Free game applications for mac. Notepad is the barebones text editor that most of us have used at some point or another in all the time we have been using computers. The piece of software found on each and every Windows computer is a veritable grandfather: Notepad has been included with every version of Microsoft Windows since Windows 1.0, released back in 1985.
As far as features go, Notepad has exactly none. It was designed back in the days of MS-DOS, and as a result was intended to be used in writing programs that would be easy to compile and execute. Notepad has undergone very few, if any, changes since its inception, and there has been no need for change either. Microsoft has its word processing software, Microsoft Word, for users who need a more feature writing software. However, we still need a text editor from time to time, especially programmers and web developers. For them, Notepad is antiquated; fortunately, there are several alternatives on the market and almost all of them are completely free to use. Here we take a look at the top 10 Notepad alternatives.
- BBEdit 12 BBEdit 12 is the premium alternative to Notepad for Mac and is intended for serious writers, software developers, and website coders. BBEdit12 is compatible with macOS 10.12.6 and higher, and costs $49.99. (Upgrading from BBEdit 11 is $29.99, or $39.99 to upgrade from earlier versions.).
- Many users use TextEdit as a default alternate for Notepad and have accustomed themselves to its working, making it one of the best and most preferred notepad alternatives. Talking on the availability front, this software is available absolutely free and comes in with every version of Mac.
Notepad Replacements Worth a Try
#1 Notepad++
Notepad++ is definitely the most famous text editor after Microsoft Notepad; the latter trumps it only by virtue of the fact that it comes preinstalled on every Windows machine. Notepad++ has a user interface that is simple and familiar for beginners or novices, and yet powerful enough for advanced users to perform complicated tasks with ease. Designed with mostly programmers in mind, the software incorporates some user interface choices that while not intimidating for beginners are useful for advanced users, such as line numbers, tabbed interface, autosave, phrase completion, etc.
While it comes feature packed right out of the box, Notepad++ also allows plugins, which means third party developers can build plugins for the program that can extend its functionality even more. Because it was designed with programmers in mind, the software recognizes syntax and aids development for some programming languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, HTML, XML, etc.
#2 FluentNotepad
FluentNotepad is a simple and easy to use replacement for Notepad. It takes its design cues from the interface introduced in Microsoft Office 2007 and Office 2010, giving it a ribbon UI and tabbed menus. Because the app is barely more than a basic text editor, you will not find any enhanced functionality over Notepad except a status bar that shows the total number of lines and characters. If you were thinking about how good it would have been if Notepad was a part of the Microsoft Office suite, this alternative is for you.
Feb 16, 2021 Sublime Text is one of the best alternatives to Notepad for Mac that you can ever get. Owing to the fact that it costs $70, you might not want to try it. If that's the case, Brackets seems the best option for you. The best thing about this text editor is it comes from the renowned company Adobe. If you want a substitute for Notepad that is free and lets you make core modifications through hacking, Atom is what you're looking for. It has all the necessary features, and there's the built-in package manager, which makes web development highly convenient. It is light in weight, loads faster and has helpful tools that were not there in Notepad. With Notepad users are able to edit source codes and get all the macros and plugins they need. For Windows users, Notepad is enough to do all their source code editing work but for those on the Mac, they need to find suitable mac coding editor.
This app is undoubtedly for someone with an eye for aesthetics. The app looks beautiful and meshes very well with Microsoft's UI language. Chiefly designed by artists, the app looks very refreshing, yet does not skimp on functionality. It does not sacrifice function over form, which many apps are guilty off. Thankfully, this is not one of those apps and the app's usability, and efficiency is retained along with its attractive interface and design.
#3 EditPad Lite
EditPad Lite is again on the lighter end of the spectrum when it comes to features, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The program is fast and boots up instantaneously. While it offers some good features over Notepad, it comes nowhere near Notepad++ in terms of sheer functionality, which definitely makes it a lot more user-friendly and suitable for beginners. The app feels dated, especially in the shadow of Notepad++, a much more feature packed software. The program has certain features geared towards programmers, so it does not make immediate sense why the developers would not integrate more features that might be useful to a developer. It is almost as if the developers of the app decided to make a text editor for programmers, then switched tracks midway towards a more word processing oriented application.
