TextEdit
Encyclopedia
TextEdit is a simple, open source
word processor
and text editor
, first featured in NeXT
's NEXTSTEP
and OPENSTEP
. It is now distributed with Mac OS X
since Apple Inc.'s acquisition of NeXT, and available as a GNUstep
application for other Unix
-compatible operating systems such as Linux
. It is powered by Apple Advanced Typography
and has many advanced typography features.
s, SimpleText
. TextEdit reads and writes documents in Rich Text Format
, Rich Text Format Directory
, plain text
, and HTML
formats, and can open (but not save) old SimpleText files. It also has access to the operating system's built-in spell-checking service. The version included in Mac OS X v10.3
added the ability to read and write documents in Word format, and the version in Mac OS X v10.4
the ability to read and write Word XML documents
. The version included in Mac OS X v10.5
includes read and write support for Office Open XML and OpenDocument Text
. The version included in Mac OS X v10.6
added automatic spelling correction, support for data detectors, and text transformations. The version included in Mac OS X v10.7 includes Versioning of files, and Autosave similar to iOS.
Formatted text, justification, and even the inclusion of graphics and other multimedia elements are supported by TextEdit, as well as the ability to read and write to different character encoding
s, including Unicode
(UTF-8
and UTF-16). TextEdit automatically adjusts letter spacing in addition to word spacing while justifying text. This letter spacing feature is usually only found in higher end desktop publishing
programs. The unique letter spacing however can't be adjusted or controlled as it can in a desktop publishing program. TextEdit does not support multiple columns of text.
The high resolution TextEdit 1.5 icon for Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard) features an extract from Apple's Think Different
ad campaign.
as part of the documentation of its integrated development environment
(IDE) Xcode
. On the Internet
, the source code to a version of TextEdit enhanced to demonstrate the calling of Quartz Composer compositions from the Cocoa
API
can be found at Apple's developer website. The following quote is from the characteristic part of the New BSD-compliant license text included in the source code:
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
word processor
Word processor
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....
and text editor
Text editor
A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
, first featured in NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
's NEXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
and OPENSTEP
OpenStep
OpenStep was an object-oriented application programming interface specification for an object-oriented operating system that used a non-NeXTSTEP operating system as its core, principally developed by NeXT with Sun Microsystems. OPENSTEP was a specific implementation of the OpenStep API developed...
. It is now distributed with Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
since Apple Inc.'s acquisition of NeXT, and available as a GNUstep
GNUstep
GNUstep is a free software implementation of Cocoa Objective-C libraries , widget toolkit, and application development tools not only for Unix-like operating systems, but also for Microsoft Windows. It is part of the GNU Project.GNUstep features a cross-platform, object-oriented development...
application for other Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
-compatible operating systems such as Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. It is powered by Apple Advanced Typography
Apple Advanced Typography
Apple Advanced Typography is Apple Inc's computer software for advanced font rendering, supporting internationalization and complex features for typographers, a successor to Apple's little-used QuickDraw GX font technology of the mid-1990s...
and has many advanced typography features.
Implementation
TextEdit replaces the text editor of previous Macintosh operating systemOperating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s, SimpleText
SimpleText
SimpleText is the native text editor for the Classic Mac OS. SimpleText allows editing including text formatting , fonts, and sizes. It can be considered similar to Windows' WordPad application...
. TextEdit reads and writes documents in Rich Text Format
Rich Text Format
The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....
, Rich Text Format Directory
Rich Text Format Directory
Rich Text Format Directory, also known as RTFD , or Rich Text Format with Attachments, is a primary document format of TextEdit, an application native to NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X which has also been ported to other versions of Unix...
, plain text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
, and HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
formats, and can open (but not save) old SimpleText files. It also has access to the operating system's built-in spell-checking service. The version included in Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger...
added the ability to read and write documents in Word format, and the version in Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther , which had been released 18 months earlier...
the ability to read and write Word XML documents
Microsoft Office XML formats
The Microsoft Office XML formats are XML-based document formats introduced in versions of Microsoft Office prior to Office 2007...
. The version included in Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
includes read and write support for Office Open XML and OpenDocument Text
OpenDocument
The Open Document Format for Office Applications is an XML-based file format for representing electronic documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents....
. The version included in Mac OS X v10.6
Mac OS X v10.6
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the seventh major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference...
added automatic spelling correction, support for data detectors, and text transformations. The version included in Mac OS X v10.7 includes Versioning of files, and Autosave similar to iOS.
Formatted text, justification, and even the inclusion of graphics and other multimedia elements are supported by TextEdit, as well as the ability to read and write to different character encoding
Character encoding
A character encoding system consists of a code that pairs each character from a given repertoire with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octets or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the transmission of data through telecommunication networks or storage of text in...
s, including Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
(UTF-8
UTF-8
UTF-8 is a multibyte character encoding for Unicode. Like UTF-16 and UTF-32, UTF-8 can represent every character in the Unicode character set. Unlike them, it is backward-compatible with ASCII and avoids the complications of endianness and byte order marks...
and UTF-16). TextEdit automatically adjusts letter spacing in addition to word spacing while justifying text. This letter spacing feature is usually only found in higher end desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
programs. The unique letter spacing however can't be adjusted or controlled as it can in a desktop publishing program. TextEdit does not support multiple columns of text.
The high resolution TextEdit 1.5 icon for Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard) features an extract from Apple's Think Different
Think Different
"Think Different" is an advertising slogan created for Apple Computer in 1997 by the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.It was used in a television commercial, several print advertisements and a number of TV promos for Apple products. Apple's use of the slogan was discontinued...
ad campaign.
Source code
Apple distributes TextEdit's source codeSource code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
as part of the documentation of its integrated development environment
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
(IDE) Xcode
Xcode
Xcode is a suite of tools, developed by Apple, for developing software for Mac OS X and iOS. Xcode 4.2, the latest major version, is available on the Mac App Store for free for Mac OS X 10.7 , and on the Apple Developer Connection website for free to registered developers Xcode is a suite of tools,...
. On the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, the source code to a version of TextEdit enhanced to demonstrate the calling of Quartz Composer compositions from the Cocoa
Cocoa (API)
Cocoa is Apple's native object-oriented application programming interface for the Mac OS X operating system and—along with the Cocoa Touch extension for gesture recognition and animation—for applications for the iOS operating system, used on Apple devices such as the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and...
API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
can be found at Apple's developer website. The following quote is from the characteristic part of the New BSD-compliant license text included in the source code:
See also
- List of word processors
- Comparison of word processorsComparison of word processors-General information:This table provides general information about selected word processors.-Characteristics:This table gives characteristics of each word processor.-Operating System Compatibility:...
- Office Open XML softwareOffice Open XML softwareThis is an overview of software support for the Office Open XML format, a Microsoft document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents.The list here is not exhaustive.-ECMA-376 1st edition implementations:...
- OpenDocument softwareOpenDocument softwareThis is an overview of software support for the OpenDocument format, an open document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents.-Current support:...