Best free smart text editor and light-weight FTP software?

[CurseTheSky]

Hi guys,

I'm a web programmer / developer, and I work from home. My usual software routine is to download the files from the server (FireFTP), edit them using a smart text editor (Notepad++), and then re-upload them to the server. I've been doing this for years (after trying dozens of different applications) and it works well, but there are several annoying things with both programs.

Please suggest other, similar programs that would be good replacements. Here are my pros and cons for each program:

Notepad++
+ Code highlighting / tag matching (highlights a matched pair of <div> </div> tags when you click inside one, for example)
+ Tabbed view for multiple files
+ Ability to specify tab character (\t) in # of spaces, or replace with space altogether
+ Great ability to find / replace strings in multiple files at once
- Can't find where to remap file extensions to a different language (for example, I want .inc files to be automatically highlighted with HTML / PHP rules)
- Configurations can be a bit confusing, and take a while to set up "perfect" upon first install
- A few minor bugs here and there

FireFTP
+ Easy to use, light-weight, great interface
+ Drag-and-drop ability from local file browser to remote
+ Connection manager allows storage of different accounts / servers
+ Ability to force overwrite of uploaded file without prompting each time
- Does not allow drag-and-drop to external programs (drag local file to text editor to automatically open)
- Right-click "Open With" context menu must be manually populated; no automatic suggestions such as Notepad

I've tried the following FTP software, and found something annoying about each one, so I finally settled with FireFTP:
- Filezilla
- SmartFTP (great, but they went paid)
- GoFTP
- CoffeeCup
- CoreFTP
- WinSCP
- Several others

Any suggestions?

 

[armstrda]

you could pay for ultraedit. That's pretty much top of the line. Or go for TextPad. But Notepad++ is about the best free one out there. Not sure about FTP though since I don't really use it.

 

[armstrda]

Also, your first - for notepad++ - just go to Settings -> Style Configurator -> click on HTML in the list, then at the bottom it has Default Ext. and a Box for User Ext. Put in your inc extension here. You're good to go.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: armstrda
Also, your first - for notepad++ - just go to Settings -> Style Configurator -> click on HTML in the list, then at the bottom it has Default Ext. and a Box for User Ext. Put in your inc extension here. You're good to go.

Perfect - thank you. IIRC it used to be in a different place in the older version, and I couldn't find it after they updated.

 

[Leros]

Do they not make editors with an "upload to FTP" option? Seems like a common thing.

 

[her209]

I believe EditPlus has the FTP upload function built-in.

 

[wwswimming]

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky

I've tried the following FTP software, and found something annoying about each one, so I finally settled with FireFTP:
- Filezilla
- SmartFTP (great, but they went paid)
- GoFTP
- CoffeeCup
- CoreFTP
- WinSCP
- Several others

Any suggestions?

WSFTP & the web editor & word processing program of your choice.

i've used WSFTP for about 5 years & haven't had to read the instructions yet. it's just plain easy.

so far i've only used it with XP but my guess is it is Vista compatible.

though it's not free, it's about $35.

http://www.ipswitchft.com/?k_id=ipshome

 

[WildHorse]

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