[TxMt] first impressions

[Kevin Ballard]

On Oct 20, 2005, at 10:30 AM, Trevor Turk wrote:

> I just started using TextMate about a week ago, and I've been  
> collecting some of my impressions, and any notes for things I had  
> trouble learning how to do. I was going to add this to the wiki on  
> a User Page, but I can't seem to find how to do that.
>
> Overall, I really like TextMate. I was actually prompted to try it  
> out by someone on IRC when I asked what people thought of BBEdit -  
> since they're having a sale for $99 right now. So, I was going to  
> buy it, but I was scared off when people kept talking about "bloat"  
> and whatnot. So, I'm giving TextMate a shot, but I've become rather  
> familiar with TextWrangler, so most of my feedback has to do with  
> coming from that paradigm - just to warn you.

I actually own BBEdit and had been using it for years when I  
discovered TextMate. I haven't launched BBEdit since then.

> Anyway, here's the beef:
>
> ===============================
> = TextMate Notes =
> ===============================
>
> ====================
> = Feature Requests =
> ====================
>
> make it so that you can always show the file browsing drawer

You mean the drawer you get in a project? In TextMate 1.1 that only  
applies to projects - other files are just single windows, so file  
browsing doesn't make sense.

BTW, you are aware that the drawer doesn't have to represent the  
actual file tree on your system, yes? You can create a new project  
and drag multiple folders and files into the drawer to have them all  
show up side-by-side regardless of where they are on the system.

Anyhow, the project interface is going to be re-done in TextMate 1.2,  
and I believe the single-window-per-file paradigm is going to be  
dropped, so it should do what you want then.

> allow a "single window" interface where new files opened are always  
> opened in the same window (like textwrangler)

See previous paragraph.

> looking for an easy way to make textmate the "default text editor"  
> or something to that effect

Select a text file, hit get info, go to the Open with: section,  
select TextMate and hit Change All...

This will only affect documents with the given extension, though, so  
you may have to keep doing it with other extensions (for various  
different programming languages) as you run across them.

> if you move a file (via the finder or whatever) while it is being  
> edited, textmate can't follow it (textwrangler did)

Yes, that would be nice.

> collect color "themes" on website for easy download

That would also be nice

> option to make file browsing drawer on the right

The project drawer isn't locked to the left side of the window, it's  
just a Cocoa drawer with no preference. This means if there isn't  
room on the left, it will open on the right (and stay on the right  
until there isn't room there next time it opens). So just close the  
drawer, move the window to the left side of the screen, and re-open  
the drawer.

Note: this technique works in all drawer applications unless the  
drawer is fixed to the side (some apps fix the drawer to a side, but  
that generally only happens when the app may have multiple drawers  
and each one has a designated side).

> =====================
> = 2005-10-14 snippets =
> =====================
>
> snippets are specific to the language.
> you can find them in the menu - Automation -> Insert Snippet
> go to Edit Snippets to look around
> You can choose Tab Trigger from the drop-down to see the trigger
> a Trigger is important - you have to be in the right language for  
> the trigger
> to see, for example, the auto-link thing on the home page video...
> make sure you're in html, and then type "ref" and then <tab>
> then you can tab to the two areas of the tag you'd want to edit
> note - and this is very cool - you can use PHP language snippets in  
> html...
> just open the php stuff with the tags <?php etc - and within there,  
> php snippets will work

This appears to be notes on how snippets work. Is there any actual  
feedback associated with this?

> ================
> = 2005-10-14 Balance Tags =
> ================
>
> coming from textwrangler - one of the first things i looked for was  
> tag balancing
> that's where it will highlight all the code between two { } things
> this is good to make sure you're balancing your tags out

Try cmd-shift-B (Edit -> Select -> Block). Also, when you type a  
closing brace (or paren or bracket) it highlights the opening one.

I'd also recommend you try Smart Typing (in preferences).

> ==================
> = 2005-10-14 Multiple files =
> ==================
>
> dragging a folder into the textmate icon in the doc will open them  
> with a drawer to see all the files

Yes, it creates a new scratch project for that folder. Very handy.

> =================================
> = 2005-10-19 The Project Drawer =
> =================================
>
> choose file -> new project to have the file browser appear
> you can make folders in the project drawer
> one trick might be to make a single project with many folders that  
> contain all of your text files

Again, any actual feedback here, or just notes?

-- 
Kevin Ballard
kevin at sb.org
http://www.tildesoft.com
http://kevin.sb.org

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 2378 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.macromates.com/textmate/attachments/20051020/9844e1cf/attachment.p7s>