Table of Contents

This is a comparison of ZZT editors. (Note: In MediaWiki it is possible to make “data-oriented” comparison tables by the use of templates; in DokuWiki this doesn't seem to work with any extension, all of them have problems that prevent it from working.)

The editors being considered are:

Others may be considered in future. (A proper review of the editors should be written, I hope.)

Also, the below tables are probably not very good; maybe someone knows how to improve them better.

ClassicZoo Frezed KevEdit Zedit2
Operating system DOS Linux1) DOS, macOS, Linux, Windows Java, Windows
Source code? Yes Yes Yes No

File formats

ClassicZoo Frezed KevEdit Zedit2
ZZT Yes Yes Yes Yes
Super ZZT No No2) No Yes
FreeZZT No Yes No No
ZXT Yes3) No4) No No

Features

ClassicZoo Frezed KevEdit Zedit2
Arbitrary selection ? Yes ? ?
Back buffer ? Yes Yes ?
Block selection ? Yes ? ?
Boardwalk mode5) ? Yes ?6) ?
Custom draw procedures No Yes No No
External text editing7) No Yes ? ?
Font loading Yes (ZXT)8)9) No10) ? ?
Graphics conversion No No11) No Yes
Mass mode (on selections) ? Yes ? ?
Music test ? No12) Yes ?
Reconfigurable keybindings No Yes ? ?
Save editor state No Yes (configurable) ? ?
SQL No Yes No No
Stat exchange No Yes ? ?
View mode ? Edit, game, special ? ?
World info editor Limited Yes Yes ?
World map No Partial13) No Yes14)

ZZT-OOP text editing

ClassicZoo Frezed KevEdit Zedit2
Dynamic margins ? N/A15)16) ? ?
Edit text with null characters17) No Yes18) No Yes
Music test ? N/A19)20) Yes ?
Shortcut text entry ? N/A21)22) ? ?
Syntax highlighting ? N/A23)24) Yes ?
1)
May also work on BSD systems (with GNU compatibility functions); untested
2)
Includes a partial implementation, but incomplete and is currently unusable
3) , 8)
Not default branch.
4) , 10) , 12) , 20) , 24)
May be added in future.
5)
A feature of frezed that allows you to use shortcut keys to access boards linked by edges and by passages, and allows setting both kind of links.
6)
Some versions of KevEdit have such a feature; I am not sure about the official version.
7)
Use an external text editor for ZZT-OOP codes
9)
Only 8×14
11)
Unlikely to be added; this should probably be better handled by external programs.
13) , 16) , 22)
Will probably be added in future.
14)
I am not sure that it saves the world map; this footnote should be fixed by someone who knows
15) , 19) , 21) , 23)
Frezed does not currently have an internal text editor; an internal text editor will probably be added in future.
17)
ZZT treats a null character like #END; some editors may allow you to type them
18)
Currently requires an external text editor (such as Vim, which can edit text with null characters); support in the internal editor will probably be added in future