Back when I was stuck with Windows (and also not the biggest fan of Notepad++) I used Gedit2 which I carried over when I started using Linux. It had syntax high

Back when I was stuck with Windows (and also not the biggest fan of Notepad++) I used Gedit2 which I carried over when I started using Linux. It had syntax highlighting, plugins, a file browser. It was great! There was some version where they absolutely neutered it (I think it was Gedit3) and I haven't looked at it since but maybe they've re-added the lost functionality (though I doubt it.)