Searching through the archives of this list, and other TextMate-related materials, I've seen that this has come up a handful of times, but not in a while, and rarely with much of any response, so I'll ask again:
Why does TextMate lack any sort of single-project/multi-window functionality (the most functional and common implementation being arbitrary split panes within the editor windows, as in jEdit, Emacs, Xcode, Visual Studio, et multi al.)? Is there any intention of adding such functionality (in the near future)?
I have a hard time imagining how a programmer-centric editor can largely ignore the need of developers to have simple and effective ways to view and edit several documents in the same project simultaneously. Interfaces and implementations, interfaces and clients, refactoring source and destination, etc., etc. I recognize that it is possible to view multiple documents at once, as in any standard document-based app, using multiple windows. However, files opened to separate windows fail to integrate with the project-file functionality and multi-document (tab) organization around which TextMate is built, and, most of all, require heavy use of the dreaded Mouse to do much of anything. I have a hard time imagining how the developers work on this very 30+ KLC app, itself, without the ability to deftly maneuver many files with keyboard alone, and to see more than one thing at a time. The addition of features like cmd-T speaks directly the significance of keyboard navigation of large projects, but in such projects, what on earth are we to do with our widescreen or multi-monitor setups if we can only use one pane? There's only so much of my screen real-estate I could ever allocate to Safari and OmniOutliner to read documentation and keep a to-do list, when the primary thing I need is to keep my head inside my code.
I apologize for the rather desperate, frustrated tone creeping up underneath this message -- it's just the type of desperation that could only be created by frequent attempts to use an absolutely glorious, is-everything-I-could-dream-of app, perpetually foiled by a single, fatal (and bizarrely unique, among programmer's editors) flaw in just one small aspect of its implementation which completely prevents me from doing anything more than diddling around and getting frustrated, time and again. Not to mention from forking over the $50 -- nay $100 I would honestly love to pay for this program, if only I could actually use it.
The problem is, I greatly appreciate everything that is TextMate. The core idea -- that other editors on OS X just feel wrong -- echoes my sole problem since coming [back] to the platform. And TextMate really does feel right. Oh so right. I just can't actually use it for anything, since I can't quickly, cleanly, and effectively (i.e. with the keyboard, without endlessly mucking about with window sizes and placements) operate on and navigate large multi-file software projects.
I understand that TextMate is a focused, relatively small undertaking compared to mammoth editor-beasts like Emacs, or even jEdit these days -- that that is not only the reality of a single-developer project, but the goal. But I can't imagine that at least rudimentary split panes (or some functionally similar interface feature) could possibly be nearly as implementation-heavy as many of the features that seem to be coming every few weeks. You have this nice, object-oriented text view you've created, which can be instantiated many times over (in separate windows) just fine -- why not allow multiple instantiations within sub-windows, using Apple's standard split pane widgets? The key thing which complicates this, of course, is the focus on tabs, and while it's true that there doesn't seem to be an obvious, elegant solution to the problem of tabs for multiple panes, I think those of us who really feel the need for mouse-free management of multiple document views would gladly live with pretty tabs which have to shut themselves off when a window is split into multiple panes, at least until a better solution can be made. After all, tabs are a rather mouse-centric interface element, anyway, as indicated by the enthusiastic introduction of the new cmd-T file open/switch feature.
So there we have it. If you can't tell, I've been stewing over this for several months. Now, what are the chances? Is this even on the drawing board? Is there anything I or anyone else could do to help it along (like [not] sending more long, love-lorn emails)?
Is anyone else -- besides me and the 2 people who asked after this feature here and on the wiki in the fall -- interested in panes? If not, how on earth do you work with multiple text files simultaneously? I'd really like to know, because hopefully I'm just totally missing something that will improve my [working] life forever.
Much love to the creator and users of this fantastic app. And don't worry, I'm putting my straight jacket back on as we speak, and heading to bed in my padded, white room.