# Which editor for editing themes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Themes\ **Created:** [July 3, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593 "2020-07-03T16:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/1 "2020-07-03T16:53:10Z")
Hi there - newbie here! I’m looking for the simplest code editor to make changes to the .hbs files within a theme? Also, what’s the easiest way for me to ‘re-zip’ a file before re-uploading? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Stromfeldt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/stromfeldt/32/13572_2.png) [@Stromfeldt](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Stromfeldt)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/2 "2020-07-03T22:38:14Z")
Hey, I’m probably in the minority here, but I use Adobe’s open source Brackets as my code editor, supplemented with a few plugins. > **[A modern, open source code editor that understands web design](https://brackets.io/)** > > Brackets is a lightweight, yet powerful, modern text editor. We blend visual tools into the editor so you get the right amount of help when you want it. With new features and extensions released every 3-4 weeks, it's like getting presents all year... About zipping, well, right-clicking on a folder should give you the option to zip it. ---
**Author:** ![daniel1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b19c9b/32.png) [@daniel1](https://forum.ghost.org/u/daniel1)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/3 "2020-07-03T22:58:46Z")
Hi, my personal favorite is Visual Studio Code. > **[Visual Studio Code - Code Editing. Redefined](https://code.visualstudio.com/)** > > Visual Studio Code is a code editor redefined and optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications.  Visual Studio Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, macOS, and Windows. It’s by far the most used code editor, free and available for windows/mac/linux. It might look a bit complicated for “newbies”, but it’s actually really easy. It has a huge library of plugins, to help you with formatting (really helpful to keep consistent looking files with proper indentation, autocorrection, autocompletion, notification if you missed a bracket etc.) minifying, linting and so on. You can also connect to your server over ssh in vscode and use git which is really handy. Definitely worth a try… Regarding zipping: Just use you’re preferred zipping program if you don’t already have one installed in your OS anyway. I’d recommend you to set up a local development installation of ghost, so you can load up all your theme files in your code editor, work on them (save) and then just reload the page to see your changes, and if you’re happy with your customization, zip it up and upload to your live server. ---
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/4 "2020-07-04T12:19:33Z")
thx, will take a look! and _facepalm_ - thank you, you’re right, I can just right-click and Zip. I recall having to download some sort of program (WinZip?) to zip files, apparently we’ve come a long way since then… haha. ---
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/5 "2020-07-04T12:22:30Z")
thank you! when I googled ‘code editors’ there were so many, I had no idea where to start. I have a developer (@dan) who has helped me self-host. I’m using one of his themes, too, which I just need to make some tweaks to using his helpful theme documentation. I just needed an editor, and it looks like I have a couple on this thread to check out. thx again. ---
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/6 "2020-07-04T14:50:55Z")
update: I went for Visual Studio and liking it so far. thx @Stromfeldt & @daniel1 for your suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![benravetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85e7bf/32.png) [@benravetta](https://forum.ghost.org/u/benravetta)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2020, 3:31am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/7 "2020-07-05T03:31:17Z")
If you’re using Mac, there’s only one worth mentioning. If you’re using Windows, there’s still only one worth mentioning. > **[Sublime Text - the sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose](https://www.sublimetext.com/)** > > Available on Mac, Windows and Linux ---
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/8 "2020-07-07T17:58:51Z")
haha wow, big words! The UX looks nice. ---
**Author:** ![benravetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85e7bf/32.png) [@benravetta](https://forum.ghost.org/u/benravetta)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/9 "2020-07-08T20:10:39Z")
It’s all I’ve ever used. Call me biased, but I love it. Although saying that, I do briefly remember using Brackets ---
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/10 "2020-07-14T17:47:45Z")
fair enough 🙂 I like your website’s design, btw, and that dark-mode toggle ---
**Author:** ![benravetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85e7bf/32.png) [@benravetta](https://forum.ghost.org/u/benravetta)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2020, 9:49am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/11 "2020-07-15T09:49:49Z")
Thanks, this is a slightly modified version of weiss-pro by @eddiesigner ---
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2020, 10:07am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/12 "2020-07-15T10:07:54Z")
nice. You might enjoy @dan’s [stuff](https://danrowden.com/). If I decide to enable comments, I’m tempted by Cove \> Disqus. ---
