscape of Mac options, and the best choice for me may not be the best choice for you. Not all Markdown editors will support all of those features, so the trick is to find the editor with the features you need.
So let’s have a good look at the options, then we’ll make some recommendations.
Looking for more on Markdown? Check out these great links:
Check out SitePoint Premium for more books, courses and free screencasts.
Best Tool For Cleaning Hardwood Floors1. Use Your Favorite Text Editor
If you already have a favorite Mac text editor, you might prefer to use that for writing Markdown as well. Of course, Markdown is really just text, so any text editor will do. But many text editors have additional support for Markdown, either natively or through an extension or plugin. These may give syntax highlighting, a preview pane and other features.
Here are some examples:
2. Ulysses
The ultimate writing app for Mac, iPad and iPhone.
Ulysses is a full-featured Markdown app designed for writers. It’s designed to keep you focused on the writing task at hand, organize all your projects in one place, provide comprehensive writing features in a simple interface, and export your documents beautifully in a number of formats.
Distraction-free features include typewriter mode, dark themes, and full-screen editing. All of your documents can be accessed in a single library, whether they’re contained in Ulysses’ database or in files elsewhere. Filters can be used to create smart folders that update according to the flexible criteria you specify.
Writers will appreciate features like word and character count, writing goals that indicate when you reach the desired word count, notes and attachments for your reference information, and keywords. You can export your documents to a variety of text and rich text formats, HTML, ePub, PDF and DOCX. Or you can publish directly to WordPress or Medium.
My take: I purchased Ulysses on the day it was released, and I’ve been using it ever since. It has become my writing tool of choice. It’s not cheap, but it’s been worth every penny. If you do a lot of writing, professionally or otherwise, take a good look at this app.
3. Quiver
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The programmer’s notebook
Quiver is designed for developers, and can combine text, code, Markdown and LaTeX in a single note. It’s more than just a document editor: it’s a complete reference library for your documentation.
The editor gives you syntax highlighting and a live preview of your rendered Markdown, and offers cloud syncing, team collaboration, version control and backup. Programmers will appreciate code editing and the ability to write scripts to integrate Quiver with your other tools.
The document library can organize your notes by tag or notebook (including shared notebooks), and has instant, full-text search. Images are saved locally with notes, and displayed inline.
My take: Quiver is the ultimate Markdown (and code and LaTeX) editor for devs. Its document library can be synced to your other computers and devices via Dropbox. It’s a geekier alternative to Ulysses, designed with a completely different audience in mind, at an affordable price point.
4. LightPaper
Simple, beautiful yet powerful text editor for your Mac
LightPaper is designed for creating documents, articles and blog posts. It’s suitable for writers and bloggers, developers, scholars and students.
This tab-based app features both syntax highlighting and a preview pane. A document pane on the left lists your favorites, folders, scratch notes and shadow notes.
The shadow note feature is very handy: the app will associate a note with a specific app, file, folder or URL, which is entered in a popup window over the other app.
Other features include quick open, math and table support, custom styles, and distraction-free mode.
My take: This is a Ulysses alternative without quite the same range of features. It does some things that Ulysses can’t, including tables and math. While not as expensive, it’s certainly not cheap. If its range of features matches what you need in a Markdown editor, it’s worth considering.
5. MWeb
Pro Markdown writing, note taking and static blog generator app
MWeb is a tab-based Markdown editor for writers and academics. It has a document library, but can also edit external files from anywhere on your Mac. Its clean interface supports advanced syntax, including TOC, tables, code blocks, LaTeX and footnotes.
The app features syntax highlighting, live preview, and drag and drop for adding images. It also includes some nice distraction-free features, including typewriter mode and a dark theme.
Getting your text out of MWeb is easy. It can export to PDF, HTML, RTF, DOCX and image, or publish directly to WordPress, Metaweblog, Blogger, Medium, Tumblr and Evernote. It can even generate a static blog.
My take: With its advanced syntax and export/publishing options, MWeb is excellent for writing technical documentation. The app is attractive, and the document library well designed.
6. Texts
Rich editor for plain text. Separate content from formatting. Store in Markdown.
Texts is a Markdown-based word processor designed for academics. It focuses on producing well-structured content that can contain formulas, footnotes, bibliography and citations, tables and links. You can create export templates to carefully hone the professionally typeset PDFs the app can produce.
Other features include a visual editor so you don’t have to remember Markdown, blogging on GitHub Pages, and custom themes. Documents can be published as PDF, HTML, DOCX, EPUB and other formats.
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My take: If you’re an academic or technical writer, this app is designed for you. Its minimalistic interface is attractive, yet hides a lot of power under the surface. The documents it produces look professional, and are beautifully typeset.
7. Byword
Markdown app for writing in plain text efficiently.
Byword is a minimalistic app for efficient Markdown writing, striking a good balance between simplicity and functionality. There are just enough features to do the job without becoming a distraction.
The app has subtle syntax highlighting, and you can format with Markdown using keyboard shortcuts and auto-complete. There’s a word count with live update, and a quick preview option.
My take: Byword’s low cost, attractive looks and frictionless interface make it a popular choice. If you’re not in need of a lot of features, and simplicity aids your productivity, this might be the one for you.
8. IA Writer
iA Writer. Plain. Text. iA Writer is designed to provide the best writing experience on macOS, iOS and Android.
IA Writer is a distraction-free Markdown editor that puts the focus on your content. It’s like Byword, but with a few more features and a little less simplicity.
