There’s all the time room in my Activities menu for a utilitarian textual content editor. Of course, the precise that means of “utilitarian” is totally different for every consumer, however for me, it means a textual content editor with all of the options I would like and never a lot else. So far, FeatherPad has confirmed in some ways to suit these necessities.
Install
FeatherPad is developed for and examined on Linux, so it makes no assure about its efficiency on different platforms. On Linux, you may set up it out of your distribution’s software program repository or straight from supply code discovered on its Github repository.
There is a few assist for macOS and Haiku. Whatever your platforms, you may compile Featherpad from supply code and take a look at it out. If you already know C++ and Qt improvement, chances are you’ll even be capable of assist bolster cross-platform assist.
Using FeatherPad
When you launch FeatherPad for the primary time, it has a reasonably typical textual content entry discipline that permits you to kind into it simply as you’d count on from a textual content editor and a number of other toolbars each on the prime and backside of the window. There’s a tab bar to flip between open paperwork, a toolbar and a menubar on the prime, and a standing bar and a search bar on the backside.
This is, to me, indicative of FeatherPad’s essential power—its builders have anticipated the issues many individuals need most frequently when writing.
A search operate, at the least for some individuals, is a frequent exercise, so having a search bar shut at hand simply is sensible. Turning the search bar right into a find-and-replace panel is as simple as a click on of a button within the toolbar. Syntax highlighting is auto-detected by the extension of the file you load. Line, character, and phrase counts are shut at hand, too.
In different phrases, the entire fundamental and apparent options of FeatherPad are precisely what you see whenever you launch the appliance. This is just not an editor with a number of obscure keyboard shortcuts or a number of ranges of menus. This is “just” a textual content editor with just a few key options which might be simple and fast to entry.
Preferences
While its interface is easy, there are a number of options you may toggle on and off in Preferences underneath the Options menu. Most of those choices usually are not interactive; they’re settings that occur as you utilize the appliance. Here are a few of my favourite settings:
- Auto-indent: new strains retain indentation
- Line numbers: show line numbers alongside the left column
- Auto-bracket: when a left bracket is typed, routinely add a closing
- bracket
- Syntax highlighting: add shade and elegance to point markup or code key phrases
- Show whitespace: add gentle grey markup to symbolize in any other case invisible characters
This is a small sampling of accessible settings, after all.
Try FeatherPad
The FeatherPad editor is a simple utility with simply the best variety of interactive options and many noninteractive choices. You don’t need to take my phrase for it, although. You can learn Scott Nesbitt’s review of it, after which strive it your self.