Zen Coding for Notepad++

Zen Coding for Notepad++ is a handy tool for web designers who love using Notepad++ to write and edit their source code. This plugin makes coding easier with some cool extra features that speed things up.

What You Should Know

Before you dive in, it's important to mention that this add-on hasn’t been updated in quite some time. So, if you’re looking for something that gets regular updates, you might want to keep looking.

How to Install Zen Coding

Installing Zen Coding is pretty straightforward. Just copy the downloaded files into the “Plugins” folder of your Notepad++. If you had Notepad++ open when you did this, don't forget to restart it! But here's a little twist: instead of popping up in the usual “Plugins” menu, Zen Coding has its own special menu packed with features.

Supported File Types

This plugin works with specific file types like HTML, XML, XSL, or any structured code format. It uses a powerful abbreviation engine to expand short expressions into full HTML tags—similar to how CSS selectors work.

Features You’ll Love

You can do a bunch of cool stuff with Zen Coding! For instance, you can:

• Wrap code with abbreviations


• Balance tags


• Jump between edit points


• Navigate matching pairs


• Merge lines and toggle comment mode


• Select previous or next items in lists


• Reflect CSS values and evaluate math expressions!

The best part? You can use keyboard shortcuts for all these commands. However, there’s no settings panel available to change those hotkeys or configure other options.

A Quick Recap

Overall, Zen Coding offers great help for web designers using Notepad++. Just keep in mind that it's an older software project without recent updates!