Software

Tools

Archiving, Organising and Programming


Developer Tools, File Archiver, File Manager

Developer Tools

CotEditor for Mac © Mineko Imanishi

CotEditor is a slim but powerful editor for editing plain text files such as web pages (HTML, CSS), programme source code (Perl, Python, Ruby etc.), structured texts (Markdown, Textile, TeX etc.) and any other kind of plain text. Open source, free of charge. Archive size: only 15.9 MB.

Requirements

macOS 10.15 or higher, 64-bit CPU, also Apple Silicon M1

Languages

German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, simplified Chinese

Specially for macOS

The application was developed specifically for macOS. The appearance and behaviour of CotEditor are exactly as you would expect from a macOS application. This means that you know how to use it right after the first start of the program. There are no complex settings files, which would require you to be a computer whiz. You access all your settings, including syntax definitions and themes, through a standard settings window.

Fast, simple and powerful

CotEditor starts very quickly and you can get started straight away. It is perfect for writing a draft version for your document or quickly writing some code. The simply structured user interface does not distract you from your task. CotEditor is neither software just for beginners nor a typical minimal “Zen-style” editor. It is fully customisable. Functions for syntax highlighting for various languages, for searching and replacing with regular expressions and for automatic indentation are of course available. A command line tool and many other in-depth functions are also provided. You can easily write your own macros in your preferred language.

Main Functions

  • Syntax highlighting with over 50 preset languages
  • powerful search and replace with regular expressions
  • automatic backup with/without overwriting actual document files
  • display of the line numbers
  • live count for characters/words/lines
  • careful handling of file coding and line endings
  • automatically generated overview menu for quick navigation
  • editing with multiple cursors
  • Character inspector showing the enlarged symbol and Unicode information
  • Mode for vertical text arrangement
  • various Unicode normalisations
  • semi-transparent window
  • Command line tool
  • Controllable via script in your preferred language
  • CJK Language friendly

Textastic for Mac © Alexander Blach

Textastic is a powerful and fast text, code and markup editor.

Developer

Alexander Blach

Date of Purchase

19.05.2020 (there is a trial version, but I already knew the iOS version!)
Purchase price: 8.99 EUR


Requirements

macOS 10.13 or higher, 64-bit CPU

Language

English only, whilst the developer is a German!? surprise
Support: via E-Mail (maybe also in German?) wink

Features

  • Syntax highlighting of more than 80 programming and markup languages
  • supported file types include HTML, JavaScript, CSS, XML, Markdown, Objective-C, Swift, C++, PHP, Perl, Python, SQL, shell scripts and many more
  • compatible with TextMate and Sublime Text 3 syntax definitions and themes
  • Code completition for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, C and Objective-C
  • open files in tabs
  • open folders in a sidebar
  • find in files
  • print files
  • Symbol list to quickly navigate in a file
  • Emmet support built-in
  • auto save and versions
  • iCloud document sync
  • full support for Dark Mode

Cons

  • Search & Replace does not distinguish between upper and lower case!
  • Software and website only in English, although the developer seems to be German!

Note: You can use Textastic for iPad and iPhone to synchronize files between the Mac and iOS version of Textastic with iCloud. More secure: Use SFTP / SSH for this! This Mac version lacks the FTP client, but the iOS version includes a FTP client! Tip: use it with FileZilla on the Mac!

Tip: try CotEditor before Textastic! It doesn't have an FTP client either, but otherwise it has no shortcomings. It has a lot more features like Notepad++ for Windows. But if you don't like CotEditor, buy Textastic!


Notepad++ for Windows © Don Ho

Text Editing to go

John T. Haller from New York bundles Notepad++ with his launcher for portable Applications to Notepad++ Portable.
On the website of the software developer Don Ho, there is Notepad ++ as a ZIP file and as a 7-Zip file to unzip to a file folder, from which Notepad++ starts directly and runs without a Windows installer. I have tested this on 22.06.2018 and since then I use this version directly from the Developer.

Features

  • Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
  • User Language Defined System
  • tabed document and Multi-View
  • more than 50 languages supported
  • full drag and drop supported
  • Macro recording and playback
  • extensible with its plugin system

File Archiver

7-Zip for Windows © Igor Pavlov

File archiver with very high compression rate

7-Zip is open source software. Most of the source code is under the GNU LGPL license. The unRAR code is under a mixed license: GNU LGPL + unRAR restrictions. You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip.

The Main Features of 7-Zip

  • high compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression
  • supported formats: packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM. Unpacking only: AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VMDK, WIM, XAR and Z
  • for ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10% better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
  • strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
  • self-extracting capability for 7z format
  • Integration with Windows Shell
  • powerful File Manager
  • powerful command line version
  • Plugin for FAR Manager
  • Localizations for 87 languages

Requirements

7-Zip works in Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP / 2012 / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 / NT. There is a port of the command line version to Linux/Unix.

Portable App

John T. Haller from New York bundles 7-Zip with his launcher for portable Applications to 7-Zip Portable.
You can take your file archiver with you and work with your compressed 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR files and more on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.


File Manager

FreeCommander for Windows © Marek Jasinski

FreeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows. Here you can find all the necessary functions to manage your data stock. You can take FreeCommander anywhere – just copy the installation directory on a CD or USB-Stick – and you can even work with this program on a foreign computer.

Requirements

Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10, multiple language support.
Freeware. File size: 32 bit version: 6,15 MB.

Bonus for Donors

FreeCommander XE 64-bit as bonus for the donors only: 8,05 MB.

Commander One (Pro) for Mac © Electronic Team

Purchase Date

16.05.2021 Pro version (with ftp client) for 32.99 EUR

Requirements

macOS 10.12+
58.93MB free space
Version 3.1 (3457)  (16.05.2021)

Languages

German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Czech, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Simplified Chinese

Support

English; via feedback menu in-app, mailform at website or e-mail

Pros

  • best file manager since Norton Commander in the nineties
  • best file manager under macOS for efficient work
  • File archives can be operated like folders, i.e. no unpacking first and packing afterwards
  • Pro version supports MTP, i.e. copy data to and from Android smartphone/tablet

Cons

  • For its integrated FTP client, I would still like the date and time of the files to remain unchanged during copying, as with FileZilla (adjustable)

Conclusion

This file manager is good for your nerves if you are a Windows convert and have been despairing of Apple's Finder ever since …
Since the early days of no-name PCs, I have screwed them together as a hobby and used Norton Commander to manage thousands of files. Later I found Marek Jasinski's FreeCommander as a modern alternative.
Since 18.05.2020 I have been a macOS user and had “withdrawal symptoms” – I was desperately missing a proper file manager!
On 16.05.2021, I found Commander One Pro by searching again and gladly paid the 32.99 EUR for a comprehensive file manager that handles the efficientest unpacker formats e.g. 7-Zip and RAR and includes an FTP client. I could have got it for free as “Commander One” without the FTP client and the efficient pack formats, but it is precisely these additional functions that matter to me as a website operator!

23.06.2021: Have made a feature request to the developers because of the disadvantage of the ftp client mentioned above as Cons.
16.02.2022: Because I only received a standard reply to my ticket, I tried again today.
I will write here if and when the support will get back to me.

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