========================
Installing a Text Editor
========================

Articles on SpongeDocs are saved as text files in the `reStructuredText <http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/rest.html>`_ markup
language. Although your operating system's default text editor is likely sufficient for editing these files, installing
a different text editor may prove to be useful.

Downloads
=========

Visual Studio Code
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VS Code is a cross platform, open source, code and text editor by Microsoft licensed under the MIT license. It is a popular
choice used by many of Sponge's developers, for writing documentation and even for developing plugins. Unlike a regular text
editor there is support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, code refactoring, and more. There
is also `Git support <https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/versioncontrol>`_, a great plugin for 
`reST support <https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=lextudio.restructuredtext>`_, and even
a plugin for `HOCON <https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=zzzz.hocon-colorizer>`_.

**VS Code** can be downloaded for free from https://code.visualstudio.com/.

Atom
~~~~

Atom is an open-source text editor published under the MIT license. Atom has built-in support for projects stored in a
Git repository, such as SpongeDocs. `This article <https://blog.atom.io/2014/03/13/git-integration.html>`_ goes more in
depth about the features of Atom's Git integration. If you're interested in adding reST support to Atom, check out
`this package <https://atom.io/packages/language-restructuredtext>`__.

**Atom** can be downloaded for free from https://atom.io/.

Notepad++
~~~~~~~~~

Notepad++ is, arguably, one of the most popular text editors.

**Notepad++** can be downloaded for free from https://notepad-plus-plus.org/.

Sublime Text
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sublime Text is a multi-platform text editor, with quite a few useful features. It includes the ability to customize the
look of the editor, create useful macros, and even includes a plugin API to make your editing even easier. Sublime Text
provides both a free version and a paid version.

**Sublime Text** can be downloaded for free from https://www.sublimetext.com/