A common mistake can be to discard a plain text editor for being lightweight, since for many users it can become an ideal work tool. These editors can be ideal because they are small, fast and do not have a lot of cognitive load.
Indispensable features of a lightweight editor
In Linux we can find a wide variety of text editors. These programs can be used both by occasional users to take some notes or reminders, as well as by more advanced users who can even carry out programming tasks. In the event that we do not need special characteristics, we can choose those lighter applications with a minimalist look. These programs with a cleaner and more uncluttered appearance are easier to use and will not distract us with functions that we will never get to use. In addition, being light they will hardly take up space on our hard drive and will be able to open any document at high speed.
Despite their basic and minimalist nature, these editors are capable of having very interesting features. For example, they may have keyboard shortcuts, the ability to change the editor font, enable or disable word wraps, set the font, indents, and enable code settings, etc. That is why we should not associate that an editor is light, it does not imply that it cannot be the same or more useful than a more complex editor.
Minimalist editors for Linux
Next, we are going to see a series of text editors for Linux that are characterized by being minimalist and especially light, ideal for those who do not need advanced features and are looking for something as simple as possible.
FeatherPad, similar to Windows Notepad
We are talking about a compact and fast text editor that includes a series of useful functions, so it can be ideal for almost any type of user. In a comparison with Windows it would be similar to the popular Notepad. Its installation file only weighs 2.1 MB and occupies 13 MB once installed. Among the FeatherPad features we find automatic highlighting of language and coding syntax, a good number of keyboard shortcuts and automatic closing of brackets, which is extremely useful if we are going to perform marking and coding jobsn. It also has the possibility of opening documents in tabs, being able to place them at the top, bottom, left or right. In addition, we will have quick buttons on the central panel for greater accessibility.
FeatherPad is available for download from its website on GitHub.
Leafpad, a basic editor weighing 89 KB
It is possible that if we have recently switched to Linux and are looking for a basic text editor to perform functions similar to those we did with Notepad in Windows. Leafpad is an unpretentious editor. Its purpose is to allow us to change the font of the editor, set indents, and enable or disable word settings. In addition, it has an interesting function to perform searches and replacements. To highlight its clean and uncluttered canvas from where we can write, take notes, edit a web page or modify a configuration file. And all this in a weight of only 89 KB.
We can download Leafpad from the developer’s website.
Gedit, all-terrain editor
It is a minimalist text editor developed for GNOME desktops. It can be considered as an all-rounder editor, capable of being useful both for an unpretentious user and an advanced programmer. It stands out for its aesthetic section as it has a simple user interface, from where you can carry out programming and coding tasks, becoming an excellent replacement for Windows Notepad in Linux. It may not be an editor as light as the previous ones, but it does have a minimalist look and easy-to-use functions. The program lacks advanced functions, since they do not go beyond save, search, replace, go to the line, etc.
We can download Gedit Text Editor from this link.
Kate Text Editor, fast when loading any document
We will now talk about an editor that we can find by default in KDE distributions such as Feren OS and Kubuntu. It is quite light as hardly occupies 5 MB of space on our hard drive. It is characterized by being very fast when loading any document. In this case, it may not be the most minimalist editor, as the user interface can seem a bit complicated at first since it is full of options, both in the upper panel and on the left or right, something that will not be to the liking of less advanced users. Among its functions, it stands out the spell check, encoding conversion, function to find and replace regular expressions, automatic indentation, customizable shortcuts, among others.
If we want to use Kate Text Editor we can download and install it from here.
Neovim, for all types of users
It is an editor specially designed for developers and programmers. However, it has a unique look, and is extremely lightweight so it can be well adapted to all types of users. The program takes care of using the Terminal which influences that it is especially light, and in its design so that from it you can see, edit and cancel any task. It has read-only, edit, recall, and cancel options. The program stands out for its support for XDG base directories, asynchronous work control and access to the API from any language, including C, C ++, Java, JavaScript, Julia, Python among others.
We can download Neovim from its website.
Code, with simple and clean user interface
It is the turn of a text editor like Code, specially designed for Elementary OS, which stands out for its simple and clean user interface, as it only has some elements on the toolbar. That is why it has options for pretty basic code setup, such as: set the font, indents and enable code settings. This is something that should be more than enough for many users who do not require more advanced functions that only get in the way.
In its interface we find icons to open and save files, as well as the possibility of changing the syntax highlighting of the file that we are editing. In addition, it has a button to change the size of the indents and a line counter. In the event that we need additional functions, Code also has extensions that we can activate or deactivate from its configuration section.
We can install Code by visiting its web page on GitHub.
GNU Nano, stands out for its simplicity and ease of use
Nano is a text editor that stands out especially for its simplicity and ease of use. This makes it possible to be used by any type of user, even the less experienced. Among its features, it has interactive search and replace operations, allows doing and undoing actions, syntax coloring, auto indentation, file locking, file auto-saving, and allows you to go directly to a line number.
This editor comes pre-installed on most Unix-based distributions. In the event that this is not the case, we can install it directly from the terminal by executing:
$ sudo apt-get install nano
Which light and minimalist editor is more recommended?
As we can see, we have a wide variety of text editors for Linux that are characterized by being light and minimalist, ideal for less demanding users who only require basic functions and do not require extra functions that they will not need to use. Among the options we have seen, possibly they are FeatherPad and Leafpad the options that we cannot stop trying, both being highly recommended, regardless of the level of knowledge we have.