Tag Archives: Editors

The Block Editor’s Main Competitor Turns Up the Heat

[ad_1] Now that WordPress is a full-featured Content Management System (CMS), it needs more tools to help create stellar websites. The native Block Editor is a step in the right direction, but in this Elementor review, we’ll showcase the clear leading competitor to the platform’s creative vision. On the surface, Elementor is another in a long line of page builder plugins with increased scope over what WordPress offers out of the box. On close inspection, it’s almost a framework in itself. You could conceive a website and content using the functionality available, without breaking into WordPress’ toolset. For this Elementor review, we’ll look at how to use the page builder to develop layouts. What’s more, we’ll try and compare it to the Block Editor, and judge its future within the WordPress ecosystem. Elementor Review: Introducing the Page Builder Unless you’re super-new to WordPress, you’ll have heard of Elementor. After all, we’ve featured it on the blog many times over the years. It’s a page builder plugin at heart that has rocketed to become the most successful WordPress plugin of all time. It provides you with a strong and robust set of customization options to help take a literal blank page and turn it into a site matching your exact requirements. Digging deeper into what’s on offer, there are many strings to Elementor’s bow: Editing. You have a full suite of tools to help construct layouts, starting with the drag-and-drop live editor. There are a few cool User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) inclusions too, such as the Navigator and Finder. Design. Apart from the extensive layout options, you can also work with typography and colors as you would with a high-powered graphic design tool. Along with basic customization, you have almost limitless scope for adding interactive, dynamic animations, micro-elements, and much more. Marketing. Elementor includes a few different aspects to market your site. For instance, there’s a built-in form builder; a bunch of widgets to help you add a Call To Action (CTA), pricing tables, social media icons, testimonials, and more; counters; and much more besides. Element Builders. We’ve mentioned the form builder, but there’s also a comprehensive pop-up builder, WooCommerce builder, and theme builder too. The general goal of Elementor is to give you almost zero reason to go searching for another creative plugin on your site. The development team look to add all the practical features you need to build and launch your website. We’ll have more to say on each of these aspects later. For now, let’s discuss Elementor’s place within WordPress. How Elementor Fits Into the Rest of the WordPress Ecosystem Before Elementor was released, page builder plugins were functional and solid. The likes of Beaver Builder (see our review) ruled the roost, and the flexibility of that plugin is still evident today. Though, once Elementor arrived, it changed the game. There were more options to change every aspect of your site, and also so-called ‘front-end editing’ that showed how your site would look. The big talking point at the time centered around how adaptable the editor is when building layouts. You can be almost pinpoint accurate when it comes to implementing the ‘box model’ on your site. It’s a graphic designer’s (and front end developer’s) dream: Though, as Elementor has evolved, it’s gained more ground in areas outside of editing. For example, form plugins can’t rest easy – Elementor’s built-in form builder does away with the need for a third-party plugin. Other WooCommerce themes will sweat too, as Elementor lets you create a fully-functional store with its toolkit. In fact, almost no niche is safe when it comes to Elementor’s offerings. Because of this, the user base has shot up. It helps that there’s a huge community initiative too – almost as vibrant as WordPress itself. It’s understandable that WordPress’ top brass are hot under the collar. The Elementor team has come under fire due to misleading ads that undermine the WordPress project. Given that the Block Editor is front and center when it comes to WordPress’ key selling points, a solution such as Elementor bundled with its own blank starter theme is trouble. On the whole, the next phase of WordPress will be a fight between Elementor and the Block Editor. This is good for competition, although it could mean huge fallout in the near future. Elementor’s Competitors (And How It Stacks Up) As we’ve touched on, there are a few competitors chasing Elementor right now. The Block Editor is (of course) the primary target because it’s a native way of building a layout within WordPress. Right now, the Block Editor can’t touch the breadth and depth of Elementor’s functionality. Though, the core development team are all hand on deck to try and bring Full-Site Editing (FSE) to the masses sooner rather than later. When this happens, expect fireworks between leading WordPress figures and Elementor. There are also other page builders vying for attention – the most notable being Beaver Builder: This is another solution we’ve talked about before on the blog, and it has a different aesthetic and goals to Elementor. You could argue that Beaver Builder is more focused on building layouts, rather than becoming a framework within WordPress. Though, it’s fair to say there are hardcore fans of Beaver Builder as much as there are Elementor. The previous ThemeForest darling in the WPBakery Page Builder is falling behind as a go-to solution as well. Even a cursory glance at ThemeForest’s marketplace will show you that Elementor is mentioned just as much as the previous Visual Composer. There are a bunch of other page builders on the market, such as the Divi Builder, and even full themes such as Avada. Though, it appears as though there are two camps – plugins that lock you in using shortcodes and custom infrastructures, and those such as Elementor that don’t. The public is voting for no lock in, and it will be interesting to see what the likes of Divi, Avada, and even

