andrey shilnikov <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> a bold question - what would be the "best" text editor for tex files on Mac?
> Winedt is # 1 for Windows inho. BTW We, the math department, has its license 
> http://www.winedt.com/
> A
>
If you like Winedit the best editor on MAC is 

TeXShop
http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/

There is also an equivalent version TeXworks which compiles on all
common operating systems (Windows, OS X, Linux, *BSD).

That being said the choice of editor is not a simple question and it
boils down to what features are must have for you. A typical user 
should look for editors which support:

integrated syntax checker since TeX engine is not 100% good 
lacheck and ChkTeX are two good once.

spell checking

syntax highlighting 

Unicode (non English fonts and languages)

reverse and direct search (you click to PDF of DVI document and 
takes you back to the specific line in the source code and for direct
search you click on the source code and it takes you directly to the 
line in PDF or DVI document displayed on the viewer)

integrated support for a revision control system

If the student was asking me the same question I would suggest using
Emacs+Auctex or VIM-LaTeX since these two editors are so much more 
powerful than what you get with the solution of the type Winedit.


Sincerely,
Predrag Punosevac

P.S. I personally use nvi (BSD version of vi editor). I can accomplish
all of above and much, much more by entering ex mode and executing 
external commands.  I also use heavily sed, and AWK for TeX editing 
(sometimes even Perl) but I am not really a typical TeX and computer 
user.