Is there a text editor with columns instead of scrolling?

Question

Is there a text editor which offers horizontal, rather than vertical, scrolling (showing two pages side by side)?

I currently use TextMate, but would switch to any editor which offers this layout. I'm getting really bored of scrolling up and down, over and over.

I've attached a screenshot of MS Word, which has a side-by-side horizontal scroll view for documents longer than a page.

I want something like that, Any recommendations?

Answer 1

Emacs offers a follow-mode which you might find helpful ( see for instance here http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/FollowMode).

A short description of how it is used and what it does:

You need to open a buffer in two windows and enter follow-mode using M-x follow-mode. This is actually a bit of a drawback, because you need to learn how to use emacs, if you don't know it already (imho learning how to use emacs is worth spending some time).

After entering follow-mode the second buffer will skip to the place where the first buffer ends, similar to the page-by-page view offered by Microsoft Word. Now if you move the cursor down one line at a time and you leave the first buffer window at the bottom, the cursor will appear at the top of the second. If you move further down and you are at the bottom of the second window, both buffers will scroll simultaneously, the same holds for page-wise scrolling using C-v and M-v. If your monitor screen is wide enough, you can open a third window to further increase number of lines being displayed.

I have made a screenshot, which shows a text file opened in this mode: Screenshot auf Follow mode

Answer 2

Hmmm, it seems you are looking for layout features which you aren't likely to find in a text editor. Text editors are generally line based and don't understand the concept of pages. Text editors do things like code folding and allow lines to be wrapped or not. That is why text editors scroll in the vertical direction. These factors would affect pagination.

The concept of a page (and being able to lay them out side by side) doesn't really exist unless you are using a presentation manager such as a word processor or a desktop publishing package.

Answer 3

In vim: <Esc>:vsplit will open a second column for the file.

In all fairness, I should warn you that Vim has a steep learning curve, and will force you to wrap your head around new concepts like command mode / edit mode / visual mode. The results are definitely worth it, if you have the time to learn it.

Answer 4

I'm not sure if I know exactly what you want. Does Sublime Text 2's two-column layout with File > New View Into File do what you want?

A change on one side is reflected instantly in the other side, and you can scroll them independently. You can have up to four columns per window.