Bicycle For Your Mind
Caret Innovates
Caret.io
This is not a review. I was just checking out the demo and came across these features which I want to highlight. I don't like the idea of writing a review based on a demo. You have to use a program for a while to have a clue about how well it does.
I am always looking for innovation in the text editor space. Frankly, there hasn't been much for a while. Everything seems sadly derivative of each other. Caret, to its credit, adds some elements which are new.
Preview and editing are the same window.
Typora displays the preview as soon as your cursor leaves the markdown tag. Caret.io doesn't do that, it just shows you the preview, in the same editing window, it is a toggle tied to the ⌘ + P keystroke. You get to toggle the preview off and on. I find it more useful than the standard always on preview window on the right of the editing window.
Context commands or spelling suggestions through ⌃ + spacebar
While you are writing in Caret, you can press ⌃ + Spacebar, and a dropdown menu appears. In the case pictured, you have the ability to search for the word that the cursor is on.
Ctrl + Spacebar
Browse the current folder through ⌘ + T
When you are editing a file, you can browse the folder that the file being edited is in by pressing ⌘ + T. You are given a search window, it supports fuzzy searching, but it lets you access the file-system from within the application and that is new to the minimalistic markdown editor space.
Cmd+T
Browse recent files through Cmd + E
A list of recent files that you have been working on is available to you through the keyboard command, ⌘ + E. Includes a search box too. It is a nice way of building in file navigation into a text editor. Lets you browse your file-system without using the mouse.
Cmd+E
File navigation through a list like that is reminiscent of Windows, or Unix for me, not really a Mac feature. It makes the task of switching to different files easier and non-intrusive.
A gripe
There are keyboard commands which are standard on the Mac. You move lines up and down, on the Mac, by the keyboard command, ⌘ + ⌃ + ↑ or ⌘ + ⌃ + ↓. Don't like it when apps change the default keyboard commands on the Mac, Caret uses ⌥ + ⇧ + ↑ or ⌥ + ⇧ + ↓ to move the current line up or down. I don't want to learn a new command to work in specific programs when a standard option is available and widely supported.
Conclusion
I am intrigued by Caret. It brings some improvements to the genre which I suspect are a function of its cross-platform nature. Caret is available for the Mac, Windows and Linux platforms. I am going to keep monitoring its progress. I am happy to see the innovations brought to the genre.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie