Atom is a very cool editor built with HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Node.js. Due to this, one can customize Atom with the web tools. Atom runs on Electron, a framework for building cross platform apps using web technologies.

Today, I just installed Atom, and here I would like to share some tips on the process.

Installation

There are two ways to install Atom version 1.55.0.

1. Using exe file: Download the exe file, and then double click it to install as usual. With this option, users have no option to decide where to install, and it will install to C:\Users\zhang\AppData\Local by default.

2. Using zip file: Download the zip file, and then extract it to a folder where you want to install it, for example, D:\tools\Atom, and it will lead to two subfolders: Atom and app. Then at a command line enter the following command to install it:

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cd D:\\tools\\Atom\\Atom
./atom.exe --squirrel-install 

In this way, it will create a new folder D:\tools\Atom\bin and add it to the PATH environment variable. That’s it.

Packages

Again, there are two ways to install new packages.

One is through the command line, such as:

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apm install atom-html-preview

The other way is through the GUI, clicking the following buttons in order:

File » Settings » Install.

Then search the desired package at the top and install selected packages.

In default, packages will be installed to user’s profile directory C:\Users\zhang.atom\packages. To change this, one can set a environment variable ATOM_HOME. At command line, it is achievable by the following:

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setx ATOM_HOME D:\Tools\Atom\.atom

Some useful packages:

1. atom-html-preview: preview html files in atom.

2. platformio-ide-terminal: integrate external terminals (git-bash, powershell) to atom.

Configuration

One can configure Atom under ‘Settings’, such as changing themes.

For each installed package, it can also be configured by clicking ‘Settings’ followed by choosing desired options.

Last modified on 2021-04-07