[TxMt] Split Panes: who/what/when/where/why

[Jonathan Ragan-Kelley]

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.