Regardless of how much technology has evolved since its initial conception, certain aspects of it remain as unchanging as ever. Like the windows apps, which have hardly made any developments since the early emergence of Microsoft’s operating system. The Notepad Text Editor for instance, hardly differs from its initial 1985 edition.

Even though a text editor is expected to be lightweight and affordable, it needs to have some dynamic features. If you are looking for more than just a text editor or the Notepad but are worried about spending too much money – we have six options you could use.

If you are not bothered about the syntax highlighting and other similar coding features, there is the Ted Notepad. A simplistic, but improved editor with plain texting and editing features, to-do lists, etc; it looks like the Notepad, but has additional options. It has features for sorting and searching as well as conversion functions (for handling text files from UNIX or Mac environments).

This versatile notepad tabs goes past its single-editing predecessors. It allows the user to have multiple files open simultaneously, and save sets of files in groups. The user can open several files together. It comes with a small browser on the main screen which makes opening files easier. The only drawback is that the browser only shows .txt files and is not very compatible with other formats like .html or .cpp. (Although these can still be opened by the standard opening box)

Perfectly fit with the right balance of functionality is the Notepad2. Although it does not support tabs, it has many other features like flexible syntax, encoding conversion, highlighting, block formatting (suitable for coders, indent or outdent blocks of code), case conversion etc. With a standalone .exe file weighing less than 700kb, it is a quality portable app to load onto a USB drive or laptop.

Another interface aimed basically at programmers is the TinyEdit. It possesses a tabbed interface, built in support for syntax highlighting for a slew of programming, scripting and markup languages. This tiny program (under 600kbs) works as a stand-alone file, perfectly loadable on the USB drive. The drawback, however, is the erroneous and unimpressive English on the interface and the Find Dialog box often overrules options (especially ‘whole word’) when selected.

One more program which lays emphasis on usage of multiple files is the ConText. It has a built in browser which is similar to Notepad Tabs, while listing various types of files. It also comes with a complete suite of syntax highlighters for programmers along with a template you can customize. There is also a feature allowing searching for open files in a given string which shows the results in an output window. This is ideal for mass changes or analysis.

The top is conquered by Notepad++, a complete text-editing powerhouse marketed as the humble replacement for notepad. The interface is cluttered and messy, but the number of features is impressive. From tabbed browsing, syntax highlighting to FTP tools, there is everything you might need. However, this overwhelming feature list also is its only drawback. It is a heavy duty app with a 10 MB weight.

All six of these softwares can handle basic text editing better than the Notepad. However, the criteria remain size and functionality. You need to choose a program which offers the best of both size and tools for your editing and texting needs.