A commonly debated question among cybersec groups(and for note taken for formal education) is: “What text editor should I use?” Many people hold strong opinions on this topic, including me. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be open to change. Hopefully today, I’ll highlight the benefits and drawbacks of certain text editors, and hope you can make a more informed decision on what you use in your future quests.
Mousepad or Notepad
If you use these for long periods of note taking/ code writing, stop, take a reflection of yourself, and find where you went wrong. These two text editors are extremely basic, and offer no benefits and a hell of a lot of drawbacks. The average, non technical user may turn to this due to ease of use, and no learning curve, and also the fact that both of these editors are installed by default on their respective operating systems(windows and linux, respectively). These 2 editors are quick to load, but that’s about where their benefits end. Firstly, unlike a lot of the more complex GUI text editors on the list, there’s no real time markdown rendering, so they both look a bit drab, and they also have little, if any customisability options. Overall, if you have absolutely no other editors to turn to, then that is the only time when it’s acceptable to consider these 2 editors as viable options for your projects, note taking in class or coding.
Nano
Simple vim, one may say, an overrated program, others also say. Actually, for editing text quickly from the command line, nano is one of your best bets, which is usually installed by default on most GNU/Linux operating systems(may also be on mac, but I’m not sure). Nano is very simple to learn, and most users should be able to pick this up relatively quickly. However, as I’ll say for the rest of the CLI(command line interface) editors, you should only use nano for really quick and simple edits; as akin to most CLI text editors, there’s no mouse support, potentially lowering your speed in making your very important projects. However, for the quick change of a character in a document, nano’s very nice for this, and you should use it over our next editor.
Vim
You may hear tales of people stanning vim uncontrollably, with them swearing not to use any other text editor, and yeah, it may be good for their workflow. If you like to use a CLI text editor with a huge learning curve, and massively overcomplicate something that should only be used for really simple tasks, then yeah you’ll love vim! If you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of vim to be honest. If you’re fine with the learning curve however, vim may be great for you! However, for my work, vim doesn’t really fit in with what I do that well, that’s why I choose not to use it. Vim is a default install on most GNU/Linux distributions, making it nice and easy to install, however, usage of vim requires memorisation of key combos, and if you’re only using vim for really simple edits, then it’s not worth the time to learn it imo.
Micro
So I won’t spend too long on this, given that Micro is very similar to nano, however one aspect differs, unlike the rest of the CLI editors, Micro has mouse support, allowing you to zoom between lines, and to scroll to your hearts content! Micro’s very nice at doing this, but two issues with Micro stand out:
- Not a default install on GNU/Linux, but a simple
sudo apt install micro - Although it’s a cool CLI text editor, like the rest of them, you should only use this for small projects, as GUI text editors, that we’ll cover later in the blog
Since we’ve covered all the really simple editors, none of which you should use for long(or even medium edits), about 5 mins or so, we can finally move into editors that are more decked out with features. I’d recommend using a CLI editor in complement to one of the GUI editors I’ll cover now.
Google Docs
I was in 2 minds on whether to include this, as google docs is often used for essay writing, not note writing, but as it’s a text editor with 2 really good features, that it does really well, I’ve decided to include it. Firstly, Google Docs is installed by default on every single android phone, and you can access it via the browser of most devices, so sending documents to people shouldn’t be a problem. The second thing that Google Docs does really well is collaboration. Since you’re able to access google docs usually without any downloads, you can work with pretty much anyone in real time with little latency issues. Finally, you can change fonts a lot on Google Docs, so for document customisation, it’s great. However, you cannot write code in this, so don’t even bother try, but I assume you’re smart enough to not bother. Overall, if you don’t care too much about markdown features, and just want a quick fast editor to take your notes with you, Google Docs may be for you.
OneNote
Before you say “where’s MS word?”, I considered including it on the list, but I decided against it, as word isn’t going for the simple notes market, and is less portable than google docs, meaning there’s little reason for me to include it. OneNote however is Microsoft’s dedicated note taking app, and to be honest, it’s fine for its purpose. OneNote is great for annotating images, but a lack off markdown support really diminishes it’s use as a viable editor for me. However, if you own a rocketbook, then integration is really nice. Unlike Google Docs, OneNote has a desktop application, which is nice, provided you have a device capable of running it. There’s also collaboration options, and a mobile version, allowing you to transfer files with ease. In this world of online learning and working from home, I’ve been using OneNote for my school work inside Microsoft Teams, and while I’ve experienced some issue with saving work, on the whole, I’ve had a decent experience over OneNote. Comparing OneNote with Google Docs, there’s a tough time doing this; Google Docs is simpler, without annotations, conversely, OneNote is nice if you’d like to make files with multiple parts, and add annotations on. Overall, if you’re already using a rocketbook, and doing something that requires a lot of annotation, I’d say go for OneNote, it’s pretty nice.
Evernote
I’m not a fan of evernote, to keep it concise, in all honesty. The next two editors on our list do Evernote’s job better than it does in all honesty, and doesn’t lock features behind a paywall, something that turns me off. One negative of Evernote is it’s 2 device limit on it’s free version. You may feel like 2 devices are enough for you, but your laptop and phone already take up your 2. Let’s say you have a laptop and phone you use at your work, and a PC you use at home. Boom, you’re already at your device limit, and have to pay for the premium version. Overall, Evernote only really shows it’s potential with its paid version, and generally, other editors do its job better, and for free. Evernote can be used on mobile, on the web, and on your desktop.
Typora
While still in beta, typora is an amazing text editor, but with only one major downside. Like Evernote, and our last editor, typora supports markdown rendering in real time, but supports even more markdown features, making it cooler. Markdown can also be used to edit latex in real time, making it really nice for making formulae sheets. Finally, out of all the editors on this list, Typora has the most export options, allowing export to .docx, .md, .pdf and HTML. Typora’s also the most lightweight of the desktop editors of this list. However, one major downside of Typora is the lack of usage on mobile, and no real time collaboration; there’s no form of cloud storage, so if you undergo a large loss of data, then you’re frankly screwed. Overall, if you’re fine with not being able to take your notes elsewhere, not being able to collaborate and the risk of data loss, Typora is almost certainly the best text editor.
Notion
Notion is a great text editor and combines benefits seen in evernote and typora, and offers these for free. Notion can be downloaded on desktop, used on the web or used on mobile. You can also export your work to pdf and markdown. There’s also collaborative options available, so it is good for working together. However, some features are locked behind a paywall, and not all types of markdown are supported. Overall, Notion is a great all rounder for all platforms, and to get a mix of everything.
Atom and VSCode - or the lack of them
You may wonder, why weren’t atom or vscode included on this list? Well, although there are some text writing features, and they’re technically also used for editing text, I wouldn’t classify their strength to be test editing; rather making programs. However, if you work a lot with Git/GitHub, Atom has a lot of Git integration built in, so if you’re writing docs for GH, using a program like Atom or GitBook(which may get its own blog post) are really good for this.
Final Thoughts/ Summary
Overall, what text editor you use is entirely down to you, and I’m not here to force you into not using a piece of software, just cause I don’t like it. However, if you were to ask me what software I prefer, I’d say:
- Micro - Command line Editing
- Typora/Notion - All around GUI editing
- Atom/Gitbook - Docs writing/ using git
However, while choice comes down to perception, some text editors are objectively bad, and shouldn’t be used by you, like mousepad, notepad and vim. I hope by reading this article, maybe you’ve learnt about more text editors. And if you want to know what I wrote this in? Notion :)
Blog Post by Jammy
15/01/2021