Published May 13, 2012
So about six months ago I tried switching to Vim. At first I loved it: all the customizations I could do! Then I hated it: all the customizations I needed to do! Now I’ve realized: all the customizations I’d need to do to get to the level of productivity I want to have! I really need something that I find delightful to use as close as possible to the minute I launch it. Any suggestions?
Here’s what I want: something nice to work with. And by “work” I mean “work with Javascript — chiefly jQuery and Google Analytics stuff — HTML, CSS, and (mostly Wordpress) PHP.” and by “nice” I mean “I’ve spent years working in GUIs, and the rest of my workflow is in GUI apps that use things like the system clipboard, and I need whatever I’m working in to play nicely with both my existing reflexes and the other apps I work with. Seriously, Command/Control-C and Command/Control-V aren’t optional.”
Oh, and it would be great if it’s cross-platform, so that I can use it at home (Mac) and at work (Windows). But that’s not required: I’ll do one app in one place and the other in the other, if that’s what it takes. I’ll buy something commercial, too, particularly to make it so that I’m really, really happy doing my hobby coding at home.
I’ve done some poking around, and here’s what I’ve figured out:
- Vim and Emacs seem to be out. I’d otherwise be happy to try Emacs, but the reality is that I don’t do enough coding to justify re-learning the key commands for cut and paste for just my coding work.
- My old favorite BBEdit is looking a little rusty and I’m not particularly excited to give it a try
- I didn’t love the old version of Espresso but the new version looks pretty convincing
- I hate to commit to something right before it gets a new version, but Panic’s Coda has always looked intriguing
- Sublime Text, and especially its MiniMap look like something I could try
- I don’t use Rails, but Aptana has some serious buzz
- Bluefish is a little terrifying but does specifically include “Wordpress” as a language, which might be handy
So, internets, any thoughts on those tools? Any other recommendations? And, yes, please feel free to flame over me dumping Vim/snubbing Emacs.
Sublime Text 2 is highly extensible once you install Package Control.
I've switched mostly to that (except I do use Eclipse at work, but more because our projects are heavily Ant and Java related) for web stuff.
Before that I was using e-text editor (Win) and TextMate (Mac) which use a compatible package system for add ons. Both worth having.
I also give my vote to Sublime Text 2 i have been using it for a few months ago and i really start to loving it… at my work i use ZendStudio to use zendframework… but for everything else im using sublime text 2 hope you like it…
My Mac install of emacs supports ⌘-C/X/V, as well as a number of other incantations using the Command key. (The Meta key is Option, and obviously Ctrl is itself, which leaves Command free to add even more functionality.)