A classic "native" software with its clunky UI, "conventional" MacOS.
BBEdit 16
101–110 of 117 posts
Re: BBEdit 16
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
> For instance, an app can't start using Apple Intelligence if it's compiled with an older version of the SDK that doesn't know that such a thing exists. That's not true, it became available in all NSTextViews by default, although with a bit different look.
I’m not talking about Writing Tools but being able to run chat queries to do things, ala OmniFocus. I could see Yojimbo using features like “summarize all the docs in this folder” or “suggest the right tags for this”. It can’t take advantage of those built-in features.
Well, obviously, software can't do things that the author didn't write code for. But AppKit components do get updated with some new features even if the original software didn't have support for them originally.
Re: BBEdit 16
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm with you. I also hate automatic updates. Times when I want my software to behave differently from the day before without me requesting it: Zero. It puts the incentives on the wrong spot too. They are no longer incentivized to make shit appealing enough to upgrade.
MeThree. But I think it's not the case incentives are wrong but the reality of business - what do you do when things are feature complete in all the ways that matter?
I dunno, what does Jordan's Furniture do about the fact that the recliner I'm sitting on is feature complete and has been since 2005 and seems to be sturdy enough to last me for the next twenty years? Try to sell me something better, try to sell me different things, try to sell things to other people, and succeed or fail at those goals.
I haven't used a Mac in a bit but I remember liking BBEdit back in the 00s, and it still seems to exist without having a subscription model.
Re: BBEdit 16
#104> Support for vi keyboard emulation, for basic navigation and editing; I'm sure some people will like this update, but it's a big meh for me. I'll wait for some further updates to upgrade.
You can search for text within images.
Honestly, I would have preferred the ability to search within PDF files.
Re: BBEdit 16
#105My search for a "just a text editor" ended with "CotEditor". It's Mac native, not Electron, and supports both RTL and vertical text. All I could ever want.
Thank you very much for this recommendation! Most of my work is in Xcode, and in an ideal world Xcode would just support third-party syntax highlighting (or LSP), and I've been looking for a Mac-assed simple editor for those scenarios where I just want basic syntax support for a random text file. CotEditor is perfect!
Re: BBEdit 16
#106So, I’ve used BBEdit briefly in the past, and I’m familiar with its stellar reputation. But I’m confused by some of the comments here. Are people mainly using it in place of something like Obsidian? Vim? Emacs? VS Code? Notes? It doesn’t look like it would make for a great IDE but seems to have very powerful text transformation abilities. If I work in VS Code and use Obsidian for notes, is there still a place for som…
When I use it, it’s in place of Emacs or Zed and dealing with smallish projects in well-supported languages. The phrase I hear a lot is that it’s a “Mac-assed Mac app”, integrated into that environment far more than the others. For instance, you can’t script Emacs with Shortcuts or AppleScript.
This isn’t objectively better or worse. They have features BBEdit doesn’t. It has features they don’t. The rest largely comes down to taste.
Re: BBEdit 16
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately Apple doesn’t allow paid updates short of releasing a whole separate app, and you can’t do upgrade discounts for current owners except via weird bundle discounts by sticking the new and old versions together as a package. So Apple is to blame for all the subscriptions. We're talking about a macOS program, where companies don't have to bother with Apple's rules to sell their software, so your comment is…
BBEdit did release through the Apple Store, for a while, but it didn’t work out. The app is most useful, when you can point it at any file in the system, and sandboxed apps can’t see certain directories. This resulted in an awkward “two-tiered” approach, for a short time, then BareBones just abandoned the App Store.
BBEdit is still in the App Store – you can download Version 16 today if you want.
If you buy it that way, then there is a single setting which authorises access to the sandboxed directories.
Re: BBEdit 16
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
BBEdit did release through the Apple Store, for a while, but it didn’t work out. The app is most useful, when you can point it at any file in the system, and sandboxed apps can’t see certain directories. This resulted in an awkward “two-tiered” approach, for a short time, then BareBones just abandoned the App Store.
BBEdit is still in the App Store – you can download Version 16 today if you want. If you buy it that way, then there is a single setting which authorises access to the sandboxed directories.
Hey, that’s cool. I’m glad they figured it out.
They don’t mention it on the site, though, so I guess they aren’t eager to share their money with Apple.
Thanks!
Re: BBEdit 16
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use emacs but I don't know what you're referring to. Can you enlighten me please
The tab key in BBEdit inserts a literal tab character, or advances to a tab stop. It doesn't indent the line, which is what I would argue it should do when writing code.
As a matter of interest, there is a setting `Allow tab key to indent text blocks` (in Settings > Keyboard) – doesn't that do what you're describing?
Re: BBEdit 16
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep. Give people two choices. 1) Purchase a major version and get no updates. 2) Purchase a subscription and get constant updates.
Or use "The Dutch Model": Pay for the major version, get all of its updates. Then pay for update (to next major plus its updates) with a discount. If you don't prefer the pay, you can keep what you have. This is what Reaper, Forklift, CameraBag and countless others do, and it works very well. Edit: This comment contained Forklift as an example before, but they have changed their model, so it's removed.
I’m a big fan of JetBrains model for this. Buy the software on a subscription, and the subscription gets cheaper for the first 3 annual renewals. While you’re subscribed you get access to the most current version and when you stop subscribing you have a lifetime license for the latest major version (and it’s patches) that you’ve paid for at least a year of. The subscription helps fund the continuous development that is expected of modern software but you still get to keep something for having invested that money when you’re done.