GNOME Text Editor is the default text editor for the

GNOME A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...

. The program is a

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

graphical

text editor A text editor is a type of computer program that edits plain text. Such programs are sometimes known as "notepad" software (e.g. Windows Notepad). Text editors are provided with operating systems and software development packages, and can be us ...

included as part of the

GNOME Core Applications GNOME Core Applications is a software suite of approximately 30 application software that are packaged as part of the standard free and open-source GNOME desktop environment. GNOME Core Applications have the look and feel of the GNOME desktop, an ...

. GNOME Text Editor has been the default text editor for GNOME since GNOME version 42, which was released in March 2022. GNOME Text Editor replaces

gedit gedit ( or ) is a text editor designed for the GNOME desktop environment. It was GNOME's default text editor and part of the GNOME Core Applications until GNOME version 42 in March 2022, which changed the default text editor to GNOME Text E ...

as GNOME's default text editor, and was created due to the GNOME developers' intention of having all of their programs comply with GNOME's Human interface guidelines (HIG). The adherence to their HIG is done by using the

libadwaita Adwaita is the design language of the GNOME desktop environment. As an implementation, it exists as the default theme and icon set of the GNOME Shell and Phosh, and as widgets for applications targeting usage in GNOME. Adwaita first appeared i ...

library, and making gedit compliant with that would have required an extensive rewrite of gedit's code, so a new program was written from scratch instead. GNOME Text Editor was created by

GNOME Builder GNOME Builder is a general purpose integrated development environment (IDE) for the GNOME platform, primarily designed to aid in writing GNOME-based applications. It was initially released on March 24, 2015. The application's tagline is "A toolsm ...

's creator Christian Hergert. The program was officially announced in March 2021 via a blog post by Hergert. The text editor is built using the Adwaita design language and GTK 4. The text editor has features including themes,

dark mode A light-on-dark color scheme —also called black mode, dark mode, dark theme, night mode, or lights-out (mode)— is a color scheme that uses light-colored text, icons, and graphical user interface elements on a dark background. It is often d ...

, session restoration,

autosave Autosave is a saving function in many computer applications and video games which automatically saves the current changes or progress in the program or game, intending to prevent data loss should the user be otherwise prevented from doing so manua ...

, the ability to zoom into text without changing the text's size, custom font support, and opening files can be done via a

popover A popover is a light roll made from an egg batter similar to that of Yorkshire pudding, typically baked in muffin tins or dedicated popover pans, which have straight-walled sides rather than angled. Popovers may be served either as a sweet, t ...

box.

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: ''Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...

replaced gedit, the text editor that had been Ubuntu's default text editor since 2004, with GNOME Text Editor in

Ubuntu 22.10 Ubuntu releases are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd, the developers of the Ubuntu operating system, using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 Oct ...

, citing Text Editor's adherence to desktop standards like dark mode and other GNOME design standards.

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

s that use GNOME 42 have also replaced gedit with GNOME Text Editor, including

Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

36.

References

External links

* {{GNOME Free text editors GNOME Core Applications Linux text editors Notepad replacements Software using the GPL license