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8 Excellent Text Editors for Windows, macOS, and Linux (2021)

[ad_1] When it comes to programming, nothing is arguably more heated than a debate about text editors. At times, the arguments border on fanaticism to the point that choosing the right editor almost confirms your status among your peers. While in actuality it may not be that dramatic, selecting the right option from the plethora of text editors available is important. You have to consider your needs, the project, your current ability, and much more. As such, this post is going to look at a number of different text editors. Throughout we’ll offer advice on which one may be more suitable. First, let’s talk more about why a dedicated text editor is necessary. Why You’d Need a Dedicated Text Editor In a nutshell, your choice of text editor is important enough to warrant some serious research. Among the YouTube channels and Reddit forums, you may come across some severe fanaticism for one particular editor. While most is hyperbole and dramatics, there is sound reasoning for getting your choice right: As time goes on, you get used to a particular editor and the way it works. This will speed up your work compared to a newbie to the editor. One editor may offer a different ‘feel’ that suits you over another. This is obviously going to be subjective, hence the arguments. Some editors offer functionality that can assist your workflow with a particular language or framework. As such, you’ll want to consider the makeup of your perfect text editor carefully. Getting the wrong blend of features and functionality could even set you back. What You Should Look For In a Text Editor When it comes to the exact features you should seek out, most of it is largely subjective. However, there is a list of considerations you should keep in mind: Can you export projects from one editor and import it into another? Do the keyboard bindings make sense, especially if you’re coming from an editor such as Vim, which has an idiosyncratic approach to editing? How well supported is the text editor, in case of issues? If there’s no active support, an open-source editor is going to be marginally more suitable. Is the workflow logical to you, in as much as setting up projects and working daily using the editor? There are many more considerations you can make, but these are going to help you narrow down your options. One thing’s for certain, you should choose a text editor based on your own needs, rather than go with forum opinions. 8 Excellent Text Editors for Windows, macOS, and Linux Let’s take a look at the eight text editors we’ll feature. Here’s a quick summary of each one: Vim. This text editor has a reputation for a vertical learning curve. However, it’s actually intuitive to use. Atom. An open-source functional editor that has lots of ‘hackability’. Sublime Text. The ‘old man’ of premium text editors has been around for years, yet still delivers. Notepad++. Windows users will appreciate this flexible upgrade to Notepad, that can also scale with your ability. Visual Studio Code. A Microsoft product that has captured over half of the text editing market share. Intellij IDEA. A full-fledged Integrated Development Environment (IDE). There are actually a number of spin-offs available from the developers. BBEdit. This is a great first text editor that also has a bunch of excellent premium functionality. Nova. The developers are known for their previous Mac-only editor Coda – and for the popular Untitled Goose Game cult classic! Without further ado, let’s take a look! 1. Vim First off, let’s deal with the sorcerer’s text editor. Vim comes with a reputation. It’s known as power editor, mainly because of…well, everything about it. It’s a terminal-based text editor that uses idiosyncratic key bindings to navigate and populate your files. There’s no Graphical Use Interface (GUI), and your hands practically have to stay on the keyboard for the entire time. It’s open-source and pre-packaged with macOS and Linux machines. As such, it’s become an editor of choice for sysadmins and general IT techs. Even so, it’s actually intuitive, and the built-in vimtutor takes about an hour to complete. We’d suggest that Vim isn’t necessarily suitable for a coding beginner, because you have to learn Vim as well as your language of choice. However, if you have the stomach, getting to grips with Vim is going to make you more efficient and knowledgeable in the long run. 2. Atom Next, Atom is a text editor that once got a lot of love, but has fallen out of favor with developers. However, it’s still capable and worth installing – perhaps as your primary editor. It’s based on the Electron framework, and was developed by the GitHub team prior to the Microsoft acquisition. As such, it can lag a little compared to other native text editors. Atom looks like many other text editors, although there are some nice touches throughout. There’s a built-in terminal for running programs, and GitHub integration as standard: It may be a touch slow, but Atom is a worthwhile editor for both those new to coding and long-time programmers. We haven’t even touched on its extensibility through ‘packages’, which makes Atom a text editor that can be adapted to any project or language. 3. Sublime Text You’ll likely have seen Sublime Text in the past, or even heard of it. However, you may not have used it. This is a shame because it’s a fantastic minimalist text editor that can stick with you from your very first “Hello, World!” line, to large-scale professional projects. At a base level its simply a text editor. However, it offers much more that the competition have adapted. For example, the Command Palette can be found in Atom and Jetbrains products, and the Goto Anything feature has Vim-like functionality: Overall, Sublime Text is a great text editor, and what’s more the licensing is flexible. While the trial version is unrestricted, if you stick with Sublime Text you should pay the

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