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To develop a Firefox extension, you need certain tools. One of these essential tools is a text editor. You need something that should feel intuitive, be powerful, adaptable, load quickly, and be a pleasure to use. Which programs are the most suitable for developing web applications with?

It’s a fine line to walk. Text editors are a programmer’s bread and butter, and they need to have everything you want, and not anything you don’t need. If an editor is lacking features, then it is considered not complete, and if it has too many features, people call them bloated. People are so damn picky. This is why I’ve done the leg work for you and definitively decided the best damned text editors for Windows. Why Windows? My answer is “because, that’s why.”

If you have a Mac, then buy TextMate. If you have Linux, then use Emacs or vi, because you know you’re special, and that’s what you should use. Windows users have a little more choice in the matter, so let’s dive in.

First things first: just how do I consider the programs to be “best,” or “bloated?” Excellent question. I’ll tell you: I don’t want them to be my FTP program, or Microsoft Word replacement, or anything a “text editor” is not supposed to be. WYSIWYG is an acronym for “Well, You See, I Want Your Genitals.” I hate generators that add more bloated code than necessary.

“But wait,” you cry. “I like my HTML editor to have WYSIWYG and FTP capabilities, and I like to have it point out to me all of my grammatical mistakes.” Well, then this article will be an infuriating read for you, then, won’t it?

The #1 Best Damned Text Editor: Intype

This program is fucking solid. It is in the alpha stage, so it’s a little experimental (at least compared to all of those totally solid betas, wink wink). It’s what TextMate would look like in a Windows environment with extremely little bloat and an impressive yet steadily growing list of features.

Screen shot:

It’s got themes (black backgrounds are obviously better than white. That’s not an opinion, it’s a pure fact), tabs, search and replace, bundles, auto-complete, and word-wrap. To me, this is perfection, really. There’s no need for all of that bloaty shit, like managing full-scale projects, frames upon frames within split screen windows (hello, Dreamweaver, I’m looking at you) and it’s just so god damned pretty.

Whoa, did I just slag on Dreamweaver? Hell yes I did. I have a computer with 2 gigs of memory, and any program I use to edit cascading style sheets or hyper text markup language files that takes longer than 20 seconds to boot up sucks with a capital S. I don’t care that it’s the industry standard or that your nerdy cousin Peter taught you how to use it. It sucks and it is too huge. I’m not managing a global corporation’s infrastructure, for Christ’s sake, I’m editing where I want a text snippet to appear or how a box should line up. I want in and out, bada bang, bada boom. Intype is money for that type of shit. It’s like a notepad that Jesus would approve of. Next.

The #2 Best Damned Text Editor: E-text editor

E-text editor, while having a dreadfully generic name that could get easily lost in a Google sea of text editors, is another lovely TextMate-ish clone for windows. The makers have ensured that TextMate bundles are compatible with E-text editor, and it is another slick package that is similar to Intype, but has a little more features. On my machine, which is a dinosaurish Athlon 1900, this program takes longer than Intype to boot up. Does that mean it sucks? Quite possibly. Does my machine suck? Even more likely.

I would take an original screen shot of this program, but apparently E-text editor recognized that I installed a version of itself a long time ago and hence my 30 day trial has ended. I will have to deduct points because of that. So here is a screen shot of E-text editor from a flickr member, who from what I can tell, has allowed a share alike license to allow me to use said picture. If I read this incorrectly, please don’t sue me, okay. I had to crop it so I respect your original artistic intent, by the way.

Screen shot:

The #3 Best Damned Text Editor: Notepad ++

Thiis is a nifty little program that has all of the features that the more expensive text editors have. Syntax highlighting, code folding, themes, auto-completion, and it’s completely modifiable. Did I mention that there’s a big lizard on the site’s home page? Well, there is. I think it adds to the program’s ability to render code properly.

Screen shot:

The #4 Best Damned Text Editor: TextPad

TextPad was my first introduction to Windows text editing. TP was like that hooker with a heart of gold that is gentle with you during your virginal experience, guiding and instructing you throughout your first nervous encounter, and didn’t point and laugh at you when you got too excited and then ruined that Friday night in the back seat of my old 1992 Honda civic that wasn’t that big to begin with and had that funny smell in the air conditioning that never really went away. That, and it’s a text editor.

Screen shot:

The #5 Best Damned Text Editor: Crimson Editor

Crimson Editor is a fantastic and free (as in beer) text editor, unlike the majority of the programs listed above. It is free, which is a huge plus. The home page looks like it was designed by Jerry Yang circa 1992, but don’t let that take away from all of it’s textual glory. It has syntax highlighting, it is fast as hell, and there’s zero bloat. It doesn’t have too many choices, but less is more in this case. Or, more is less; I can’t decide.