EditPad Lite has a tabbed interface and offers a powerful search feature. It also provides some basic word processing features that might come in handy if you intend to use this program as a word processor. Some smart tweaks incorporated in the app include an automatic save feature, a pasteboard to hold small snippets of text, and an extensive change history, meaning you can perform Undo-Redo operations indefinitely. These features would find use with people who prefer to compose or write long pieces of text using text editors for a simple and distraction free writing experience. Many word processors are cumbersome and bothersome, inundating the user with choices of formatting, margins, etc. and ultimately detracting from the writing experience at large. EditPad seems like an excellent choice for these users.
Suggested Reading:25+ NotePad Tricks to do More than just Noting things
Atom For Mac
#4 Bend
Bend is probably the most well-designed text editor there is. Modeled after the Windows Phone UI style, first pioneered in Microsoft's portable music player device Zune, Bend looks elegant, attractive and also has many useful features to boot. It has syntax highlighting features for programmers and a flexible search function so that you can find exactly what you are looking for in large documents. It is evident that the app has taken inspiration wherever it could have. UI flourishes from major apps like Safari and Microsoft Word are distinct and is in no way a bad thing. Bend looks attractive and fluidly performs any task you throw at it.
Built from the ground up for speed, the app uses XAML/WPF to render text using hardware-acceleration. While this won't make a difference in most cases, its advantage becomes evident when your files balloon to a few thousand lines, which can happen easily if you are coding or are writing a novel using the application. You can also tweak a lot of the display settings, but simplicity always stays at the forefront, making the text the focus of the app and never sidelined. The attention to detail is remarkable, given that the app never skimps on features. Performance is excellent, and the app looks its part, one of the few ones that look as good as it performs.
#5 PSPad Editor
PSPad Editor is an advanced text editor targeted towards programmers and developers. It also has built in formatting features that allow it to be used as a primary word processor in a pinch as well. It supports HTML particularly well as a tool as a web editor and can also be used an IDE, Integrated Development Environment since it can catch and parse compiler output natively. This turns out to be very helpful if you work with multiple compilers.
The software works out of the box, and no additional customization is needed. Features like syntax highlighting, macro recording, templating, an inbuilt FTP client, integrated CSS editor, and a Hex editor are bundled in with PSPad Editor. Additionally, many word processing features like spell checking and auto-correct are also present. The app also has a tabbed interface, allowing you to open multiple files in the same instance of the program. The program is frequently updated but has one important caveat: it is supported by advertisement; the installer prompts you to install several pieces of bloatware during the install process. Be wary of this, click 'No' or 'Decline' and you'll be good to go.
#6 DocPad
From the name itself, it is evident that this app is a mesh of WordPad and Notepad. The app is relatively new and has a clean and useful interface that looks fairly dated at this point. With DocPad, the focus is more on building a lightweight yet powerful text editor; this app is not a good choice for coding or programming. Formatting and other word processing features like bookmarks, word wrapping, block indentation, search and replace, etc. take precedence over syntax highlighting and code completion.
For users looking for a no-nonsense text editor that doesn't have the hassles of a traditional word processor and yet has features enough to be useful as a distraction-free writing tool, DocPad is an excellent alternative to both Notepad as well as Microsoft Word. You can thoroughly customize the look and feel of the app using skins, should you want to do so.
#7 GetDiz
A veteran app in the text editor space, GetDiz has perhaps a unique look and interface than others. The interface looks sparse and empty and the colour combinations make it seem like the app is inspired by WordStar, an early command line based word processing software (incidentally used by famous author George R. R. Martin to write his series A Song of Ice and Fire, whose adaptation is the world famous TV show Game of Thrones). GetDiz was originally meant to offer increased functionality with DIZ and NFO files, and while they still exist, it is obvious that only the most niche users are going to avail of those features. Throwback features like creating ASCII art will impress the older users who remember engaging with the pre-image internet. The app can save text files as GIF images as well, so that is an impressive functionality that not many other apps can offer.
#8 NoteTab
NoteTab is another replacement app for Notepad but mostly intended for web developers. It is one of the fastest HTML editing apps and can perform rapid text processing operations. It offers some very advanced search features and has smart detection algorithms that automatically detect if the text that's typed is 'text' or code, and accordingly tune its spell check choices; it automatically generates statistics for search engine optimization, allows web developers to check their operating efficiency before even taking the website live.
NoteTab also supports HTML5 and CSS3, the latest versions for HTML and CSS documents. This allows the app to automatically correct and predict syntax, thereby speeding up development times significantly. It also includes vast and expansive libraries for HTML and CSS. Throw in a tabbed interface for enhanced multitasking, a powerful syntax highlighting feature and it is easy to see why NoteTab is one of the most popular text editing programs for web developers and webmasters. The app is a paid app, but there also exists a free version that has to do without some of the powerful features in the full version. Do your diligence to confirm if the app is the worth the money for you or not; makes no sense to buy an app for the features that you might never end up using.
