>>>>>>>> CLICK HERE! <<<<<<<<<

Linux buffs tend to scoff at one of the major reasons that Windows users like me havent switched yet: We dont want to give up our favorite applications. With countless open-source options, plus a rising number of commercial apps for Linux, their argument goes, we can certainly find a replacement for whatever software were running on XP or Vista. But, Linux fans, its not so simple.Replacement applications dont always offer all the features wed have to give up. Sometimes it takes multiple apps to fill in for a Windows-only favorite. Maybe the Linux alternative isnt as slick. Or maybe it just works differently -- which doesnt make it better or worse than its Windows counterpart, but it does mean that we have to relearn how to get things done. Thats not a trivial obstacle for office workers whose time is one of their most precious commodities.I spend a good chunk of keyboard time dealing with text in varied forms, so one of my top requirements is a robust application that can elegantly handle plain ASCII text and rudimentary HTML. That means offering functions such as macros and spell check and manipulations like change case or join lines, all while treating files as plain text rather than junked-up, word-processed formats.There are a couple of excellent, inexpensive programs that do all this in the Windows environment, including NoteTab Pro, which Ive been using for several years; UltraEdit is another. Alas, neither has been ported to Linux. (UltraEdits publishers said via e-mail that theyre actively scheduling for this for a future release but declined to estimate when the software would be available. NoteTabs folks said the company has no plans for a port.)In Living (and dying) with Linux in the workplace, I detailed my struggle to get NoteTab Pro up and running on Linux. As it turns out, using CrossOver Linux Professional, which is designed to run Windows applications on a Linux system, did the trick. (My error, a helpful reader explained after looking at my screenshot, was trying to use a trial version of NoteTab Pro instead of the full, paid version.) Still, Id prefer to find a text editor thats meant to run on Linux. After my article was posted, readers offered a slew of suggestions for replacement editors. Its taken a while, but Ive finally downloaded, installed, tested and rated nine free applications.Since you may well have different requirements for a text editor than I do, I included scores for ease of learning and use, look and feel, content editing (spell check, search and replace and the like), simple HTML editing (adding bold, italic, links and so on) and customization (How easy is it to create macros? How powerful and flexible are they?). Alas, of the nine programs I test-drove, only a couple seemed designed for the niche I want to fill. The good news, though, is that I found a lot of solid applications that did pieces well -- and some of those pieces may be all you need. If youre only looking for some of the functionality I require and need, say, just a lightweight text editor, or if you dont mind using a couple of apps instead of just one, there are some intriguing alternatives out there. From the Paleozoic era These longtime Unix apps still have devotees (mostly from the days when not much else was available). Im not among them. EmacsEmacs tag line calls it the extensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time display editor. Note theres nothing in there that touts easy to use or intuitive -- and with good reason. This is not an editor for those who like WYSIWYG software; nor is it one for someone who wants writing tools such as spell check. Emacs has been around on Unix for decades, and it still has devotees who like it for programming. I can see why, based on its listing of features: controlling subprocesses; automatic indentation of programs; viewing two or more files at once; editing formatted text; and dealing in terms of characters, words, lines, sentences, paragraphs and pages, as well as expressions and comments in several different programming languages.However, Id characterize the UI as actively hostile. Pre-reading is the process of skimming a text to locate key ideas before carefully reading a text (or a chapter of a text) from start to finish. Also called previewing or surveying.Pre-reading provides an overview that can increase reading speed and efficiency. Pre-reading typically involves looking at (and thinking about) titles, chapter introductions, summaries, headings, subheadings, study questions, and conclusions. To be successful today, it not only becomes necessary to skim, but it becomes essential to skim well.(Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford University Press, 2011.)Pre-reading strategies allow students to think about what they already know about a given topic and predict what they will read or hear. Before students read any text, teachers can direct their attention to how a text is organized, teach unfamiliar vocabulary or other concepts, search for the main idea, and provide students with a purpose for reading or listening. Most importantly, teachers can use pre-reading strategies to increase students interest in a text.(Brassell, Danny and Timothy Rasinski. Comprehension That Works. Shell Education, 2008.) Pre-reading encompasses all of the things that you do, before you start reading, to increase your capacity to understand the material. In many cases, taking just a few minutes to learn more about what you are about to read can dramatically increase your reading comprehension and retention. . . .If you build the big picture before you start, you begin reading the text with a conceptual framework already in place. Then, when you encounter a new detail or a new bit of evidence in your reading, your mind will know what to do with it.(Austin, Michael. Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. W.W. Norton, 2007.) Pre-reading includes four steps: preview, predict, prior knowledge, and purpose. You can remember these steps by thinking of them as the 4 Ps.Previewing is taking a quick look at a reading before trying to understand the whole thing...In predicting, you look at clues from what you read, see, or already know to figure out what information you are likely to get from the reading...Prior knowledge is what you know about a subject before you begin a new reading about it...The fourth P in prereading is purpose... Figuring out an authors purpose will help you understand what you read.(Content-Area Reading Strategies for Language Arts. Walch Publishing, 2003.) Begin by having students identify their purpose for reading. Then, lead students in generating a list of pre-reading questions that will help them to achieve their purpose.(Successful Strategies for Reading in the Content Areas. 2nd ed., Shell Education, 2008.) Skimming or pre-reading is the first sublevel of inspectional reading. Your main aim is to discover whether the book requires a more careful reading... The habit of skimming should not take much time to acquire. Here are some suggestions about how to do it. You have now skimmed the book systematically; you have given it the first type of inspectional reading.Look at the title page and, if the book has one, at its preface. Read each quickly.Study the table of contents to obtain a general sense of the books structure; use it as you would a road map before taking a trip.Check the index if the book has one—most expository works do. Make a quick estimate of the range of topics covered and of the kinds of books and authors referred to.If the book is a new one with a dust jacket, read the publishers blurb.From your general and still rather vague knowledge of the books contents, look now at the chapters that seem to be pivotal to its argument. If these chapters have summary statements in their opening or closing pages, as they often do, read these statements carefully.Finally, turn the pages, dipping in here and there, reading a paragraph or two, sometimes several pages in sequences, never more than that.(Adler, Mortimer J. and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. Touchstone edition, 2014.)

Items