Originally published at http://www.sitepoint.com/10-essential-atom-add-ons/
GitHub’s Atom is rapidly maturing into one of the best code editors available. While it lost to Sublime Text in last year’s SitePoint Smackdown, many issues no longer exist:
- version 1.0 has been released
- it’s easy to install on Windows, Mac and Linux
- speed has significantly improved, and
- it’s still free but betters many commercial offerings.
The number of add-ons has increased exponentially, with more than 750 themes and 2,400 packages at the time of writing. The reason: Atom can be extended using web technologies. If you’re working on Node.js or front-end projects, Atom is a great choice.
Package installation is simple. You can either:
- open the + Install panel in the Settings tab then search for a package by name, or
- install from the command line using
apm install <package-name>.
Here are ten essential add-ons, plus a few bonus ones, to make Atom even better …
1. Seti UI and Themes
Themes are subjective, and I’d normally avoid recommending one. However, Seti makes Atom look gorgeous and includes a wide range of icons for file types including SCSS, LESS, JSON, grunt configuration, gulp configuration and more. Combine it with the Monokai theme for a Sublime-busting experience:
https://atom.io/themes/seti-ui
https://atom.io/themes/monokai-seti
2. Open Recent
Like Sublime, Atom uses simple folder-based project management. The Open Recent package makes it easy to jump to recently used folders or files:
https://atom.io/packages/open-recent
If you require something a little more sophisticated, try Project Manager:
https://atom.io/packages/project-manager
Continue reading at http://www.sitepoint.com/10-essential-atom-add-ons/