Existing users, 
I agree, this is a decent editor. BBEdit is better. Just starting out, I discover two extremely important features missing from this editor.
1) FTP and SFTP support. For me, this is critical. Not a "nice to have". The majority of the files I edit live on a server. If I have to manually move them to and fro, it will cost me too much time. Perhaps there's some kind of facility for this, but I haven't seen it. It should be built in.
2) Subversion and CVS support. Critical. Where is it? Oh, there it is, inside the bundles thing. So, I have to memorize commands to do my subversion stuff. If I have to memorize commands, I'll stick with the terminal. Oh, and no CVS support at all.
Other missing items, of somewhat lesser importance are:
3) compare files: easier in BBEdit, but the shell integration with diff is sorta nice in TextMate
4) AppleScript integration? Don't see it
BBEdit has text factories, worksheets, shell integration, and several other items that have equivalents in TextMate. Some of the features in TextMate are REALLY COOL, especially the code completion stuff. Makes it almost, but not quite, worth buying for that.
I'm sticking with BBEdit. I'll get my work done faster, and not have to work around missing features, and memorize commands.
TextMate
Versatile text editor.
Version: 1.5.9
This is a decent editor
Feedback Type: Review
Contributed by: thebroz Friday, December 30 2005 @ 05:20 PM PST
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Less than a month
Overall Rating:
Ease of Use:
Support:
Features:
Quality / Stability:
Price:
Comments
This is an editor of the decade! - zzen
ad 1)Mate, built-in FTP access in text editors is history, get over it. It never really worked well - the FTP browser in BBEdit sucked for YEARS! I was very frustrated with it, until came Transit (now Transmit) with the "Edit in BBEdit" command.
Textmate offers the very same comfort of FTP-client integration as BBEdit. Built-in FTP is not even desirable (as BBEdit implementation proves).
ad 2) Subversion support is there. Yes, it's in the bundles. And that's a good thing. For once - you can clone it and write your own CVS bundle if you want. But TextMate makes the push to use the "right" technologies. Subversion is way better then CVS in just about every aspect.
And no - you don't have to memorize shell commands. Just about 2 or 3 keyboard command shortcuts. I don't see how BBEdit makes this any easier.
So please - before dismissing a product this great, give yourself a bit of time and try to actually use it. Yes - it will, at places, be different from what you are used to. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Wednesday, January 04 2006 @ 02:46 PM PST
This is an editor of the decade! - zmittie
Yeah, so, I was looking for something to replace BBEdit and its tired interface. A friend pointed me to TextMate. I tried it for a day or two and was pretty impressed. So, I payed the shareware fee. After about a month of trying to integrate TextMate into my workflow I finally gave up and switched to TextWrangler. TextWrangler is a better editor.FTP
That whole use TextMate with Transit thing is clunky and cumbersome. The FTP browser in TextWrangler isn't great but it does what it needs to do. I want to edit remote text files.
General Interface
TextWrangler's interface is no award winner but it is better than TextMate. The 'roll your own' approach to interface design is lazy. Fancy color schemes are more a distraction than a benefit.
Those were the deal breakers for me. As I said, I was and still am tired of TextWrangler. I'd love to find a replacement. But, in my opinion, TextMate has just as many problems and issues as BBEdit/TextWrangler. Better the devil I know than one I don't.
Aloha
Friday, January 06 2006 @ 10:09 AM PST
This is an editor of the decade! - zzen
Could you explain more on what exactly is clunky on TextMate-Transmit relationship? (Or TextMate-[insert-your-own-ftp-client-with-external-editor-suport] for that matter.)I'm quite confident it's faster and more productive way then using the BBEdit/TextWrangler built-in FTP browser...
Sunday, January 08 2006 @ 03:19 PM PST
This is an editor of the decade! - thebroz
I agree with some of your comments.But, CVS support is still critical. Telling me subversion is better is sorta silly. Of course it's better. You want to come over here and convert about 35 CVS repositories to Subversion, including the history, and do it for free? We're using subversion for new projects going forward, but that doesn't answer the question of using TextMate for CVS. It's a missing feature, and it's important.
I don't have problems with the FTP/SFTP support in BBEdit. I've used Interarchy w/BBEdit as well. It works. Fine. But to tell someone they should use a separate file transfer client means they would have to buy an additional application. That puts the cost of TextMate at near the cost of BBEdit. Most serious developers would probably want a file transfer client, but still...
I will give TextMate another try. I've been writing code for about 20 years, and spend a lot of time in text editors. At this point, TextMate does not "rock". It's nice, and has smart features. Its UI needs work.
Bottom line: using TextMate slows me down.
Monday, January 09 2006 @ 08:13 AM PST
This is a decent editor - mrturtle
As a longtime BBEdit user, I understand your critiques. As far as the S/FTP thing goes, both work with Transmit which is fine in its own right.And you don't have to memorize commands...you can modify and alter them so that they make sense to you and you don't have to memorize anything.
Reply to This
Monday, January 02 2006 @ 02:00 PM PST