Why can’t I use TextMate everywhere?
I spend a lot of time writing text on a computer. Mostly just one computer and increasing in one application. I write so much markup (with and without angle-brackets), code and prose that I need to have a customized environment to help me out. I really wish it could be the same environment/editor for everything, but, unfortunately, browser <textarea>s, Mail.app and IM windows all all different input environments and must all be customized separately.
Uh, why?
Text editors should be useable as plugins in other apps which require text editing. I don’t know how Cocoa internals work, but I would think that there’d be a way to define an interface which such plugins could implement, which would allow interoperability.
I just want to use TextMate for everything, but as it is I’m required to do a lot of cut-‘n-pasting to make this happen.
February 16th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
1. Open TextMate.
2. Open Document or Create New One
3. Select Automation->Run Command->TextMate->Install “Edit in TextMate”
4. Follow instructions.
(This comment was created in TextMate)
February 17th, 2006 at 2:09 am
Editus Externus for Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&category=Editing%20and%20Forms&numpg=10&id=1195
February 17th, 2006 at 10:41 am
@dustym-
I know, I use that all the time. However it is very annoying, because it causes the applications I’ve taken the text from to block until I’m done editing the text. So, if I grab something from Safari’s
<textarea>, I won’t be able to use Safari until I put the text back. Sometimes, that just won’t work.@assaf-
Looks good, but doesn’t work reliably on the Mac. Plus FireFox sucks on OSX.
February 17th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Hrm. That’s odd. I don’t experience a block when using TextMate as an external editor. For instance I started this comment, went back to Safari, opened a new tab copied some text in, re-activated the tab, saved, and everything worked fine.
The only annoying thing to me is that I have to re-activate the tab. Well, that and things can get wonky if I edit within the textarea while TextMate is still the active input editor for it. Still, I can understand that it is a cumbersome process. I guess I just use it so much it’s become a part of how I do things.
Ditto on Firefox sucking on the mac.
February 17th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
dustym,
When I open something from Safari to edit in TextMate, then I click on the Safari icon in the Dock or try to ⌘-tab to it, it won’d respond and become active. I presumed that this was a limitation neccessary to keep from messing things up.
Hmm, I just went and re-did the “edit in TextMate” process and it seems that its been improved to removed the limitation. Yeah! Now if only I could have TextMate embedded in these other environments.
February 17th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
wasn’t camino supposed to solve the firefox lameness?
and if you’re willing to live in the browser, switch to gmail and use the external textarea editor.
February 17th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
But I’m not willing to live in a browser. And I can’t send all my email to GMail.
February 17th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
It’s all so frustrating too. I’d love to use Camino, but because it doesn’t use native aqua controls so I can’t use the “edit in textmate” input manager for it or FF.
That said I *do* use TextMate in Mail.app and Adium on a daily basis (though less often in Adium). My reliance on the feature has even caused me to shun apps that don’t honor it, such as Yojimbo. OmniOutliner is good for it, though. As is MarsEdit.