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I have yet to find a text editor that is the one to beat all the rest. None of them are perfect, so I try them all. On OS X, there really aren’t many I’m impressed with. However, there’s another option – on the Web!

ecoder is an open-source, web-based text editor. It includes a file browser, file uploader, and tabbed system to allow multiple files to be edited at the same time. Keyboard short-cuts lend it the feel of a locally installed application.

All of your basic text-editing commands are available. But what makes it so unique is that it has syntax highlighting. You’ll see the different colors as soon as you input your document. This makes it much easier for you to do what needs to be done. It’ll help you detect any mistakes in your code if there are any.

You might be working away from your own computer, and need access to check your code. Why not just flip open a browser, throw your file in there, and carry on about your work? Check out ecoder the next time you need to edit a document.

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How to Edit Text Documents on the Web

If you’ve been itching to get ahold of the next version of TopStyle for CSS editing, looks like you’ll have to itch a little while longer. From the official forum thread, Nick Bradbury weighs in on the Cascading Style Sheet fanatical discontent:

Apologies for not jumping in here sooner – I guarantee that while I’ve been quiet in this thread, I haven’t been quiet about making sure that TopStyle has a future. The delay in our response hasn’t been due to a lack of desire to create a new version, but instead a lack of time and talent (let’s just say that I bit off more than I could chew when I decided I could handle two popular apps by myself!). As Ronnie states, we’re still planning a TopStyle 4.0. However, there’s a good chance that someone other than myself will be in charge of developing it (I will, of course, still be involved in its design).

I use TopStyle for CSS editing, too – as does most of the working Windows world. No word on whether Microsoft’s new Visual Web Studio is any better (or worse) than TopStyle, though. PSPad comes with TopStyle lite, which enables me to quickly edit Cascading Style Sheets. For the most part, I can do simple CSS tweaks from personal memory. Still, I’m looking forward to new versions of TopStyle (the definitive CSS editor on the Windows platform).

TopStyle 4.0

When we moved over to the new servers, Shayne decided not to open up the port for FTP. Fair enough (a good security move). However, I was left with having to find another way to get in and easily edit files on the system. He recommended that I get an SCP client. I downloaded a few of ‘em, not being all that impressed – then I stumbled across WinSCP. It handles SSH / SCP / SFTP sessions, and has direct hooks into PuTTY. I have a long history with FTP programs. Starting with the amazingly old and incredibly unintuitive WS_FTP, I moved to FTP Explorer. When the developer abandoned the project, I flipped to FTP Voyager – and found it to be completely overpriced for my needs. Then, it was off to SmartFTP, until the desktop flashing started to annoy me. I had veen on FileZilla up until recently (living with its shortcomings, too). WinSCP surprised me.

It doesn’t do everything I want it to do, but I discovered that you can locally edit remote files by double-clicking them! This feature alone has saved me so much time and energy. I had been relying on PSPad for the longest time to do all my server-based file editing through FTP (slow, clunky). While the WinSCP edit window leaves much to be desired, it’s quick and painless – and I can hook directly into PSPad for advanced functionality and seamless integration with the file transfer. Wow. Awesome. Cool. You need this. Forget the other FTP clients out there – if you don’t have this “edit locally, save remotely” feature in your FTP program, dump it. And FTP access through a plain ol’ file editor is just painful to navigate! WinSCP is wicked.

The Best FTP Client – WinSCP