Article - Notepad++ best settings part 1
Notepad++ best settings part 1
Notepad++ is a free source code editor which runs on the windows platform. In this article the plan is to setup Notepad++ for the best settings. This ensures you have it looking the way you want and have everything ready to go.
I'll briefly go over the settings and provide my opinion on my preferences. The first step - head over to the official website and download the latest version of Notepad++ and then run through the installer.
Once the install is done open Notepad++. You'll notice it looks fairly plain and simple, now it's time to spruce it up and get it looking and working just the way you want.
For our example we will be showing the code as HTML and CSS. To set the code view click on "Language" in the menu and navigate to "H" and select "HTML". You will see the color scheme change.
Let's change the style of Notepad++. To change the style select the settings menu and choose "Style Configurator...". From here you can select a Theme from the drop down list or create your own styles based on programming language, style (selector, variables and declarations), colour and font. You will notice this looks very different to the standard Theme. Change the style to your liking and we'll move on.
Now let's move into the preferences. Select the settings menu and choose "Preferences...". It will be on the "General" tab. The following screenshot shows the settings which I recommend. I will also provide a brief rundown of why I have selected my choices and mark each option as checked or unchecked.
Localization: English. This is self explanatory. Set this to your language of choice. If you didn't choose to install localisation on the Notepad++ install, you will only get the choice of English. (Refer to the install screenshot).
Toolbar:
Hide: Checked. This will hide the toolbar and provide more screen to work with, as I do not use the Toolbar often I turn it off.
Note: Although the icons will still be set to either small, big or standard this won't have any impact as the toolbar is hidden.
Menu Bar:
Hide (use Alt or F10 key to toggle): Unchecked. If checked, it will hide the menu bar at the top of the Notepad++ window. As I use I the menu bar fairly often I leave it on.
Show Status Bar: Checked. The status bar is the bar which resides along the bottom of Notepad++, it provides information about the current document you are working on, what line and column you are on, how many lines of code you have typed as well as the length of your code.
Document Switcher: Unchecked. If checked it will show a quick document switcher bar on the left hand side of Notepad++. I leave this off as often the documents I am working on appear in the Tab Bar (see below).
Tab Bar:
Hide: Unchecked. If checked this will hide the Tab Bar above your current document. Personally I don't like this hidden as I use it to switch between documents.
Multi-line: Unchecked. If checked this will allow the Tab Bar to run over multiple lines. This is useful for when you have a lot of documents open, otherwise with it unchecked you will get a scroll bar to the right hand side of the Tab Bar.
Vertical: Unchecked. If checked this will display the Tab Bar vertically to the left of your current document.
Reduce: Checked. This controls the size of the Tab Bar, having it checked reduces the space it takes up on the screen.
Lock (no drag and drop): Unchecked. If checked this will not allow you to move documents in the Tab Bar. I leave it checked as I like to organise my documents by type, HTML then CSS files.
Darken inactive tabs: Checked. This allows you to quickly identify what document you are working on, darkening the tabs in the Tab Bar which are not active.
Draw a coloured bar on active tab: Checked. Once again, another quick way to identify what document you are working on by looking at the Tab Bar.
Show close button on each tab: Checked. A minor change to the Tab Bar. It adds the close button on each tab.
Double click to close document: Unchecked. If checked, double clicking a document in the Tab Bar will close it.
Conclusion... for now
This concludes part 1 of Notepad++'s best settings, be sure to check back in the future for part 2.
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