Time For a New Editor

I've been using Homesite since version 2, and I still love it.

Unfortunately, since Macromedia bought it out (way to stop it from outselling your second rate editor guys), they have shown no commitment to continued development, and now that they're owned by Adobe, the chances of ever seeing an update are looking pretty slim.

While Homesite is still hands down the best editor that I've ever used for everything from HTML, CSS, ASP, PHP, through to Windows scripting, it's beginning to show its age in some areas. I've searched high and low for a suitable replacement, but nothing I've seen even comes close, for my needs at least.

I was contemplating beginning development (in vs.net) of a "Homesite Replacement" type app. Basically Homesite, but more customizeable, easier to extend through regexp code highlighting etc, with a more up to date style text editor (more like MS's Visual Studio.net). I hate using third party controls, but these guys seem to have the right kind of idea. It would also be nice to have some kind of extensions interface, so that for example, there could be a visual database query/browser, but if you don't want to use it, you don't have to load it.

While going through the project outline and goals, it occurred to me that this really is a monstrous task for a single developer, and so at this point, I'm considering two options - is there already an application out there that fits the bill (bearing in mind the features that I've mentioned, I have no interest in Notepad2 or CrimsonEdit)? The second option is to put together a team of talented developers to bring this project to life, would anyone be interested in undertaking such a project?

Regards,

AJ

Rapid PHP 2005

PHP Designer 2005 is good, i think it is anyway.

SciTE!

PHP Designer 2005 is brilliant! It has a built in FTP!

It can be used for XHTML, CSS, PHP, SQL, Javascript and many programming languages.

...

I've been looking for a new editor as well. AJCrowley have you found one that you like?// I'm a homesite user as well.

i like jEdit. its very portable and it has a ton of plugins.

Sorry for my slow response, I'm checking out all those recommendations now - thanks, I really appreciate the tips.

Basically what I want is Homesite updated, but it's doubtful that it will even be included in Macromedia Studio any more (I should know for sure in a few days when work gets Studio 8). Homesite is still the best of the editors I've tried, hands down, but it would really benefit from being even more configurable, and many aspects of it are beginning to show their age.

I've tried a lot of editors with built in FTP, database browsers etc, but ultimately I just want a good solid editor, if I want anything else, I can easily use a program specifically for that task.

I'll post my thoughts on the suggestions when I've had a good look.

Cheers,

AJ

EDIT: I'll save double posting by just editing this one.

PHP Designer and Rapid PHP looked reasonable, but was restrictive in the server side languages it supports. Since I use a lot of ASP, that ruled this one out for me. I also do a fair amount of Windows scripting. One thing I really like about Homesite is the vast number of languages supported, and the fact that if it isn't supported, chances are you can download a file while will add support.

SciTE looks like a solid no-nonsense editor. However, unfortunately for me, much of what I do requires Windows, though I'd much rather be running Linux full time. I have kind of a soft spot for Quanta when working in nix. It's about time someone knocked down Adobe and Macromedia's doors and forced them to start supporting nix at gunpoint. I don't mind running a 5 year old OS as a shell for games, but as a user environment, it's clearly behind the pack.

UEStudio was a little intimidating at first, and I haven't had a chance to take a really good look at it yet. From what I can tell, it seems like it has the basics of what I want, and is customizeable enough that if I invest the time, it may end up replacing Homesite. It's not exactly what I was looking for, but with some work, it may end up being as close as I'm likely to get.

Writing a Homesite clone from scratch is no small task, even with the undesireable portions removed (RDS, FTP etc). In a perfect world, Macromedia (or Adobe now I guess) would have the decency to release the source into the wild if they didn't want it any more, then we'd have the highly talented open source community keeping this damn fine program up to date. In reality, the reason that this won't happen is the same reason that Macromedia bought it up in the first place - because they were the competition, and it was making them look (extremely) bad.

AJ