TextEdit is the default text editor on Mac. It is open-source and comes pre-installed with macOS. You can use it to write and edit documents. However, it is limited in functionality when you compare it with other text editors out there. As a result, it is not the best solution to write code, nor is it any good at helping you manage application projects.
IMAGE: Joan Gamell (Unsplash)
So, if you need a more comprehensive experience out of a text editor, you need to look for some of the third-party text editors out there. To help you in this process, here are our picks for the best Mac text editors.
Text editors come in various forms, but you can broadly classify them as basic text editors (plain text or rich text) and source-code editors. The difference between both kinds, at large, lies in the functionality and purpose that they serve.
While text editors offer functionalities that solely focus on simplifying creating and editing documents, source-code editors provide additional features to speed up the code writing process. For instance, a source-code editor gives you syntax highlighting, autocomplete, indentation, and bracket matching, among other features, which you do not get to see on a basic text editor.
As such, you can use a source-code editor for general document writing and editing, but it is not wise to use a basic editor for writing code. For, even though you can do it, the lack of development-specific features on a basic…
visibility_offDisable flashes
titleMark headings
settingsBackground Color
zoom_outZoom out
zoom_inZoom in
remove_circle_outlineDecrease font
add_circle_outlineIncrease font
spellcheckReadable font
brightness_highBright contrast
brightness_lowDark contrast
format_underlinedUnderline links
font_downloadMark links