nathan jara

For all those goofball…I mean web developers out there, we’ve all had that notorious inner conflict; you know, the oh my goodness, there’s so many, which code editor do I use conflict. I recently was suffering from said struggle, so for about a week or two, I tried a handful of new fancy schmancy code editors for the Mac to see if I could find a new favorite. For a while I’ve been using Panic’s Coda, but some have told me “Coda?! Textmate’s so much better.” Or, “Aptana’s where it’s at.” And even, “Notepad++ on Windows through Parallels baby!” So, after all the struggle here’s my opinion on a few to hopefully help ease any confusion you may be going through.

If I used a PC, Notepad++ would be my editor, hands down. First, it’s free. Second, it’s really solid. It’s a simple and effective editor that doesn’t get in the way of itself. The program offers great customization with many built-in preference options, default syntax modes for many languages, and a great plugin library to add features that don’t come out of the box. One of my favorites is the project explorer so you can get an explorer view of your code directories. Notepad++ has super syntax highlighting and an awesome search component. There’s a good online community of users too. If you’re looking for an all-in-one program with FTP features though, you won’t find it in Notepad++; it’s an editor only. My only other gripe is that I need Windows to run it. While running Windows with Parallels on my Mac isn’t difficult, I just really don’t want to run Windows unless I’m testing IE :P So, no Notepad++ for me, but it may be for you. If so you can get it here.

MacRabbit’s Espresso is the NKOTB for the editors I tried. For starters, it’s pretty. The guys and gals at MacRabbit definitely took design into consideration on this one. Great looking icons and smooth movements throughout the app make it fun. Espresso takes some different approaches to the traditional code editing setup, however. This area is where things got too different for me. You have to set up separate Espresso projects for all your workspaces. I’ve never been a big fan of setting up projects with editors and it also automatically adds Espresso project files to your workspace directories, which to me, is annoying. Once you get your project setup, the workflow in the app takes a different approach too. Espresso has its own feature which it calls the ‘workspace’ to organize the files you’re currently working on. The workspace basically functions like your tabbed files would across the top but it’s tucked at the top of the sidebar where the explorer area lives instead. I found this to be the biggest hurdle. The flow just didn’t work for me; I just like my current files in tabs along the top. The interactions with this workspace area and the explorer seemed unintuitive also. Espresso does boast an integrated FTP feature to upload files along with the ability to extend via plugins which are called sugars. (giggle giggle :) Only problem is, there aren’t too many that are available yet just because Espresso is so new. I wasn’t able to find a JSP syntax mode when I was using the program. Espresso isn’t free. It costs $79.95. You can use it for free for a while with the trial version, available here. If you’re feeling adventurous and are willing to learn to create a sweet sugar, then go for it, otherwise I’d hold off on a cup of esspresso for a while until it heats up some more.

Of the editors I tested, Macromate’s TextMate is the grandpa of the group. It’s the most seasoned of the Mac editors that I know. The app does a great job of being what it should be, a text editor. Solid syntax modes for many languages out of the box and one of the best search features I’ve used, Textmate does just about everything you could ask for in an editor. There’s a very large online community for support and a host of plugins for just about anything. My only problem with TextMate is that it is just an editor. You’re going to need an additional program for FTP or Terminal work, but if editing’s all you want, TextMate is great. Free trial for 30 days or buy it for about $55.

Next is Panic’s Coda and my choice editor for Mac. Coda features a solid code editor, good collection of out of the box syntax modes, integrated FTP client, integrated Terminal, a GUI CSS editor, site preview feature and a reference book area for development help. And it looks nice too! The editor component of Coda comes with good syntax highlighting along with your standard preferences and theme customization. The app has an explorer sidebar for navigating to all your files along with an “Open Quickly” feature which acts like OSX’s spotlight component to open a specific file. One of the coolest features of Coda is the integrated Terminal and FTP client. With these features together you can connect to your server and have not only the explorer bar become a remote window to your server for the FTPing of files but also have a terminal window open to run commands via SSH on that same server, all within the same Coda window. My only complaint about Coda is the search/find and replace component. While the component is fast, it isn’t the most powerful in the fact that it doesn’t give you many options to customize how the find works. RegEx searches are available of course, but you can’t restrict certain folders globally, for example. Despite this setback, I think Coda is the best of the editors I reviewed and I’m willing to wait out future releases for hopefully an improvement to search. Panic has a free 14-day trial or you can purchase for $99.

Happy editing.

In somewhat funny fashion, the clothing company GAP has switched their company logo back to its original after a short-lived redesign this week. The company, who has for a long time, sported a blue rectangular logo with a white classic typeface (right image), recently displayed on their website a new logo (left image), which honestly, seemed almost a joke. A quick Google search for “gap logo” will get you caught up on all the hullaballoo.

What’s probably more amusing is this website, Crap Logo, which allows you to create your very own, uhh “gap-like” logo. Enjoy :P

If you like to blow stuff up and enjoy American Eagle clothing ; ) check out the website today. Just add “?mode=asteroids” to the end of the URL in the address bar or click here for some space ship fun :) Use the arrow keys and space bar on any page of the site and check your high score. It’s for a limited time only, so get your blastin’ in soon! :)

A conversation at work today jostled my thoughts about something I came across this past summer called the All Things Digital Conference. The conference is an annual event that began in 2003 and is organized by the Wall Street Journal. The event invites influential individuals of the technical world to discuss what it is they are doing, why they are doing it and listen to their opinions on hot topics in the digital arena. One interview in particular that sparked my interest was the conversation with Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs. As an avid Macintosh user and one who really appreciates Apple products, I was intrigued to hear what Mr. Jobs had to share. However, one of Steve’s points got me thinking and honestly found me disagreeing with his opinion. He was discussing the iPad and the special programs that have been developed for it as interactive magazine or newspaper applications. He stated, at about the halfway point of this ATD article, that he does not “want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers.” I found this point to be critical of those who blog, such as myself. While I understand his point that we continue to need the talents of professional writers and news agencies to take in accurate information, I found this point to be somewhat belittling of individuals who choose to express themselves creatively through the many types of writing online. Granted, there certainly are many people who may not have the impressive expressive skills of a New York Times journalist and probably shouldn’t be writing anything at all, but the Internet, being the Internet, gives everyone equal opportunity to be creative. The fact that I’ve decided to blog has never, is not, and will never prevent The Wall Street Journal or Wired magazine from producing professionally written articles. What is the harm then in giving the everyday Joe a chance to express himself? What do you think?

If you have the Google Chrome browser, a friend at work shared a really cool website with me today. It’s called The Wilderness Downtown. The website allows you to type in any address, preferably one that has been cataloged by Google Street View, and create a movie in your hometown. The application uses the street view of the address you type in along with the satellite imagery of that area as the backdrop for an online film. The application was created using new HTML 5 techniques for the Chrome Experiments project, which is a web development project that continues to explore and push the capabilities of the growing HTML 5 language. Half way through, you can interact with the movie using an HTML 5 canvas and custom font. Try yours, it’s pretty spiffy!