Screen shot:

So, that’s it. I am fully aware that not all popular text editors made my coveted list. There are several well-known editors out there that are marginally close to making such an esteemed list, such as Ultra Edit, Scintilla, SciTE, Boxer Text Editor, CRiSP and Zeus. There is a metric boatload of editors listed here:

http://www.acrovela.com/html-editors/

Some are great, and some are not. This is for you to decide. If you see one that did not make this list or mine and you feel it deserves a worthy mention, shout it out.

Okay, okay, before you say, wait a minute- there’s no reason to install a tab extension on Firefox. It can do everything right out of the box, and all of those are way too bulky and they mess up my other extensions.

I say, “Nay.” This beauty adds features that are simply not available in the default Firefox setup. There are some things it can take care of that are a short tweak away in your about:config page, but there are many, many options it adds. I only use a few, but the few I use are indispensable.

My favorite thing that I love to do is inadvertently close tabs. Well, let me re-state that. I inadvertently close tabs from time to time, and I cry if I can’t remember where I was or if I am unable to retrieve them. This extension will let you undo a series of tabs so that you shant have to shed a tear.

I know there’s a separate extension that does just that, but that’s all it does. If minimalism is your thing and that’s the only thing you need, then that would be perfect for you. But you’re not. You’re a Firefox junkie and you need it to survive, to feel young again. To feel free, to feel the blood rushing through your veiny paws. Wait, where was I?

Okay, Tab Mix Plus. It has a plethora of options, admittedly, that I do not take advantage of. Another option that I do take advantage of is focusing on the last tab selected when a tab closes.

That’s not a wonderful way to describe it, but it’s logical and makes sense to me. Say you’re browsing around, checking your e-mail, and you happen to have a few tabs open. A friend sends you a “funny” link, so you check it out, and close it mere seconds afterwards. Now you’re looking at some other web site. What the hell? I was just looking at my e-mail, so shouldn’t I be back there immediately? Well, Firefox default behavior is to re-direct you to the tab to the immediate left of the one that was just closed. This may suit you, or it may not. It does not suit me. So, focusing on the last tab selected can cure your ails, if this particular nebbish thing is what ails you.

Tab Mis Plus has the power to change tabs’ appearance, behavior and even controls the overflow that is bound to happen if you open one too many pages. It is not for someone who refers to the internet as the “Blue E,” but we all know that is not you, Gentle Reader. You are in it for something more customizable and something more anal-retentive, god bless you.

Get it now. There’s too many tab-filled days that lie ahead that need to be whipped into shape.

Tab Mix Plus

I’m a poet and I kind of know it. RetailMeNot, brought to you by the perspicacious minds of BugMeNot, is both a service and a Firefox extension. The extension is new and will be the main focus of this mini-review. It sits invisibly behind Firefox’s exterior, waiting to pounce on any web site that will try and make a buck off of you. As soon as it detects a web site that has possible coupon codes, it lets you know:

A slider bar indicates that there are coupon treasures that await you. If you’re not interested, you can close the bar or simply ignore it. Once you surf away, the bar discretely closes.

I have used the web site for quite a while now, usually as a last check for saving me a little bit of cash. The extension is great because if you forget to check online, it’s no big deal- it will let you know from the get-go if there’s deals to be sliced and diced.

It’s an unobtrusive little gem of an extension that I recommend. Go check it out for yourself.

RetailMeNot Firefox extension

IE Tab has saved me from ever using Internet Explorer on its own again. Now, don’t assume that I’m a rabid anti-Microsoft hater / sheep-like Mozilla fanboy, although you’d have good reason to assume so. After all, this site is about Firefox extensions, something you can’t really mirror with Internet Explorer. My only beef with the big blue E is that there are a lot of web sites out there that force you to use it. I like having one browsing program open, and I don’t really want to have to switch back and forth. That’s just a pain in the ass.

So, IE Tab saves me the trouble of opening multiple applications for one purpose, which is grand. Here’s a sample screenshot:

The icon in the tab lets you know that the Internet Explorer engine is being used on that page. Nice, simple, effective notifications- that’s what makes a great extension great. It doesn’t pop up in your face, yet it lets you know exactly what’s going on.

I first used an extension that would simply open up the current web page in an Internet Explorer window. It was basic, but it got the job done. IE Tab has taken it a step further, and actually embeds IE right in a Firefox tab. The best part is that it is customizable with a whitelist- so every time I go to my school’s web page, which refuses to function in any other browser besides Internet Explorer, it opens without a hitch, showing that little comforting blue E in the lower right of my screen.

It’s a crying shame that this extension should even be necessary, but for some reason, schools, government agencies and banking institutions love to hire designers that are totally clueless about browser behavior, or that there’s even an alternative to Internet Explorer. Until that day comes when all pages are deisgned using strict compliant code, IE Tab can make it a more tolerable experience.

IE Tab