BlueFish Editor vs. TextPad

BlueFish is a good basic HTML and text editor that is easy for all to use. If I need someone to grab a friendly editor, then BlueFish is the way to go. If you need an editor to fix a bunch of pages then this editor has a lot of functions that are not found it other editors. Stuff like HTML Tidy or functions that strip extra lines out.

Incentivized

I like the macro feature for transforming text. For example, taking a CSV file of data and quickly turning it into a set of SQL "insert" statements. Also, useful for this is the find/replace feature using regular expressions such as taking a URL QueryString and breaking all the parameters into separate lines and perhaps sorting them for review.

Incentivized

• Easily found and downloaded. If I need someone to go to the web and grab it I can tell them the URL. It is easily installed and one can be edited in minutes.
• BlueFish is easy to use. It can have a non-technical user use it to edit config files or text documents and not have them frustrated. It has a friendly straight forward user interface.
• BlueFish does a really good job editing HTML documents specifically. Probably one of the best HTML editors left out there.

Incentivized

• Quick to load.
• Very fast searching algorithm for finding and replacing text.
• Macros are very useful.

Incentivized

• There are WYSIWYG Open alternatives, some of which work perfectly as an Open version of Dreamweaver, but the only suggestion I would have is that Bluefish add a WYSIWYG tab, e.g. code/visual.

Incentivized

• I would like a "delete non-bookmarked lines" so I can skip the "invert bookmarks" step.
• The "Compare Text Files" could be streamlined to compare text in 2 tabs without going through the save steps.

Incentivized

As with most GNU GPL products support is top-notch. Documentation is fantastic, all functions are documented. Also, this product has been around for more than a decade so there is lots of stuff on how to do this or that with this tool. The only thing holding you back from support is your own drive to find a solution. RTFM, my friend.

Incentivized

I never had to use support, so I can't answer this. I would hope that it is good though.

Incentivized

Compare it to what I'd call its WYSIWYG editor, BlueGriffon. Again, the two are fundamentally different solutions. Use them together. Don't waste your money on Adobe or any other proprietary alternative.

Incentivized

When you want to quickly edit a file, TextPad starts up quickly and has many features over Microsoft Notepad. Visual Studio Code is an alternative in that it is full-featured and will edit text files but is slower at startup. I prefer the macro feature in TextPad due to its simplicity.

Incentivized

• How can you go wrong with a GNU GPL product that works? That's a really low-risk proposition.
• It is only returns. It is like 0% investment to 5,000% return.
• The only negative you will have with this product are those Cretans that despise OSS and the willfully ignorant.

Incentivized

• Made my job easier, so I would say it had a positive return on investment. Especially for it's overall low cost.

Incentivized