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

[Mats Persson]

Been observing this thread and just can't keep my mouth shut any more.  
So here goes, and although I hope Allan might agree with one or two of 
my views/points here, these are purely my personal views and thoughts. 
So don't blame Allan for them :)

1.	Welcome to the best Code Editor on the Mac ever, Jonathan 
Ragan-Kelley (& some others), as I can only assume you are recent TM 
user(s).  Those of us that have been using TM since v1.0 - back in 
September '04 - know that what Allan has done to improve TM since then 
is nothing short of fantastic!!  Now, I'm not saying this to get a 
brown nose, or on behalf of Allan, or anything like it.  It is simply 
the truth and as such it should be made clear to the new-comers.  So 
please let us all know what and where TM can and needs to be improved 
in a nice manner and then sit back and relax. If your request has any 
merit I'm sure it will be implemented sooner or later. I would assume 
that almost every single aspect of any existing code editor 
functionality is already on Allan's requests or to-do list, so ask if 
your 'feature' is already there before going about demanding it.

Note to Allan:  Perhaps a slightly cleaned version of the Relase Notes 
could be prominently (?) displayed on the website, where new users 
could see the amount of progress that has been made since v1.0 ??


2.	Split-view code editing: Yes, it would be nice to have, but 
honestly, Allan is working on far more important improvements than 
that. And with the keyboard navigation between open doc's, bookmarks 
etc, I haven't once looked for it in the past few months.

But you could buy BBEdit, which does have a simple split-view of the 
same document. Although dealing with the guys at BB does have it's 
downsides. You could propose for them to implement a Tab GUI (like TM), 
a User definable Syntax highlighting system (like TM), a Project 
hierarchy file viewer (like TMs Project Drawer) or any other item, like 
I did back in 2001 and many times since up until TM arrived. Now you 
can have a look to see how many of those user suggestions they have 
implemented. (The answer is NONE!! or at least none that is as useful 
and workable for me as TMs implementations)

Secondly, you are using Mac OS X and there is probably nothing stopping 
you from using both TM and Jedit/emacs (where most of your split-view 
requirements are fulfilled) at the same time on the same project. Use 
the best tool for the job at hand is a phrase that comes to mind.


3.	Clients:  We are all dealing with clients, whether we are employed, 
free-lancing, selling software etc. As such we should all be better at 
understanding Allan's situation, and concentrating on the good bits 
he's doing/done for us, rather than the "missing bit that kills the 
whole deal" type of BS.  If Allan was 10 guys, and you proposed 
something to them 3 years ago, and there's still nothing done about it, 
then you have a right to voice your concern.

I have yet to find a good client that appreciated every bit of hard 
work, sweat and tears I put into their project and didn't complain 
about something or the other. For each 
silly/irritating/baseless/misplaced complaint I have received my 
motivation has gone down rather than up, and I know that's the same 
with all of us.  We should therefore do our very best to treat Allan - 
and others like him - as we wish to be treated ourselves. I for one, 
appreciate every single bit of the work Allan has done on TM for all of 
us !!!


Finally, could someone please translate this bit for me ???
>> ... this very 30+ KLC app...


On 15 Mar 2005, at 00:40, Allan Odgaard wrote:
>  • even though I sell it for money, TextMate is my hobby and not my 
> job, so at least 50% of the work I do with it should be done because I 
> find it interesting or find the result desirable.

Allan, TM being your hobby surprised me a bit, but then it does make 
perfect sense. "Only the things that you thoroughly enjoy will you 
perform well" I think is the saying. :)



Kind regards,

Mats

----
"TextMate, coding with an incredible sense of joy and ease"
- www.macromates.com -