Although WinEdt can be used for any text editing purposes, it’s more oriented towards creating and compiling LaTeX files, which allows creating documents with a high typographic quality, as that needed for scientific publications. Moreover, the application can be used as an integrated development environment for some compilers and typesetting systems. In this regard, the tool supports such document types as ASCII, ANSI, Data, WinEdt, HTML, TeX, BibTeX, Metapost document, and NSIS script.
The program's interface is very straightforward as all of its features can be accessed from the menu. Probably because there’s no intention of making this editor popular among regular users, the program has a “serious” (unattractive) look, more likable by scientists and programmers. The editor is full of features and getting to know how to use all of them may certainly take some time. Fortunately, there’s a configuration wizard to help you adapt the tool to your specific needs. Additionally, there’s excellent accompanying documentation on how to use it; and not only that, you can get more help on specific topics at the program´s community site.
WinEdt has various built-in tools to help you write correctly. These include Thesaurus, spell checking and abbreviations. Although English is installed as the default language, it’s possible to download and install other dictionaries, which are also available at the community site. Besides, it comes with multiple features specifically intended for writing code, such as code folding, syntax highlighting, and automatic completion. Likewise, the editor supports various code standards, as Unicode and UTF8. It’s also good that the program allows recording macros as a way to automate repetitive tasks.
In general, WinEdt is a complete editor that can be integrated with a TeX system without problems. I wouldn’t recommend this application for general-purpose editing, even when it can be used for that. However, it can be a great help for code editing.
v9.0 [Aug 18, 2014]
WinEdt 9 is a Unicode (UTF-8) text editor built on WinEdt 8 sources
and compiled with Delphi XE6.
UPGRADING ISSUES:
=================
WinEdt 9 is installed parallel to WinEdt 8, 7, 6 or 5 and you can
continue to use an older version of WinEdt and possibly uninstall
WinEdt 9 if you prefer the old version.
IMPORTANT: If you already have WinEdt 5.x, 6 or 7 on your system
you cannot import your old settings directly into WinEdt 9! If you
already have WinEdt 8 installed the migration is easy: just execute
the command 'Import WinEdt 8 Settings' from within WinEdt 9 and
you're done...
Upgrading WinEdt 9 series from here on will be easy since your
local settings are preserved during upgrades. Executing the
command 'Upgrade Personal Configuration' will merge your custom
settings with the new defaults.
REGISTRATION: WinEdt 9 series uses the same Registration Data as
WinEdt 8, 7 and 6. You will, however, have to enter the data (Name
and Code) again in the Registration Dialog of WinEdt 9. WinEdt 5
users will have to pay an upgrade fee if they want to register
WinEdt 9 (see www.winedt.com for details).
------------------------------------------------------------------
WinEdt 9 [Build 20140917 (v. 9.0)]
==================================
- By popular demand the default WinEdt icon has been replaced with
a less transparent one in order to improve its visibility on
desktop, taskbar, or window title bar. WinEdt-Logo.ico and
WinEdt-Classic.ico are still available in %B\WinShell\Icons folder
(together with other icons used for filetype associations).
- Drag-and-drop from UNC Network drives now works (a bug that was
there in all previous versions has been fixed).
- Delete Working Files interface now uses a more reliable criteria
to determine which files are protected and will not be deleted
(only readonly, hidden, and system files are excluded)...
- A few minor enhancements to Gather macros...
------------------------------------------------------------------
WinEdt 9 [Build 20140815 (v. 9.0)]
==================================
- WinEdt now has a new configuration [IMAGE_RESOURCES]. Here is
where dpi-dependent Image Resources are managed:
This section manages dpi-dependent WinEdt Image Resources
The closest DPI selector <= screen resolution applies
Common Windows DPI (Magnification) values are:
96dpi (100%) - Old Low Resolution Monitors
120dpi (125%)
144dpi (150%)
192dpi (200%) - New Ultra High Definition Displays
WinEdt comes with pre-compiled Office 2013-style (high quality)
set of (over 500) icons in four sizes: 16x16, 24x24, 32x32,and 48x48.
They are available in %B\Bitmaps\Resources\WRLib32(dim).dll files.
As was the case in all versions since WinEdt 6 images were
prepared and created by Luca (based on the icon sets from Glyfz.com
in vector format). Months of hard work were needed to complete this
project.
Licensing Agreement with Glyfz.com does not allow WinEdt to include
these graphic resources directly as png images.
WinEdt also comes with %B\Bitmaps\Images folder where old-style 16x16
png files are stored.
If you want to use old icons you will have to enable the option
USE_SOURCE_FOLDER and disable the option USE_RESOURCE_DLL.
Similarly, you will have to enable the option USE_LOCAL_FOLDER if you want to
add private icons to the mix.
By default only the compiled dll graphic resources are used
(for performance and consistent appearance purposes)!
If you want to use icons at sizes different from the above you will have to
enable the option ALLOW_SCALING. Keep in mind that the quality of scaled
images is seriously reduced (especially when making them larger). When this
option is disabled and WinEdt encounters images of different size they are
either cropped or embedded (centered) in a larger image.
Memory consumption increases significantly (quadratically) with the dimension
or resources. Keep this in mind when modifying these settings!
TeX Symbols bitmaps are included at 125% and 200% magnification in
%B\Bitmaps\GUI125 and %B\Bitmaps\GUI200 folders. Default settings
should work for most users. You can add more images in your local folder
at appropriate resolution.
These bitmaps can be usually scaled-down reasonably well.
You can overwrite these values (for your resolution) in your private
settings if defaults do not reflect your choices...
- Some properties have been removed from MAIN_MENU, TOOLBAR and
GUI_PAGE_CONTROL sections because they are now managed in
IMAGE_RESOURCES.
GUI_PAGE_CONTROL:
SCALED_IMAGES
SCALED_BUTTONS
TOOLBAR:
DEFAULT_BUTTON_WIDTH
DEFAULT_BUTTON_HEIGHT
SEPARATOR_WIDTH
SEPARATOR_HEIGHT
IMAGE_WIDTH
IMAGE_HEIGHT