#9 TinyEdit
TinyEdit is a standalone text editor that is geared towards web developers and programmers. It supports a vast number of programming languages, including, but certainly not limited to, VisualBasic Script, JavaScript, Python, Perl, SQL, XML, PHP, CSS, HTML, C++, C, Java, etc. TinyEdit has a powerful search feature that is designed to distinguish between regular textual expressions and code, allowing browsing both codes as well as standard text files with ease. The app also supports syntax highlighting to enhance the speed of development greatly.
Designed with developers in mind, the app is 'portable', meaning that it does not need to be installed on a system and does not write to the system registry. The app runs directly off its executable, making it secure and free of vulnerabilities.
#10 TabPad
TabPad bills itself as 'yet another Notepad clone', and it is absolutely en pointe It is identical to the bundled Microsoft program, except it has tabs. A very useful feature of TabPad is that it has integrated automatic saving and recovery features, allowing you to salvage your work if the app crashed or your operating system froze or if the power suddenly went out. It also features support for drag and drop so that you can directly open files in TabPad from Explorer itself.
The app works as advertised, and that is definitely what it does. Unlike apps that oversell themselves, and the users end up getting disappointed, TabPad offers some incremental functionality over Notepad and does it well. In addition to the tabbed interface, it also has a built-in clipboard so you can store snippets of text for later use. Because TabPad is identical to Notepad in ways more than one, you can set it as your default text editor; it also allows opening only one instance of a file, which ensures that you do not accidentally overwrite changes or create other issues with different versions.
So there you have it: a comprehensive discussion of the most popular alternative text editing software to Notepad. Remember that Notepad already works perfectly well as a basic barebones text editor; if you have no need for advanced features, you can get by with using Notepad with absolutely no issues at all. Notepad is also lightweight enough that it starts up and performs very well, even on older and less powerful systems. That ensures compatibility across a variety of hardware platforms and versions of Operating Systems.
Therefore, depending on if you are a web developer, a programmer, a writer, or just someone who enjoys additional features that add to your productivity, you have plenty of options to choose from for an alternative to Notepad. While most text editing software are understandably aimed at developers, some alternatives make text editing and word processing their central goal; while certainly less common, such programs are available for use by those who want it. The choices are literally endless, and after you figure out what you will use the software for, picking the perfect Notepad alternative is very easy. If you just want a no-frills text editor for quickly jotting down notes and the like, you might like TabPad. If you primarily require a text editor for web development and maintenance purposes, NoteTab might be a sound investment for you thanks to its advanced features related to HTML and CSS development. If you just want a good looking app, and we definitely do not blame you for that, you can go with Bend that looks very attractive but is not completely lacking on the features front either. Finally, if you want a powerful text editor that is simple enough for beginners and yet powerful enough to satisfy advanced users, you can go with Notepad++.
Notepad++ is a widely popular and amazing text editor for Windows. Mac users are always looking to get it on their system. But, does Notepad++ for Mac exist? If you have the same question, this post is specifically written for you.
Notepad++ For Mac Download
Here, I will explain the reality to you. Also, I will tell you how to use it on Mac. And, I will also provide the 10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives for Mac that you can use to get a similar or even better experience.
Contents
- 2 Is Notepad++ Available for Mac?
- 3 10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives for Mac
What is Notepad++?
Notepad++ is an advanced text editor for Windows. It is the most popular text editor after Notepad, and a thousand times better and useful than it. It has a customizable GUI, supports several programming languages, and provides syntax highlighting, and syntax folding. You will also get PCRE search and replace, and auto-completing, multi-document editing, etc. It has a long list of features that make it an amazing text editor.
If you have used Notepad all for life, just try it once, and you'll regret the days you have used Notepad. Notepad++ has a wide fanbase on the internet. And, the services it provides are outstanding, so it is justified. In short, it one of the top-rated text editors in the world. The best part is that it is free and open-source.
Is Notepad++ Available for Mac?
The most straightforward answer to this question is NO. Notepad++ is not available for Mac, unfortunately. It is only available for Microsoft Windows. If you are using Mac and want to use Notepad++, then you have two options- either use special workarounds to run it on Mac or use some other great alternative.