The app uses a light gray background, monospaced font and blue cursor. In focus mode, surrounding lines of text fade to emphasize the line you’re typing.
Images, tables and content blocks are all supported, all features that Byword lacks. Other features include preview, live sync, a document library, file export (HTML, PDF, DOCX) and custom templates.
My take: Another popular, inexpensive Markdown editor with an emphasis on being distraction free, IA Writer loses some of Byword’s simplicity in order to gain some additional features.
9. Typora
A truly minimal Markdown editor
Typora is possibly the most minimalistic editor we’re covering. It even removes the Markdown syntax as you type, replacing it with a preview of the formatting. What you see is what you get. It looks cleaner, removes the need for a preview pane, and makes reading easier.
Despite its simplicity, Typora supports images, lists, tables, code fences, math blocks, table of contents and more. Shortcuts do what you expect, and the themes are beautiful and fully configurable by CSS. Geeks will find a lot to love here.
My take: Typora is the new kid on the block. It’s beautiful and full-featured. If you like the idea of not seeing Markdown syntax in your document, this app is your only option we review.
10. Caret
Beautiful & clever Markdown editor
Caret is beautiful and distraction-free, but hides lots of power under the hood. It would appeal to writers and devs alike.
The app makes entering complex Markdown simple. Syntax assistance is available for tables, lists, quotes, fences, links and emphasis, and there’s auto-completion for images, keywords and emoji. A file manager is available, and navigation through long documents is made simple with the popup “go to heading” feature.
For the mathematically-minded, LaTeX expressions are supported, and they’re rendered on-screen as soon as the cursor leaves them. For distraction-free writing, dark mode, focus mode and typewriter mode are all supported.
My take: I’ve only recently discovered Caret, and for a minimalistic editor it seems to have a lot of power under the hood. Writing, rather than exporting, is its strength. SitePoint editor Bruno Skvorc is a heavy user of the app, and couldn’t be happier.
11. Focused
Get Focused, start writing!
Focused is an attractive, minimalistic writing app with an interface designed to keep you writing without distraction.
The app offers an uncluttered interface with few features, a choice of attractive themes, typewriter mode and a choice of eight relaxing soundtracks. Other features include word count, versions, export to HTML and RTF, and customizable typefaces and styles.
My take: If you’re looking for a beautiful, minimalistic app to write in, and value a focused writing experience over a multitude of features, this is worth considering.
12. Bear
Bear is a beautiful, flexible writing app for crafting notes and prose
Bear is more than a note taking app: it’s a pleasing writing environment as well. The developers have focused on making the app beautiful to look at and smooth to use. By default it uses non-standard markup, but a Markdown compatibility mode is available.
The app includes a focus mode to keep you writing, and displays images inline. Features for writers include word count and reading times. The app can export your document to Markdown, PDF, HTML, DOCX, JPG or RTF. For developers, the app has code blocks that support and highlight over 20 programming languages.
Other features include rich previews, cross-note links, checkboxes, and smart data recognition. Tags are added by using hashtags within the document. Bear Pro subscribers have access to a range of themes and multi-device sync via iCloud.
My take: I discovered Bear while it was still in beta, and started using it immediately. I’m now a Bear Pro subscriber. I love the checkbox feature, the way images are displayed inline, and the way tags are added. These features make it an excellent note taker. I could use the app for writing, but Ulysses has become my tool of choice.
13. Mou
Markdown editor for developers.
Mou bylines itself as “the missing Markdown editor for web developers”. It’s light and responsive. Be aware that until Mou 1.0 ships, the app only works on versions of macOS up to 10.11; it doesn’t (at the time of writing) support Sierra or High Sierra.
Features include live preview, sync scroll, auto save, incremental search and custom themes. CSS, HTML and PDF export are available. Articles can be directly published to Scriptogr.am or Tumblr with a single command.
My take: The app has always looked promising, and I used it for a while a number of years ago. Lack of support for Sierra is a problem, but watch out for Mou 1.0.
14. MacDown
The open source Markdown editor for macOS.
MacDown is heavily inspired by Mou, and was created when Mou development had stalled. Like Mou, it’s designed with web developers in mind.
Features include a configurable syntax highlighting, live preview, TeX-like math syntax, and auto-completion.
My take: MacDown is a good alternative to Mou, and having an open source (MIT) license, will remain free. If you’re a web developer looking for a lean, fast, configurable editor, this might be the one for you.
Best Latex Editor For Mac15. Haroopad
Cost: Donationware
Demo: n/a Other platforms: Windows, Linux Best Tool For Removing Grout
The Markdown enabled Next Document Processor
Haroopad is designed for creating web-friendly documents with Markdown. Use it to create professional-looking documents for your blogposts, slides, presentations, reports and email.
The app has some advanced features, including support for LaTeX mathematical expressions, Vim key-bindings and embedding of audio and video. Themes and skins are available, and you can export your document to HTML and PDF, with more formats in the works.
My take: Haroopad is still in beta, and the English documentation is still a little lacking. But the app is flexible and has a ton of features, as well as supporting the major desktop operating systems. And the price is right.
So, What Is the Best Mac Editor for You?
The Mac Markdown ecosystem is rich and varied. With so many apps, which is the right one for you? That depends on your priorities, and what you’ll be using the app for.
Here are some recommendations:
What’s your favorite Markdown editor?
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