My Text Editor of Choice

I chose Notepad++ as my text editor of choice, although perhaps not for as scientific a reason as some may have used.

I tried Notepad++ and ConTEXT - both free programs for Windows, which was my original incentive for trying them.  ConTEXT was my first try, and I liked it, but found it a little cluttered.  I was concerned at first about the lack of line numbers - which I find appealing, however I then found the option in settings to give it line numbers, so that concern was no longer relevant.  I tried Notepad++ next, and immediately liked it.  I can't really even explain what the draw was, other than to say I just liked the feel of it.  It's more streamlined, and I found it to be more visually appealing.  Both editors used colour-coding, which I love, and both are fairly highly-customizable - especially for free programs. 

Since trying the programs, I have read several comparisons of the two, and I would have to say that I believe I made the right choice.  The idea of being able to compare two documents side-by-side, or using a find-and-replace feature is a definite draw, and only available in Notepad++.

I think that at some point, if cost isn't such a concern, I may try out some of the more expensive editors.  At this point I didn't want to download a free trial, start to get used to it, and then either have to switch or pay a significant amount of money to keep it.

 All in all, I'm happy for now - Notepad++ seems to be a more-than-adequate program to handle my current needs.