Best Free JavaScript Editor: The Top 5 Text Editors for JavaScript Reviewed

JavaScript is the most popular client side scripting language used in Web Development. JavaScript has been used over the years to extend the functionality of a webpage. In recent years the release of JavaScript libraries like jQuery and other related technologies like Ajax has made JavaScript a very important scripting language when it comes to web development. However for a language so widely used, JavaScript lacks a dedicated JavaScript editor. Of course there are IDEs like Aptana Studio that has greater support for JavaScript and makes it easy for the programmer to work in JavaScript but when it comes to a code editor there are hardly any that is designed exclusively for JavaScript programming. But that doesn’t mean we are left without any choice. There are many source code editors that even if not a dedicated JavaScript editor support JavaScript editing very well and we can use them for our JavaScript coding needs. Here are some of the best JavaScript editors that are feature rich and at the same time free.

A Little Background Information

Komodo Edit is a free source code editor for JavaScript and other popular languages like Ruby, Tcl, PHP, Perl etc. Komodo Edit is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Komodo Edit has features like syntax coloring, syntax checking, Vi emulation, auto complete etc. All major scripting languages are supported by Komodo Edit inclusive of advanced features like in-depth autocomplete and calltips which help in writing code faster, multi language file support, emacs like keybinding, multi document editing etc.

jEdit

jEdit is a free and open source code editor supporting many languages. jEdit combines the best functionalities of UNIX, Windows and MacOS text editors. It implements features like efficient keyboard shortcuts, unlimited undo/redo function, file position markers, syntax highlighting for more than 130 file types including common languages like PHP, JavaScript, HTML, Perl, Ruby etc.

jEdit has features that aid in better source code editing (like auto indent) and a powerful search and replace tool that supports both literal and regular expressions. It also supports multiple file search and replace and reverse search. jEdit is customizable to a great extent and things like syntax highlighting can be easily customized using XML files. jEdit support plug-ins and there are quite a number of plug-ins available that extends its functionality.

Notepad++

Notepad++ is a source code editor that has been designed as a replacement for the Windows Notepad. It is lightweight and optimized for better performance. Main features of Notepad++ includes syntax highlighting, tabbed document view, plug-in support etc. Notepad++ supports over 50 languages.

Scriptly

Scriptly is a freeware code editor mainly used to write HTML and programming with PHP. Scriptly supports syntax highlighting for several languages including HTML, PHP, JavaScript, CSS etc. Scriptly also features a file browser with FTP client and a project management system. It also sports the standard code editor features like search and replace, code completion, browser preview etc. Scriptly is extendible with plug-ins and scripts.

HTML Kit

HTML Kit is a source code editor that supports common web development languages like HTML, PHP, JavaScript, CSS etc. HTML Kit is highly customizable and standard compliant editor and its functionality can be extended with hundreds of available plug-ins. HTML Kit includes various preview modes (internal, external, server-side and live) and also sports a FTP workspace for uploading/downloading of files. A full list of features can be viewed here.