vi

About vi

One of the best things about vi is that it is everywhere. If you build a web page on Linux or Macintosh servers, vi will be available for you to edit with. It can be very hard to learn and doesn’t offer a lot of extra features, but the fact that it’s everywhere makes it very useful to know. There are many different versions, but this makes a good default text editor for when you don't have any other available.

Target Market(s): Professional Web Developers

Review last updated: October 28, 2011.

vi Version: 20
Score: 107
Percent: 32%
This score was generated using the methodology listed in the article: Finding the Perfect Web Editor.

See all Web Editor Reviews or write a review of your editor.

Operating System(s): Windows Macintosh Linux or UNIX

vi Features

• Text editor
• Color coding
• Search and replace
• Extended search and replace (across multiple documents)
• Special character tools
• Can edit PHP, ASP, or JSP
• Edit XML and/or RSS
• Spell checking
• Customizable or extendable
• Upgrade discounts or freeware
• No limits on free or trial version
• No subscription fee required

What’s Missing from vi

• WYSIWYG editor
• HTML validator
• Accessibility validator
• CSS validator
• XML validator
• Page preview
• Alternate browser or OS preview
• Mobile device preview
• Mobile scripts, functions, or links
• Create mobile web applications
• Package mobile apps for delivery on app stores
• Save pages as HTML with DTD
• Write HTML 5 documents
• Write XHTML documents
• Tag completion
• FTP or Site manager
• FTPs or Secure FTP
• Edit multiple files/tabbed file editing
• Edit images
• Connects to graphics software
• Multimedia functions
• Assistance with adding videos to websites
• Ability to add video and audio using HTML5 with fallback options
• Save Adobe AIR files
• Save files as PDF
• Link checker
• Can edit JavaScript
• Helps with Ajax JSON, or jQuery pages
• Can edit CSS
• Additional CSS assistance
• CSS 3 properties and selectors
• CSS3 media queries tools built-in
• Dynamic page rendering and editing with server-side programming languages (PHP, JSP, ASP, CFM, etc.)
• Database connectivity
• Google sitemaps
• Save snippets of code
• Writes to blogs
• Free templates
• Free scripts
• Form wizard
• Photo gallery builder
• Ecommerce tools
• SEO assistance built-in
• Captcha support or other methods of protecting forms
• Version control
• Support for teams editing the site (beyond version control)

Full price: Free

• Download vi

This product was reviewed using the free version of the software and information on their website. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.