If you are a PC user, one of the first web development tools you will need is a decent text editor to replace Notepad. Notepad is notorious for inserting hidden characters which will often lead to problems once you upload edited files to your server. While there are many options available, Notepad++ has been one of our favorites; with a nice selection of features and available plugins.

One of the handy features we use all the time is being able to see the opening/closing of various tags and statments in php and html files; as shown to the left. Very helpful when troubleshooting functions and if statements in php. Also included are various encoding features which will be needed once RavenNuke starts using UTF-8 in a future release.

Notepad++ is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.