The former option requires a lot of effort and isn't worth your time in my opinion. Since Notepad++ is specifically used to get everything for minimalistic efforts, it'd make it worthless. So, I'd recommend using the latter option. There are many great alternatives available that you can use.
Can I use Notepad++ on Mac?
Since Notepad++ isn't available for Mac, one would think that it is impossible to run it on Mac. However, the reality is different. It is still possible to run it on Mac. As I mentioned above, you have to use special workarounds for that. You can run it by using apps like Wine or VMWare, or any other virtualization software or emulator. However, that would require a lot of effort and there's no point doing that in my opinion.
If you still want to know about it, ask me via the comment box, and I'll explain. Or, you can also use a YouTube video guide explaining that. Another way to run Notepad++ on Mac is by rewriting it in a way that it doesn't rely on the Win32 API. Both of these methods are unlikely to be used by any normal user.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives for Mac
As I have explained, using a great Notepad++ Mac alternative is the most viable option available. So, if you are on Mac and want to use something like Notepad++, here are the 10 best Notepad++ alternatives for Mac. You can use these apps to have a very similar and even better experience.
You can also use multiple apps if you find that some of the features are missing in any of th apps. But, for casual users, any single app would be enough.
1. Brackets
Brackets is a free and open-source code editor by Adobe. It is a great Notepad++ alternative on Mac as it is full of features. And, it is updated with new features every month. It also has an ‘Extract' feature that will help you to extract colors, gradients, fonts, and more from a PSD file. Then, you can turn it into CSS styles. If you are into coding, you'd definitely find it useful.
2. Atom
Atom is a wonderful replacement for Notepad++ on Mac. It is a free-to-use open-source text editor that is full of features. It is a powerful yet simple tool that almost anyone can use. This editor is developed by the GitHub team. It is completely hackable and you can mold it in any way you want.
3. BBEdit
BBEdit is my personal favorite text and code editor for Mac. It is the perfect replacement for Notepad++ as it has all the features that you'll need. Along with that, it has a clean and appealing user interface. It is perfect for writing, searching, and editing. The best thing is that it is completely free. You can get it from the App Store.
4. Textmate
TextMate is one of the best text editors for Mac. It covers all the features that Notepad++ offers. It supports syntax highlighting, syntax folding, supports Gerp and regex, and more. This editor also has a unique feature called visual bookmarking that allows you to jump between locations within a document. The only limitation is that it is not free. It costs $58 but the money spent will be worth it.
Textpad For Mac
5. jEdit
jEdit is a very useful free-to-use text editor for Mac. It is developed by a team of very experienced coders, so they have made sure that you get all the necessary features in it. One notable feature of this editor is that it supports using keyboard shortcuts to cut down your time while coding. This feature is missing in many well-known text editors.
6. Textastic
Textastic is the perfect text editor who is looking for a powerful tool that doesn't cost much money. It is full of useful features and has a sleek user interface. It supports more than 80 source code and markup language with auto-completion support. And, it only costs $7.99.
7. Sublime Text
Sublime Text is another feature-rich and powerful text editor available for Mac, Windows, and even Linux. It is specifically developed for coding and serves the purpose of editing as well. It supports split editing, customizable key bindings, and more. The only limitation that makes people think about using it is its price, which is $70.
8. UltraEdit
UltraEdit is another impressive text editor for Mac. It claims itself the best option in the world. And, if you go through the available list of features and capabilities, you'd easily believe them. Despite being feature-packed, it has an easy to understand user interface. However, it is not free. You have to spend $80 to buy it.
9. Coda 2
Coda 2 is a powerful text editor developed specifically for web developers and professional coders. It has all the essential features that you'd need along with a long list of advanced features. It supports syntax highlighting and syntax folding for a wide range of languages. To use it, you'd have to spend $99.
10. Komodo Edit
Komodo Edit is the right text editor for you if you are not looking for a heavy, complex, but a lightweight tool. For simple writing, editing, and searching, this is the perfect editor. You can also increase its functionalities by downloading repositories from GitHub. The user interface is simple and anyone can easily understand it well. And, it is completely free.
Final Verdict
Notepad++ is an amazing text editor full of advanced features. Unfortunately, it is not available for Mac. Mac foundation studio fix fluid nc15. So, you can use any of these 10 best Notepad++ alternatives for Mac. These will help you to do whatever task you wanted to do on Notepad++. However, if you still want to try it on Mac, you can do that by using a virtualization software or emulator. But, the procedure would be a bit long.
That's all for this post. I hope you find it helpful. Feel free to share your opinions about it in the comments section.
