NEdit

• already installed in CS
• smaller and easier to use/customise than emacs
• easy to get it to do syntax colouring for Java/HTML etc

Some disadvantages are that it is:

• suitable for Unix/Linux only (see below)
• impossible to use via telnet/ssh
• more difficult than emacs to customise for Haskell

The home page for nedit is given below. Also, a reference is given to a page for installing it on Windows. Beware, however, that it is difficult to install on Windows, and ends up slow and clunky.

the NEdit Editor
NEdit for Windows

A couple of customisations you might want to do are to add this line to the .Xdefaults file in your home directory to make the background white:

nedit*text.background: white

and to switch on syntax colouring by going to the preferences/default_settings/syntax_highlighting menu item (and preferences/highlight_syntax to switch it on immediately).