October 6, 2019
BBEdit icon
BBEdit 13: It Sucks a Little
Product: BBEdit 13
Price in the App Store: $39.99/year
Price from developer: $49.99
Upgrade price from previous version: $29.99
Bare Bones Software | BBEdit 13 has always been good at providing detailed release notes. Available here.
BBEdit is the pre-eminent text editor on macOS. I have owned a registered version of the product since version 5. It is one of those instant updates for me. I hear about a new release and I instantly update. I did the same thing on this version. I won’t ever again.
These are the additions to the program highlighted by the developer:
- Pattern Playgrounds
- Grep Cheat Sheet
- Improved Dark Mode and appearance switching
- Text Transform
Grep is fantastic, and your ability to sling text around will get to the next level if you are comfortable with this technology. This is a geeky feature which should be adopted by more people and this is a good attempt by a leading developer to increase its adoption and use. But it is a feature which is geared towards the more geeky segment of their audience.
Secondly, there are a host of solutions which are available at a much cheaper price which help you understand and use grep:
- Patterns $2.99
- Regex-Regular Expression Tester $13.99
- RegExRX $4.99
- Expressions $7.99
The difference, of course, is that Pattern Playgrounds is built into the text editor. How significant is that?
There are a host of other features which you can read about in the release notes. But these were the ones the developer decided to highlight.
Why Am I Unhappy?
I am not a coder. I use a text editor to write everything. I write in Markdown, preferably the variant of Markdown known as MultiMarkdown. This criticism is from the perspective of a writer who deals with text files of the Markdown format.
I am tired of looking at the bottom of the screen when I am working on a document. What is the problem?
Atom supports it, VSCode supports it, Sublime Text 3 supports it, every Markdown based text editor on the macOS supports it. iA Writer, MultiMarkdown Composer, Byword, MWeb & Highland 2 all support it. What is the problem?
I understand that you don’t use it. Come on. You are telling me that the appearance and color schemes are important, but typewriter scrolling is not?
macOS Native?
One of the features which most BBEdit users proudly proclaim as a selling point, is the native nature of the application. It is available only on the Mac platform and I have heard about developers who got a Mac only because they wanted to run BBEdit. Fantastic. One drawback to this story.
It is horse shit.
Since at least High Sierra, I have been able to do this:
System Preference Keyboard Pane
This setting lets me capitalize the first letter of a new sentence. It also lets me press the spacebar twice to get a period.
BBEdit doesn’t support it. CotEditor does. The Markdown based text editors that I mentioned before? They all do.
I understand that this is a feature which might get in the way of code editors when they are slinging code. Make it a preference. Let people who are working with prose, and not code have access to system settings and system features.
Don’t tell me that the product is Mac native when it behaves like a cross-platform application or an Electron application. That is horse shit.
Supports Mojave and Catalina Only
I can’t run it on the iMac. The iMac is too old for Mojave. It can only run on the Air. The developer must have had his reasons for dumping High Sierra. I have a perfectly working old machine and I am not going to upgrade till it dies.
Conclusion
This is an underwhelming update. The new features are not compelling. The omissions are irritating. The rest of it are bug fixes. I hope Craig loves it.
Yes. BBEdit sucks a little.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie.
Update:
A couple of reviews which are more favorable:
BBEdit 13 Simplifies Pattern-Based Searching - TidBITS
BBEdit 13 review: A lucky number indeed for revered macOS text editor | Macworld
macOS
bbedit
text editor
September 23, 2019
Closed
Why Have I Been Quiet?
I have been quiet for the past few months. Struggling to write. I have two products which I want to review but the writing isn’t happening. One of them is NotePlan. It is a good product, I am excited by it. But I am finding it difficult to write about it. The other is Rocket Typist Pro. This is a competitor to TextExpander, Typinator, and aText. It is a nice implementation of this genre of utility and it is not getting much love from me. What is going on?
- The news in America is depressing and distracting. I find myself depressed and am struggling to get out of the mire.
- There are a bunch of interesting products getting released and getting to advanced beta and they are taking up my time. MacJournal & Notebooks are two examples of products which have recently been released. nvUltra is an example of a product in advanced beta. I am getting to know these products and that takes time.
- I am distracted by a bunch of books which I want to write about.
- My workflow is changing. Ulysses, the mainstay, is dropping support for High Sierra for the next version and I need to move from it. My main machine, the iMac (mid-2011), isn’t capable of running Mojave or Catalina. I am looking to move. The alternatives are to go all-in on iA Writer or nvUltra. I have been trying to figure out which is the best solution for that.
I am going to try to get into the rhythm of things and produce content. This gives me pleasure and that is difficult to find.
Thanks for listening.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie.