**Author:** ![Titus](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/titus/32/8699_2.png) [@Titus](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Titus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/13 "2020-07-15T22:01:04Z")
OMG, I remember this one! I used to use it a lot, lol. These days, I float between: > **[Sunsetting Atom | The GitHub Blog](https://github.blog/2022-06-08-sunsetting-atom/)** > > We are archiving Atom and all projects under the Atom organization for an official sunset on December 15, 2022. And… > **[Visual Studio Code - Code Editing. Redefined](https://code.visualstudio.com/)** > > Visual Studio Code is a code editor redefined and optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications.  Visual Studio Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, macOS, and Windows. If I am in full swing of production, then I’ll end up using: > **[Visual Studio 2022 | Download for free](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/)** > > Write code using code completions, debugging, testing, Git management, and cloud deployments with Visual Studio. Download Community for free today. That’s the big brother of Code… ---
**Author:** ![giacomosilli](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/giacomosilli/32/3403_2.png) [@giacomosilli](https://forum.ghost.org/u/giacomosilli)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 8:06am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/14 "2020-07-16T08:06:26Z")
I used all the major editors on the market for a few weeks. I can say with certainty that [sublimetext.com](http://sublimetext.com) is by far the best. The clean and clear interface, the lightning speed with which it opens make it unbeatable. If you use Git, I also recommend that you try [sublimemerge.com](http://sublimemerge.com) ---
**Author:** ![jsh4](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/jsh4/32/9756_2.png) [@jsh4](https://forum.ghost.org/u/jsh4)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 10:48am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/15 "2020-07-16T10:48:44Z")
Sublime looks nice and looks like it has a couple of votes. Looks like you have to pay though? Visual Studio is serving my basic editing needs right now and it’s free 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![callpri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@callpri](https://forum.ghost.org/u/callpri)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:42am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/16 "2020-08-04T09:42:44Z")
I use and recommend [Codelobster](http://www.codelobster.com) ---
**Author:** ![biapar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/biapar/32/8273_2.png) [@biapar](https://forum.ghost.org/u/biapar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 7:23am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/17 "2020-09-09T07:23:48Z")
Visual Studio Code ---
**Author:** ![Marky-Gee](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/marky-gee/32/3289_2.png) [@Marky-Gee](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Marky-Gee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 8:58am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/18 "2020-09-10T08:58:57Z")
I personally prefer to use VS Code for most languages. As for the easiest way to “re-zip” and upload. I don’t bother with this anymore as there’s a much easier way. If you set up your theme as a GitHub repository (can be private), you can use this GitHub action to automatically push all your changes to your live website. > **[Deploy Ghost Theme - GitHub Marketplace](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/deploy-ghost-theme)** > > Build & deploy a theme to your Ghost site ---
**Author:** ![ahmadajmi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/ahmadajmi/32/23173_2.png) [@ahmadajmi](https://forum.ghost.org/u/ahmadajmi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/19 "2020-09-10T16:14:53Z")
I do Ghost themes professionally and this is what I use. ### Editor [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) as my main text editor. ### Zip I use [gulp.js](https://gulpjs.com/) with [gulp-zip](https://www.npmjs.com/package/gulp-zip) to export the final zip file. My current Gulp zip task is something like. ```js gulp.task('zip', function () { return gulp.src([ './**', '!node_modules/**', '!bower_components/**', '!.git/**', '!.DS_Store' ], { dot: true }) .pipe(zip('NAME.zip')) .pipe(gulp.dest('../')) done(); }); ``` So, with the `gulp zip` command, I can export the final theme file. If you are not using gulp and want a simple command line to zip the theme, you can use something like. ```auto zip -r NAME.zip NAME -x '*node_modules*' '*bower_components*' ``` What comes after the `-x` option is a way to exclude different directories or files. In this case, we are excluding the _node\_modules_ and _bower\_components_ directories from the final zip file. ### Deployment I use the [Deploy Ghost Theme](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/deploy-ghost-theme) Github action. I wrote a step by step guide about it at [Ghost Tips & Tricks #3 / Deploy Your Ghost Theme Using Github Actions](https://forum.ghost.org/t/ghost-tips-tricks-3-deploy-your-ghost-theme-using-github-actions/14966) ---
**Author:** ![Stromfeldt](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/stromfeldt/32/13572_2.png) [@Stromfeldt](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Stromfeldt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/which-editor-for-editing-themes/15593/20 "2022-07-18T01:47:24Z")
Did I say Brackets? Yeah, uhh, don’t use that. Grab yourself VS Code and GitHub Desktop for all the code comparison functionality and git history, then deploy your Ghost theme with GitHub Action as Ahmad describes in the above comment. I made the switch over the weekend, and suffice to say… 🔥