[gedit-list] gedit rocks, [=how to improve the editor even more]

[Armin Ronacher <armin ronacher active-4 com>]

Hoi,

Three years ago when i switched from windows to ubuntu i first 
encountered gedit. I liked the editor because it was fast and the syntax 
highlighting was nice for python. But after discovering that editors 
like vim support plugins, highlight much better and provide stuff like 
color themes and multiple buffers in one window (splitting, not tabbing) 
i switched over to gvim.

Now i tried out the recent gedit version by chance (accidentally started 
it) and found out that it provides python plugins. And since python is 
the language i like the most i tried to write a plugin for fun (in fact, 
i wanted to check out if it's possible to add xml editing capabilities) 
and was impressed. It was easy to add kick-ass xml editing capabilities 
in comparsion with vim. And the plugin is much faster too, also the API 
is much better then that vim scripting stuff.

Also modelines are possible using a plugin which is very important for 
me. The bad syntax highlighting for ruby and template engines stays. But 
after discovering the gtksourceview2 branch (i just saw it from the 
sourcecode but it looks impressing, uses regular expressions afaik) i 
had new hope.

Maybe that editor is flexible enough to become the next editor after vim 
and emacs. I think it's very easy to add the vim input scheme via a 
plugin and i eventually will write that but more important is one thing:

gedit needs themes (including support for theming the "current line"), a
central plugin database, gtksourceview2 and a ass-kicking webpage. It 
might sound like a minor issue but it's not. I know many projects that 
get not the attention they should get because their webpage is hideous 
and/or there is not a central support forum, plugin/theme database, news 
section etc.

Also sourcecode highlighting definition files should be loadable from 
the ~/.gnome2/gedit/* folder or something like that to allow vim like 
.vim folders you can copy to your usb stick and move around.

Have a mentioned that having more than one buffer in the same window is 
cool? If not: it is :D

Another thing that is a bit different from the suggestions/ideas above 
is a feature request of a gedit.tool module that provides some functions 
to indent text using the buffer defined tab rules and other often 
recurring things. Nearly every python plugin i investigated so far uses 
it's own indention function. Also newline handling (CR LF etc) should be 
simplified using such a tool module.

Last but not least I want to thank all gedit developers for their work. 
You did a great job so far. I'm really, really impressed. Keep up the 
good work.

Regards,
Armin