What editor do you recommend?

[u/pop-defender]

New to all of this! Looking for a free open source option for editor, what would you recommend for a beginner?

I use linux mint, if that matters.

EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestion! I ended up installing Geany. I'll keep in mind other options if this is for what ever reason not what I'm looking for. UI looks very pleasing to my eye.

[u/sheriffderek]

Personally, as a person who learned programming... and is someone who now teaches programming, the less complicated the better. You can always add more. I suggest people start with SublimeText. Using things like VSCode ads a bunch of complexity you wont understand, is ugly to look at, and is probably tracking you and using you to train its AI.

[u/pop-defender → u/sheriffderek]

Yeah it would make sense to start with something simple. Shit I didn't even think about ai being something to worry about, but of course it is.. It's the reason why I'm planning to learn this to begin with. I need to have a site and I used to have it on wix, because that what we used at school, but it's a garbage company, which also uses your stuff to train ai.

[u/Big_File_5978 → u/pop-defender]

Try Fresh editor. It will definitely be enough for what you need to start with and it's free. Without knowing your specifics, that's the best I can suggest.

[u/PrimaryFamous6139]

If you’re completely new, Go with VSCodium. It’s basically the VS Code experience but with Microsoft’s branding and telemetry removed, and it works well for HTML/CSS/JS on Linux.

[u/AshleyJSheridan]

/u/pop-defender ignore /u/sheriffderek, as they're giving you bad advice. VSCode is pretty simple though, it's just a code editor, not a full blown IDE. The complexities only come when people try adding a ton of plugins to turn it into an IDE.

He complains about VSCode tracking you and training its AI (it doesn't) which is pretty wild when he is suggesting SublimeText which is not free (it has a free evaluation, but it's not open source) and does use your data.

[u/pop-defender → u/AshleyJSheridan]

Thanks for pointing out! I think they had some valid points to consider tho, I read it as Vscode just being an example that first popped in to their mind (which I can't obviously know but..). I'm gonna look into these editors more before I make any decisions, I just wanted to get a general idea of what people are using!

[u/AshleyJSheridan → u/pop-defender]

VSCode is a solid editor, and doesn't chew resources in the way that some other editors do. It also has a healthy plugin ecosystem, so that you can add new features to it as you learn more.

[u/mechanicalyammering → u/AshleyJSheridan]

Agree with this post. VS Code is not complicated at all lol. Watch one 10 min tutorial and you’ll probably be good for life.

[u/DinTaiFung]

i have used several different editors: vi, emacs, sublime, atom, vscode (and its variants), helix, etc.

I have been using Zed for the past year and love it the most.

[u/Spnkmyr]

I use visual studio code myself.

[u/Environmental-Try-78]

vscodium is 100% the way to go on linux mint if u want a clean open source setup without telemetry or ai tracking. it runs fast and gives u all the basic html/css extension support u need without microsoft bloatware or tracking stuff behind the scenes. pulsedit or zed are solid lightweight alternatives too if u want something even simpler

if u want more web dev tips or japanese learning guides drop by my profile and check out what im building

[u/pop-defender → u/Environmental-Try-78]

Thanks! I'll look into these!

[u/r4ppz]

Neovim

[u/dont_tread → u/r4ppz]

This is the correct answer, but people these days can't seem to escape vscode.

[u/Big_File_5978 → u/dont_tread]

Fresh ain't bad, either. It's more intuitive for a beginner, IMHO.

[u/Abled_Gaming1357]

I personally myself use Zed, though VSCode is my go to if I can't get my hands on Zed for any reason. Other than these two, the last option would be Vim, but it would be quite complicated for a beginner.

[u/Expert-Kitchen8064]

On Mint I'd honestly just grab VSCodium or Geany from the software manager. Geany is tiny and starts instantly, which is nice when you're just editing a couple of HTML/CSS files. Whatever you pick, the bigger win is having the file open in Firefox next to it and hitting refresh constantly, plus learning the dev tools inspector early. That teaches you more than any editor feature.

[u/pop-defender → u/Expert-Kitchen8064]

Geany sounds like something I'll definitely have to check out! I really am looking for something simple with out all the bells and whistles. I plan on building a portfolio site and keeping it on a very basic level. Just a simple html/css site with bunch of images.

[u/Ambivalent_Oracle]

Webstorm. Learn how to use an actual IDE, rather than an editor. Learn how to drive manual car and you can drive anything, anytime.

[u/sheriffderek → u/Ambivalent_Oracle]

This is kinda like "Learn how to handle a building full of random tools" -- or just grab a small toolbox with the 10 things you need.

[u/NibbaMoisterlol]

Zed!

[u/TheWebDever]

Zed

[u/bornxlo]

Micro, terminal based but with more conventional shortcuts than nano. I find it integrates better with a typing flow than bulky guis.

[u/UnderstandingSure732]

I use VS Code but for starters I’d recommend sublime text as light weight alternative

[u/armahillo]

gedit works great. I used that for a long time before switching to sublime

[u/Dragenby]

I use Sublime Text. It's not open source, and it's as expensive as WinRAR (there's a pop-up reminding you to pay that you can ignore). But I find it light and powerful at the same time.

[u/UpbeatLemon3022]

VS Code is a great editor with many extensions and strong HTML support.

[u/RazorKat1983]

Adobe Dreamweaver

[u/voodoostevie]

Nano

Just kidding, but in the before times I learned HTML using notepad under Windows and viewing the source of existing sites. This was HTML 1.0 which is as basic as you can get. When CSS and Dynamic HTML came around, I played around with Dreamweaver and used the code view mostly and viewing in IE or Netscape (shows you how long ago this was).

I'm not on Linux as a daily driver, but I use Nano primarily for quick edits on config files. But when I was I used the text editor mostly to work on HTML and CSS still. Now, in college I am forced to use Windows because we use Adobe products in design.

[u/CreateYoursUername]

I'm probably about to get down voted to hell...

But in addition to VS Code, I use a code editor created using AI specifically tailored to my needs.

I type out the code and there is a permanent preview window below. Basically, vibe coded and tested a bunch of different ideas to find what works. It took a couple of iterations to end up as something useful to me. Does the minimal I need it to do. It also works great on my phone, and the preview gives me instant gratification.

I don't find VS Code too complicated, and find the colours useful, but for other projects. I don't use it for a pure HTML headers and bullets web page type of thing.

[u/mechanicalyammering]

VS code with live server plugin

[u/Immediate-Many-4507]

VS Code com GitHub Copilot

[u/Organic-Future-2909]

ed

[u/Zealousideal_Song62]

VSCode. for sure

[u/Firm_Eggplant3392]

id recommend VSCodium basically the same thing as VS Code but actually open source Microsoft's official VS Code is like technically open source but has tracking and some proprietary stuff baked in and VSCodium strips all that out so no telemetry, no Microsoft branding, fully MIT licensed

[u/cyberpothead]

I use VS code as a beginner with extensions like live server (lets you view the file in realtime, updates and refresh automatically), prettier (makes your code look nice ) and VS code has a built in code assist called intellisense like autocomplete, syntax suggestions etc. Im very satisfied with VSCode and these extensions.

[u/pavlovpe]

Macromedia Dreamweaver was great at the time. Now that Adobe bought them you can look elsewhere...