TextMate Grows Up

Published 21 October 04 by Justin French

In short, they have been listening carefully on the mailing lists, and it shows – TextMate has already matured into an application that feels nice, does what people expect, and let’s people get on with their work in a much more productive way.

The initial blow back of nay-sayers has generally turned into lots of positive comments and constructive ideas on how to make TM better. People were making GUI mock-ups, contributing their own much needed syntax highlighting definitions for languages like Perl, Python, ASP, Smarty, Latex and much more.

I think people are starting to realise how much TM can increase productivity and revolutionise the way they work, as long as they can get over that initial hump and free their mind from the way BBEdit, skEdit and other editors already work.

There’s far too many new features and tweaks to list here, but my contributions include updates to the CSS, HTML and PHP Bundles, some work on the GUI (mainly the new tabs, but other widgets and stuff as well), and a whole bunch of banter between myself and Allan. It’s safe to say a lot more power has been added to the Snippets, Macros and Templates as well.

Even though I have no financial stake in TextMate’s success, I’d like to personally thank the TM community for realising the potential and getting behind it like I did – creating useful bundles, offering suggestions and generally being there to answer questions will make a big difference to new users.

If you haven’t given it a try already, download it now. If you dismissed 1.0 in a few minutes, I urge you to try it again for a day or two – hopefully the updated GUI, added Commands, Snippets, Macros and Language Definitions and general refinement will help you see the light a little more. And we’re on the mailing list to help you get unleash all that power in a way that works for you.

“Every feature you always wanted”™ may not be in there yet, but rest assured, they are listening, and trying to make it work for everyone.