Why I have a Mac
I've been using Macs for almost 5 months now and recently I had to buy one of my own. I went for the 13" white Macbook because I needed the lightest, cheapest thing I could get. It runs everything I need; Photoshop, Firefox, etc. all at the same time. And hooked up to a 22" display, it makes for a great workstation.
But I have to be very honest; I'm not a fan of Macs. I'm not a fan of PCs. I don't care for OSX, Windows, or Linux. It's just a handful of software that motivated me to buy this Macbook, and the most important program was my current weapon of choice: Coda.
I like to develop on-the-server because when it comes to things like Facebook applications (for example, Pop Answers, which you really should try), you can't test things locally. Coda is perfect for working this way. It's also packed with a ton of other features, like terminal access, live preview, and local-remote file sync. It's so awesome, I actually paid for my copy! I wish that I could find something on Windows that compares to Coda, but I haven't yet. Does anyone know of a Windows editor that lets you edit on-the-server? I would like to find one.
And if anyone was wondering what other software made me want a Mac, it would be Adium and Fluid.
p.s. Thanks to Dean who insisted that Coda was a must-have years ago.
I swear by Dreamweaver for text editing. As to what you mean exactly by editing on the server I'm not sure, but DW has a really nice SFTP interface which lets you view your site files remotely and save automatically.
And it's got a very good search and replace functionality. Expensive though - over £350 if I remember correctly.
SFTPDrive + text editor of your choice?
Blair: That's a bit much…
Peter: That's really cool, I'm going to check it out.
I like gedit on linux (lots of plugins!) or PSPad on Windows for editing on the server.
I use WinSCP to connect to all my misc web servers (both of them, lol). WinSCP supports FTP and SFTP. The trick is to change the option for the internal editor. Normally when you double click a PHP file it opens up in some built in WinSCP editor. Yuck. I prefer Notepad++, so you just add it to the list, move it above the internal editor and voila. Now as you edit in Notepadd++ and save, WinSCP automagically uploads the file back. Voila, live server editing. I do it all the time.
Sounds complicated to setup, but its really not…
Hi,
I´m using the 12" PB G4 since a long time. Also needed the lightest book wich just works. Coda is my weapon of choice as well. Mainly to create Templates based on the Yaml Framework (www.yaml.de) to use with Typo3. It´s much cheaper than all these fance Dreamweaver like products, and works so much faster and more efficient for me. I bought it the day it was released by panic.
I hope you know about the portage system available for mac. It allows you to use a BSD like portage tree to install and manage unix tools. That works with console based stuff, server (I installed my local web environment with it), X applications and even whole desktops like KDE or Gnome. Not that the last point is really needed but I think the Mac Ports are quite usefull for a web developer. (www.macports.org)
Enjoy your mac!
Tim, Sean: Thanks for those. I never tried PSPad and I didn't even know WinSCP had that option!
Max: I will have to check that out!
I got a 13" white MacBook some months ago as well and it has served me well ever since. Also similar to your case, I got it mainly for TextMate - and it rocks!
Oh btw, I just remembered two other very nice tools you might like to know about. The first one is TextWrangler. It is VERY usefull in addition to coda sometimes. Especially if you work on a good old school static html site. My favourite feature is the multi file search and replace facility. A real must have on any webdesigners mac.
Another one which is a bit like coda and nice to know about is SubEthaEdit. Not a must have, but I was quite impressed by the demo version.
Coda has nice integration with Transmit and is a pretty nice code editor for sure. But I had to kick Coda to the curb in favor of TextMate. Among other things, Coda's lack of code collapse drove me batty
I've heard so many people have make their decision to migrate to mac just for a good text editor
Take a look at Komodo Edit (Komodo edit is free - Komodo IDE is not). It's cross-platform (win-mac-linux) and can connect to a remote server for editing. It took me a while to find this feature, so look under File>Open>Remote File. Can configure for ftp, sftp, and scp connections.