Bare Bones Releases TextWrangler

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Bare Bones Releases TextWrangler

Posted by pudge on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @04:37AM from the editing-is-as-editing-does dept.

Bare Bones has released TextWrangler, a new editor that fills the need for users who want the power of BBEdit, but don't do software development. It is available for Mac OS v9.1 and Mac OS X v10.1.5 and up, and retails for $49, while BBEdit sells for $179. It has the core text-editing functionality of BBEdit, but not the software development features (except a few, for integration with Project Builder). Seems like a nice tool to have around if you don't have BBEdit, or for using on machines that you don't do development on.

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I've never used BBEdit. by gnuadam · 2003-02-25 04:48 · Score: 4, Interesting

What does it have that gvim or emacs doesn't that is worth $150?

And don't tell me to RTFA, because I have, and I still don't have an answer to this. From the people that use BBEdit or are planning on using this new lite version, why?

--
You say :wq, I say ZZ. Why can't we all just get along?
1. Re:I've never used BBEdit. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-02-25 05:32 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  That's pretty cool. I doubt you care, but here's the short version of why vi(m) is the way it is.
  
  It was designed that all of the functionality could be achieved from the home row of the keyboard, without chording (ex: ctrl-lshift-F3). It was designed as a 'multi mode' 'screen' editor. Multi mode means that there are 2 or more 'modes'. In vi, there's command, and input mode. In input, you type and it appears. In command, each of the keys do commands (ie: w takes you to the beginning of the next word, % goes to the matching bracket/paren, etc). A 'screen' editor (as opposed to a line editor like ed or ex) shows you more of the context around what your editing. Line editors only show you the line.
  
  Vi's not for those who like pretty, intuitive, and easy. Freely admitted. Vi's a power user's editor with a rather steep learning curve. I believe that it's paid off for me. You can do all sorts of crazy stuff with it in 2 or three keystrokes (for example: replace everything from the curser to the next instance of the string 'the': c/the).
  
  That said, I have gvim on this XP box, simply because it can deal with multi megabyte text files (usually log files) in a way that doesn't suck (unlike notepad or wordpad). There are probably other editors that do the same, but I don't know what they are.
2. Re:I've never used BBEdit. by transient · 2003-02-25 05:54 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Other than the look and feel, and maybe the applescripting
  These are two of the most important features in BBEdit. To be honest, BBEdit doesn't offer much that Emacs doesn't, in terms of functionality. But I didn't buy a $3k titanium laptop so I could run an un-mouseable text editor in a terminal window (nor did I buy it so that I could install X and xemacs, so that's not a solution). BBEdit feels at home on the Mac; to me, that is its most compelling feature.
  
  --
  
  irb(main):001:0>
BBEdit vs PB by zephc · 2003-02-25 04:55 · Score: 2, Interesting

I have a copy of BBEdit Lite, but there must be a huge discrepincy between it and the full version, because while it has great search fascilities, it doesn't even have syntax coloring, which I have grown to like since my days using CodeWarrior.

Project Builder has everything *I* need for coding. And whenever I do stuff at the command line, I tend to just use emacs. BBEdit Lite is only kept around as a quick(ish) text viewer. And I dont see myself forking over 180$ for a text editor anyway, when PB is free.

--
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
"while BBEdit sells for $179" by 3-State+Bit · 2003-02-25 05:14 · Score: 3, Interesting

REALLY??
I mean, I know lots, and lots of Geeks use BBEdit (to the point that people say it's good form to install [I suppose the free version of] it even on systems you won't be using it yourself on), but I never imagined it was so expansively great that someone would shell out that much money. It's a text editor! (Isn't it?)

Can I hear from anyone who uses BBEdit -- what does it hvae that makes it so amazing?
Mixed feelings... by singularity · 2003-02-25 05:34 · Score: 3, Interesting

I bought the full version of BBEdit back when they were having specils for upgrades from BBEditLite for something like $69. This was under OS 8, so it was a version or so ago.

When I moved to OS X Bare Bones was requiring me to purchase another (discounted) full version, so I stuck with BBEditLite under OS X.

Lite was doing about 95% of what I wanted. I missed some of the features of the full version, but definitely not enough to pay $100+ to get them. The few features I was looking for could be replaced by other methods (Although admittedly not nearly as well as having them integrated into BBEdit). I kept wondering why I saw the full version being updated regularly and BBEditLite not getting updates (In the past BareBones was good about releasing bug fixes for the Lite version within a day or two of the full version).

Now I am not sure if I am going to shell out $50 for TextWrangler. That would mean that I would be paying a total of over $100 to BareBones in the past few years and getting fewer features than their full product.

I am leaning towards doing it, though, since I know the BareBones people to be good people. It is often I will see one of their developers posting on comp.sys.mac.* to answer questions about BBEdit and MailSmith (their mail client).

They also sent me a nice T-shirt many years ago for building my web site with BBEdit...

Ahh, the joys of the dot.bomb age...

