I just learned something quite dramatic.
By the way: I would like to use ‘Editer’ for software and ‘Editor’ for humans. The web does not agree. It says only ‘Editor’ exists. Ah well.
I have long used an editor for the sake of the quick opening we get with them. Instead of having to wait forever for a word processor to open.
And for other reasons. I don’t think I am unique so this new info might interest some:
Pspad, a very well known and very good editor, is a time bomb ticking in your machine that can blow up your work without knowing.
Simply because of encoding. If you start using foreign languages such as, say, Russian.
You may cut and paste some foreign text into it and save it. A very common practice of mine. Highlight, copy, open the editor paste in, save with a name and there it is put away in a few keystrokes.
What’s wrong with it? Well you find out when you go to open it some time later and all you see is a field of question marks: ??????????????? covering the page.
Apparently is adapts to the encoding of the original sufficiently to display the thing for you but when you ‘save’ it simply with its default encoding: Ansi in the older versions, UTF-8 without BOM in the newer may be unable to save it correctly so it saves a file full of default chars, question mark in those I have seen.
It does not tell you it is about to ‘not-save’.
What we need, what I need at least, is UTF-8 with BOM. I save russian, greek, arabic is about all but it could be anything at. If i read that here is an interesting text but in some other language I’d save it. Then maybe months later I’d come back to look at this interesting text, translate it with AI or something and I’d find it gone!
Staggering. This is crucially important I think and I can’t see how they can market software that does not appraise us of the fact that it is not capable of saving. But it seems that’s how it is.
I recommend a move to notepad++
I don’t know that I’m totally satisfied there, either. I thought I was but I just went and checked what I’m talking about a current (long time) file I have there and open it says is encoded UTF-8, no ‘BOM’. I’ve fixed that now, reset it. But it shook me. Unsettled me.
It is easier to set up your default in notepad++. Or at least I thought it was until just now.
So now I’ll recommend if you are a habitual editor user look into the question and decide for yourself. 🙂