For someone who isn’t writing code but still generates a large amount of copy, a text editor can be where you start your writing. For writing in HTML, CSS, or other programming languages, this is a necessity. There are no formatting toolbars, no adjusting the margins - just you and your code or words.
However, what separates these tools from a text editor, and what makes a text editor so compelling to a lot of people, is that a text editor removes almost every distraction between you and the text. Maybe it’s Pages or Microsoft Word, or perhaps you use an online option, like Google Docs or Dropbox Paper.
But wait, you say, I already have a way to edit text on my Mac. Text editors have been a crucial part of every computing system in history, and they’re also the tools that many, many people use every day to build the services, apps, and written-word that we love.Īt its core, a text editor does what it says on the tin: it allows you to edit text.
