The Big Switch, Part I – Text Editing
I’m finally making the big switch from PC to Mac (do you hear the chorus of hipster Apple angels singing?). As I do so, I am discovering the must-have apps to replace my favorite Windows (I mean, in the convert vernacular, Windoze) apps and customize operations to my liking. I will try to remember to make notes here for future acolytes as well as those who have not yet progressed as far along the path and are looking for the best of the applications for their crippled, Microsoft platform…
First up: text editing, munging, and mangling.
Text Editing. I’m open to suggestions here. At the moment I am torn between TextMate (whose development might be stalled but is hella powerful in its current incarnation) and the venerable BBEdit, which seems equally as capable. Since I don’t do a lot of web development or programming anymore, my primary need is an editor that can smoothly handle Markdown syntax (preferably with some syntax coloring or highlighting) and provide easy previewing and export.
Geeky Power Text-Editing. Vim/gVim work well on the Mac, but I’m a finger-twisting emacs guy through and through and I don’t think I’ve had a better experience with a distribution than Aquamacs, which melds a true emacs with OS X seamlessly.
Distraction-Free Editing. Like you (whether you ‘fess up to it or not), I don’t multi-task well, so distraction-free text editing has become a staple of my productivity system… such as it is. Strangely, this is where Mac apps–and this is the platform where such apps originated–are the weakest. I’ve tried what seems like dozens of alternatives, including Q10, WriteRoom, jDarkRoom, TextRoom, FocusWriter, Scrivener, and Ulysses, and have yet to find anything close to my beloved WriteMonkey. Features I am missing most: the aforementioned syntax coloring/highlighting, easy preview and export, and structure-based navigation. I could fire up Aquamacs or Vim in full-screen mode, but that’s kind of like swatting gnats with a sledge-hammer. But am I going to have to run Fusion or OpenBox or something just for this one program?
Geek Stuff
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editors, mac, pc, software, text editing, windows
Themocracy
BBEdit hands down. Its ability to find/replace within multiple files saved me during a project a long time ago.
You could always use TextEdit that ships with every Mac. Format like any other document and then export to HTML, RTF, etc.
BBEdit’s little brother TextWangler is capable enough and free.
TextMate is awesome and powerful with it’s plugin architecture. I’ve used it every day for 4 years now coming off of gvim on linux at that time for scripting.
Similarly to BBEdit, TextMate also has ability to find/replace within multiple files.
The text macros from plugins on TextMate are insane. The whole app is a productivity screamer.
The other choice is a very nice cross platform free editor called Komodo Edit. I used it on a Python training course for 3 days and found it a very productive tool. The fact that you can use it on all OS’s is a nice bonus.
http://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit
It’s my choice for when you don’t want to spend cash but you still want a very good scripting editor.
You’re thinking too much. You’ve already wasted more time than necessary deciding on what your tool set should be.
Pick one tool. Set up a calendar event to remind you in six months to briefly review your tool set.
Relax and be productive. Produce output, don’t sit around thinking.
I’m a TextMate guy but find myself more and more using Evernote for non-code stuff.
Thanks for the advice, all. I’m settling into the platform.
And Patrick– I don’t consider sharing my experience a waste of my time and I get plenty of work done. I also know from experience that the time I save by having a comfortable working environment that allows for less fuss easily dwarfs the time spent making it work. So perhaps you should consider your own productivity before lecturing me on mine…