MAJOR CHANGES IN JEDIT 2.6 SINCE 2.5

* Streamlined I/O system

The I/O system has been considerably improved in jEdit 2.6. Non-blocking
I/O is now supported, and hung I/O requests can be aborted. The FTP
virtual filesystem now caches remote directory lists for improved
performance, and remembers passwords better.

* VFS browser

The 'Open File' and 'FTP Browser' dialog boxes have been merged into a
new 'VFS Browser'. It is much more powerful than the Swing file chooser;
its features include an optional tree view, a 'favorites' list for
quick access to frequently-used directories, basic file manipulation
(delete, rename), a history of previously visited directories, and more
flexible sorting. The VFS Browser also supports non-blocking I/O.

* Dockable windows

For quite some time, the PluginHolder plugin has allowed external
windows to be "docked" into views, to reduce clutter and make
frequently-used windows more convinient. This feature is now part of
the editor core; PluginHolder is obsolete.

* Improved printing

jEdit's printing feature is now much more flexible; the print font and
margins can be customized, optional line number printing has been added,
and the header and footer and be toggled.

* Improved bracket matching

The bracket matching feature now takes syntax information into acount,
so brackets in string literals and comments should no longer cause
problems.

* Improved abbreviation expansion

Abbreviation expansions can contain multiple lines, and the final caret
position can be specified. Also, if automatic abbreviation expansion is
enabled, only the space bar, not any non-alphanumeric character as
before, expands abbrevs.

* jEdit command line

A new 'jEdit command line' at the bottom of each view merges the
functionality of the search bar and command repeating feature. The
command line is also used by various commands, such as the register
commands and 'Go to Line' to prompt for input. Finally, it allows you
to invoke editor actions, for quick access to any jEdit feature.

* User interface improvements

Macros can now be added to the tool bar and text area right-click menu,
for even easier access to complicated and tedious operations. The menu
bar and global options dialog box have been streamlined to make them
more intuitive to newbies and experts alike. The standard Java look and
feel tool bar icons are now used.

* First-time and new-version wizards

When jEdit is first started, the new first-time wizard offers to set up
firewall settings and install plugins. The new-version wizard is shown
after a new jEdit version is installed, and can update all installed
plugins to their latest versions.

* Removed features

The following features are no longer part of the editor core as of jEdit
version 2.6:

- File->Send command: because it is so rarely used, it has been moved
  into a separate SendBuffer plugin
- 'Find File' widget in Open and Save As dialog boxes: no equivalent
  functionality currently exists in the VFS browser. It may be added in
  a future release

-- Slava Pestov
<sp@gjt.org>
