I disagree that TM2 is like Emacs. A big reason I use TextMate, and not Emacs or Vi, is because it has the same power-user features wrapped in a much friendlier user interface. And if I do want to make power-user tweaks, I find this easier in TextMate than Emacs. (I use OS X instead of Linux for similar reasons.)
To continue your Flammarion analogy, intended soft-wrap in TextMate is on the outside of the bubble. Enabling it globally requires a lengthy trip to the circling clouds, suns, and fires of power-user land. But it’s such a commonly requested feature that it should be more accessible, right from inside the pretty garden.
I think one way to accomplish this is to have it enabled by default, and allow those who dislike it to disable it using the Bundle Editor.
Trevor
On Feb 2, 2014, at 8:27 PM, Matt Neuburg matt@tidbits.com wrote:
On Feb 2, 2014, at 7:38 PM, Trevor Harmon trevor@vocaro.com wrote:
I certainly agree this procedure is not very user-friendly, but is it still the way to go? Or have things changed in TextMate 2?
My ideas are very inchoate and I appreciate the discussion of the opposing point of view, so please keep countering me.
My thought here is: It is wrong to look for user-friendliness in TM2.
Non-power users of TM2 are probably not going to be capable or desirous of changing _anything_; they will love the text editing features and will learn to use them, in the same way that I use TM for editing and running Ruby or writing Markdown without worrying about _how_ it works behind the scenes, but they won't do any tweaking.
Anyone, on the other hand, who does _any_ tweaking is promoted to a power user! And such a person, I argue, _will_ have to make these sorts of non-user-friendly adjustments. To make a non-user-friendly way to let non-power users do what power users do would dilute and confuse the program. TM2 is like emacs: you can take what you're given or you can make adjustments, but there is no naive user-friendly way to make those adjustments, nor should there be. TM2 is like Flammarion's woodcut:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flammarion.jpg
Either stay on your side of the universe and enjoy the beauty of nature, or peek behind the curtain and blow your mind. There is no middle course.
m.
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