Good text/code editor

Hey
What's a good code/text editor? Something like notepad but that highlights html code, strings etc. And I don't want it to choke on big files like notepad does...

You know what's great about Unix? You don't need an IDE because the system is an IDE.

Personally I think nano is good for making quick changes, but when I want to make more extensive changes I switch to vim because I can do it faster.

I've been meaning to try emacs so I can flame emacs users without having to lie when people ask if I actually know what I'm talking about.