Note: Thanks to Photo by Soloman Soh from Pexels
life
September 22, 2019
Keychron K2
Keychron K2 Clicks With Me
Product: Keychron K2 Mechanical Keyboard – Keychron | Wireless Mechanical Keyboards for Mac, Windows and Android
Price: $69-$89
I wrote about the Keychron K1 for My Typing Needs. The P key stopped working on the keyboard. I asked for a replacement from the manufacturer and they agreed. I found there was a new keyboard coming from them called the K2. It has the red, blue and brown Gateron switches. I was interested in this and requested a switch to it. Again, the manufacturer agreed to my request. They shipped me a Keychron K2 Mechanical Keyboard with the clicky Blue Gateron switches.
I am typing this article with the new K2.
It is different from the K1. The Blue Gateron switches are a lot like the Cherry switches in that they require a fair amount of violence to activate and have a loud and distinct sound to the keys. Unlike the low profile Fraly’s of the K1, this feels like a true mechanical keyboard. There is a pleasure to banging on your keyboard which is something that I seem to do. The feel of the keys activating and the sound of the keys make it an experience I am familiar with.
I love the keyboard. It is pretty and the feel is perfect. The macOS compliant function keys, the orange esc key, the full size arrow keys are all things which make the keyboard shine.
Like the K1, the K2 pairs with three devices through bluetooth. It has a wired and bluetooth option. The K2 works with macOS and Windows, it even ships with extra Windows keycaps.
Like I wrote in my review of the K1, I am not fond of the backlighting of keyboards. So, I have that turned off.
I am enjoying typing on this and can recommend it heartily if you are looking for a reasonably priced mechanical keyboard.
The support provided by the manufacturer was excellent. They agreed to the exchange and acceded to my request for a switch from the K1 to the K2. They were prompt and detailed in their responses and it was a pleasure doing business with a responsive customer service representative. I am impressed.
Conclusion
I heartily recommend the K2.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie.
keyboard
macOS
iOS
June 27, 2019
Apple Park
Ive Moves On
Jony Ive is moving on from Apple.
Thanks for all your work, Jony. Best of luck on your next venture. Bye.
Ive didn’t design the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad, and the borked keyboard on the latest MacBook Pro on his own. There is a whole team of talented individuals behind him who contributed to the success of Apple and Ive. He contributed a vision, a design ethos. That has led to some great products and some crap products. I remember the Cube. I remember the Bondi blue iMac. I remember the trash can Mac Pro. I know that Apple products have become difficult to repair. They have become difficult to upgrade. Ive contributed to that. He is leaving. That is the way life works.
Forstall left Apple. Apple did fine after that. Jobs is gone. Apple is doing fine. Ivy is leaving. Apple will be fine.
Huge corporations like Apple go through periodic peaks and valleys as a result of decisions made by top executives and their hubris.
These are the things which worry me about Apple:
- Catalyst fills me with dread. I want desktop grade software for my desktop. Catalyst is a path to an opposite direction.
- Apple is becoming a movie/tv studio. That is so far from any of the skill sets of the Apple executive team, that it scares me. I don’t think that the folks who are good at squeezing every cent of profit out of an outsourced production line have the skills necessary to make movies. This is Blockbuster becoming a movie studio.
- Services. I am not enamored by that business. I don’t care about Wall Street or its demands for growth. I want hardware and software which work together and fill me with joy. My livelihood is not dependent on Apple’s stock price. I can be this way. I worry about my joy.
Gruber worries about something else:
I don’t worry that Apple is in trouble because Jony Ive is leaving; I worry that Apple is in trouble because he’s not being replaced.
You cannot, or need to, replace Ive immediately. Give Hankey a whirl at the job. See if she fills those shoes. Let Dye take over software HI design. Give this a few years. Then evaluate.
In other words, the sky is not falling.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie
Other takes on Ive leaving:
Daring Fireball: Jony Ive Is Leaving Apple
Meet the first woman to head up Apple’s famous Industrial Design team | Cult of Mac
Jony Ive leaving Apple: What the analysts are saying | Philip Elmer‑DeWitt
Jonathan Ive and the Future of Apple — Pixel Envy
Why Jony Ive is leaving Apple | iMore
Jony Ive’s departure from Apple is an even bigger test than losing Steve Jobs | Macworld
The crazy one: 10 wild, bold, and daring Apple designs only Jony Ive could dream up | Macworld
Hypercritical: Jony Ive
Photo courtesy of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Park
Apple
June 10, 2019
Navigation in Paper
Paper Icon (Sakura)
Product: Paper — the nicest writing app for your Mac
Version: 2.8
Price: Free. Includes in-app purchases
I have written about Paper before. Here.
Paper is continuously being developed and improved. Most of the time it is the assorted bug fix but the latest iteration introduced a cool new feature.
Where Am I?
Scrollbar Navigation
The scrollbar in Paper has been enhanced. The headings (defined by Markdown headings code) in a document show up in the scrollbar and you can navigate by clicking on them. It is helpful when you have a long document, and makes tackling the different sections easier.
Paper is distinguished by tiny little touches which make the process of writing pleasurable.
Paper is recommended heartily.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie
Paper
Markdown
macOS
Bicycle For Your Mind