Mountain View Computer Users Group

Program Info
Publisher:	Trans-Tex Software
Name:	Tex-Edit Plus
Version:	4.9.6
Size:	7.9MB (Application)
	12.7MB (Folder)
Cost:	$15.00 (Shareware through Kagi)

Everyone has their favorite software, no matter which platform he or she uses. For the most part, this favorite software package is something big and flashy or otherwise overwhelming. We tend to overlook those ubiquitous utility programs that make life easier; that is, until they go missing or you upgrade your system and the program no longer works.

Fortunately, that hasn't happened to my favorite text editor, Tex-Edit Plus. Tex-Edit Plus is, without a doubt in my mind, the best and most useful text editor for the Macintosh on the market. It isn't flashy, it isn't particularly big, it merely does exactly what I want it to do, first time, every time, quickly and without fuss. In fact, I opened a new file to write this review, and unlike so many other text editing or word processing programs, I was able to start writing almost immediately.

Tex-Edit Plus is an exemplar of what I consider the virtues of user-oriented software: Anyone can use it immediately upon downloading it, while a little exploration of the menus shows that there are a lot of features readily available as the user grows into the program. The novice user will find Tex-Edit Plus a gentle introduction to how text editing and even word processing programs should work, but too often don't. A look at the menus (or hot key F6) enables me to clean up text files that are almost unreadable because of bad formatting or using weird characters that other editors can't handle. It can even help move those DOS/Windows text files with their strange formatting into a format the Mac can use, and vice versa - no more little empty squares in NotePad on Windows from a Mac text file. Unlike some early text editors, there is no limit on the file size that can be manipulated. A long time ago, the largest file that could be edited was a whopping 32Kb - bleah!

Beyond being a mere text editor, Tex-Edit Plus allows me to do some simple character or paragraph formatting. I can bold characters, italicize them, even underline them. I can change type-face and size in mid-stream. I can align text in the center, left, right, or even fully justify a paragraph. I can even read Rich Text Format (RTF) files with all the baggage they carry. (Hint: think pictures.) I mentioned Find and Replace above. How about (for the techies) a grep capability? Tex-Edit Plus has a limited pattern matching capability. I can show a ruler and set my margins and indents, just like on a full-fledged word processor.

Are you drooling yet?

Let's go a few steps further. Tex-Edit Plus is almost fully scriptable. Now, I have to take the author's word on this because I don't do scripting - sorry John. But even as I write this, I'm looking at the windoid called "Script Tools": Apple Script Dictionary, script tools folder, edit existing scripts, highlight text, run the script, add a script to the windoid, go to a script archive site to get more scripts, and on and on.

One bad "feature" of Tex-Edit Plus is that it doesn't come with its own spell-checker. It uses the default OS X spell checker, but you can't edit or change the dictionary from within Tex-Edit Plus while you are running a spell checking session. Good, but there are better choices available. Still, I need that spell-checking capability and I need to be able to change my dictionary. Golly gosh darn! What am I going to do; after all, we all need a spell checker (true, some of us need it a bit more than others....) Well, why don't I download Excalibur, the free spell checker for the Macintosh, and enable Tex-Edit Plus to use it. Can do easy! Once I have installed Excalibur, it is a simple menu selection to add Excalibur as a service to do spell checking. I can use other spell-checkers as well, such as HyperSpell or the latest version of Spell Catcher; I just like Excalibur.

I've been using Tex-Edit Plus since it first came out, a long time ago, and I've always been pleased by it. The author have taken great care to include all the bells and whistles of more expensive products, yet keep the program small and fast, and very easy to use - as I said up above, an overlooked value because it is always there, doing exactly what it is supposed to do. I've used it almost every day of the past few years. When I get a new Mac or have to reload an old one, this is first software package I load, then I change my OS X preferences to have Tex-Edit Plus be my primary text program. I'm almost lost without it. I very sure that if you download it, you will come to the same conclusion very quickly.

I mentioned expensive above. That is exactly what Tex-Edit Plus isn't. It is $15 shareware, but the publisher says that you are under no pressure to send in that fee; keep using Tex-Edit Plus for as long as you want. Still, think of that fee as being your show of support for the product; kind of like NPR, except no semi-annual begging for money, and it's cheaper. It is cheaper and better than any other text editing package I have seen on the market - yes, that includes vi and emacs.

From Tex-Edit Plus's icon and the publisher's home page, I'm guessing that he like Texas. Well, no one can be that good all the time. Still, the author comes close. And everyone is entitled to his opinion....

Two thumbs, and both big toes up. Five stars. Highest rating you can imagine. I give it all of these rating levels and more.

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