--
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
bizarre by Tumbleweed · 2003-02-25 07:22 · Score: 5, Interesting

Okay, from their web page comparing the two, they say that TextWrangler has "Syntax coloring and function navigation for ANSI C, C++, and Objective-C", but only BBEdit has that for web stuff like HTML, etc.

Isn't that a little backward? You'd think the little brother would have the HTML stuff and only the big brother would have the stuff for "programming".

I also wonder about the name - shouldn't it have been something more similar to BBEdit? Like babyBBEdit? Or BabyBB? Maybe (BB^2)Edit? Or just go with all lowercase - bbedit. And on a related note, what do the two B's in 'BB' (the little metal projectiles) stand for, anyway?

And why am I in this handbasket?
1. Re:bizarre by Elwood+P+Dowd · 2003-02-25 07:55 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Project Builder and Vi/Emacs are priced at $0. They are widely accepted by the mac dev community. Mac based web developers, on the other hand, all need the workflow, ease of use, and power of BBEdit.
  
  A cheaper HTML BBEdit would cannibalize their sales. Most of the price conscious developers have already switched to emacs, vi, and project builder. This may stem the tide a bit, or even draw back some folks that prefer the BBEdit interface.
  
  What do I know? I code VB for a living, so: Nothing.
  
  --
  
  There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Long time BBEdit user by Suffering+Bastard · 2003-02-25 09:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

I've been using BBEdit since version 4 (five years ago?). I was pretty much a hardcore Mac geek back then (thank goodness for the mellowness of age), and BBEdit was one of my primary reasons for defending the Mac platform.

Today I'm a freelance web developer, writing apps in Perl, PHP, ASP, and of course straight up HTML. BBEdit has been an invaluable tool for my work, and along with OS X's fantastic networking support, I can edit all of my Mac, Unix, and Windows projects from my lone G4 workstation. The CVS integration in version 7 is fantastic...I now use it to manage version control for all those disparate projects. It's a beautiful thing.

However, I am also saddened to read that BBEdit Lite is gone. I would never have become a hardcore BBEdit user if it weren't for the Lite version to help me get my feet wet. I'd probably still be stuck at some ad agency creating web pages in Dreamweaver (ick) or GoLive (double ick!). I worry that new adoption of BBEdit will come to a halt.

At the same time, they deserve the money. Not only does BareBones make some great applications, but their customer service is tremendous. On more than one occasion I've bitched at them for this or that, and they've always responded quickly and courteously, even when I've been wrong. I even had a brief e-mail chat with one of their developers discussing the pros and cons of tabbed documents.

So, on the one hand, their apps rule; on the other hand, they may be shooting themselves and future developers in the foot for charging for what was once free; on the third hand, their apps still rule, as does their customer support, and this should be worth a few bucks to people.

Today's word is "ambivalence."

--
"Molest me not with this pocket calculator stuff."
- Deep Thought
Re:Try harder with emacs by Llywelyn · 2003-02-25 10:55 · Score: 2, Interesting

You know, emacs might be able to do everything BBEdit can for me, I don't know. That being said, I like having my Ultimate Text Editor look and feel like a MacOS X app (which XEmacs does not, even when running under Apple's X11), I like having its lower memory footprint, I like how easy it is to use and configure... and I like that I don't have to spend more time with it or "try harder" in order to use it.

My clients, customers, professors, and friends don't care one whit if I spent $150 on my text editor, they do care if I deliver my products on time and that they look clean and professional. I may be able to make it look as clean and as professional with X/Emacs, but I will have to "try harder" and "spend more time" with it in order to get the same level of quality I get now and out of the box from BBEdit.

--
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
BBEdit Lite still at download.com by jcsehak · 2003-02-25 11:37 · Score: 3, Interesting

You can still get bbedit lite 6.1, which includes an os x native version, at download.com. If Bare Bones is phasing out bbedit lite, you might want to get it soon. I just got it, and it kicks ass. I was looking for a simple text editor to replace the non-existant simpletext in os x, and it fits the bill perfectly Plus, it's way better in so many ways.

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c-hack.com |
Re:I write Perl scripts... by analog_line · 2003-02-25 14:24 · Score: 2, Interesting

BBEdit has perl syntax as well, but unless the file browser/network integration/CVS integration is something you really could use, then it's probably not worth the full $180 for BBEdit full version, and unless you a lot of looking at text files, Text Wrangler may not be worth it for you either. Look around for the latest version of BBEdit Lite and take a look. If you like it, Text Wrangler may be something to look at then.

I don't use a quarter of all the features BBEdit has to offer, but I just think the Bare Bones guys rule, and I'd frame my BBEdit t-shirt if I got my hands on another one to wear. But I'm kinda crazy that way. Money well spent.
It doesn't suck.�. by dpbsmith · 2003-02-26 04:59 · Score: 2, Interesting

That's been their slogan for as long as I can remember:

BBEdit. It doesn't suck.®.

In this day and age, that is a truly remarkable claim for any piece of software, and in my opinion it makes BBEdit truly amazing.

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