Two pieces of Mac software have really been coming through for me lately: CyberDuck and Smultron.

Whenever I look for a software package to solve some problem I am having, I first look for a free option. I don't like pirating software, and I generally don't pay for software unless I feel it is really exceptional. I often can't justify spending ~$50 or more for something I may use only a couple of times. So when I wanted to replace Textedit, Apple's built-in text editor (that's notepad for all you Windows users), I began searching in the usual places I find free software first: Freemacware.com, sourceforge, etc.

I tried a bunch of different options. Textwrangler was one I liked particularly well, but I hated it every time I ran it because of the name and dorky icon. I know, I can get bothered by the weirdest things. I actually renamed textwrangler to notepad and changed the icon for a little while, but still - there was the name "Text Wrangler" up there in the title bar making me think of cowboys, big hats, and jeans that were tight in all the wrong places.

Others came and went, and then I found Smultron. The first thing I liked about Smultron is that it is a plain text editor. Textedit can do plain text, but you have to set the option every time, as it defaults to rich text format. When I think "notepad" I think down, dirty, simple text editing, nothing more - and that's what I got from Smultron.

One of the things I liked right off the bat was the little tray to the side that could hold multiple documents in it. I could have ten text files open at once, all in a single window - like tabs with Firefox. I also appreciated that it was fast and simple.

As time went on I began to like Smultron more and more. The name took a little getting used to, but it's not nearly as bad as Textwrangler or some of the others I tried. Once I had used it a few times it became my default editor without a second thought.

Recently I have been getting more and more into coding and have discovered that Smultron is even more powerful than I had anticipated. With features like syntax highlighting for TONS of types of code, split window view, and remote server file editing, I have even left Dreamweaver behind. The only thing I miss from Dreamweaver is auto-complete, which helped me many a time when struggling to remember an operator or a certain command's syntax. Other than that, Smultron delivers everything I need and more.

One feature that stands out to me is snippets. If I come up with an interesting method of doing something in PHP, I can save it as a snippet and call it up almost immediately when I need it again. It's great for pieces of code you use over and over again. Smultron also has templates, which can outline and entire webpage for you so you spend less time setting things up and more time designing and publishing.

But the greatest thing ever ever ever that I discovered last night, is that Smultron can be used to edit files on a remote server, say your web server. No longer do I need to download index.html, make an edit, re-save it, upload and overwrite the old copy to make a simple change. This is where CyberDuck comes into play.

CyberDuck allows you to directly edit documents and you can choose from a handful of text editors in the preferences pain. TextWrangler is on the list, to be fair, so it can accomplish the same task. Then, when I've browsed to the file I want in CyberDuck, I can just hit the Smultron icon in the toolbar and my document opens up ready to be edited. Fantastic!

I'm really digging the whole setup. If you are in the market for a new text editor, check out Smultron - and if you do any web development use it with CyberDuck. You'll be amazed. Smultron even has auto-complete html tags (cmd+t) and matching braces highlighting.

I just noticed I'm a whole version number behind on Smultron, so I gotta go play with the new version!

Resources:
Smultron
CyberDuck
Text Wrangler