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Magnus · 8th August 2007, 17:42

Coda: a first look
by Magnus

It’s not every day that I get really excited about a new application. But some weeks ago when Panic released their latest application entitled Coda (Panic - Coda - One-Window Web Development for Mac OS X), I was instantly excited as soon as I read a little bit about it. And since it came from Panic, makers of Transmit, one of the best FTP applications for Mac OS X, I was even more interested.

Four in one
So what is Coda? It’s an attempt by the people at Panic to replace a set of tools and applications that many developers of web sites use. FTP for transferring files, text editor for writing and editing the code, CSS editor, and SSH client. So today you may be using Transmit for FTP, TextMate for text editing, CSSEdit for CSS editing, and Terminal for SSH. Coda replaces all of them in one application. Or at least it attempts to.

The site is the core
To start working with Coda, you set up sites. Each site has it’s own URL, FTP and SSH login details, as well as a local copy of the files you’re working on. Once a site is set up you can double click to connect to it, and Coda will restore the files you had open from when you worked on it before.

Interface
The interface is a bit different from many other applications and for the most part Panic got it right, I think. The main parts are the files, over on the left, which you can switch from local and remote view. Then there are buttons along the top for Sites, Edit, Preview, CSS, Terminal, and Books. What’s a bit confusing is that some of these pertain to individual files (Edit, Preview, and CSS), while Sites is obviously for setting up and connecting to sites, and Books is for reference. Let’s say you’re editing a remote file, and you click on Terminal. Would you expect the Terminal to open as a new tab or “over” the existing tab (which is the remote file)? I would say it would make more sense for the Terminal to be a new tab, but it “replaces” the tab that is already there. Then you have to click Edit to see the remote file again. Little peculiarities like this makes an otherwise excellent user interface a bit lacking.

References
If you’ve done any web development you probably know that you often have to look up something in a book or online. Panic thought of this as well and included easy access to online reference books in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

Share the load
Programming and web development is often a collaborative effort. Panic thought about that and included functionality so you can share a document over a local network via Bonjour (see “What is Bonjour?” in the May issue of shuffle).

What’s lacking
I’ve not used Coda for very long, in fact I’m still within the 15 day trial period, and most things are excellent. It’s a very nice text editor, the CSS editor is not quite up to CSSEdit’s class but it’s close, the Terminal is good for any SSH work, and it’s also a good, overall FTP program (but I won’t get rid of Transmit anytime soon). One thing I would like to see is built in support for version control, like CVS or Subversion. Perhaps a special Coda server version that could be installed on a Mac, that would seamlessly integrate with Coda clients. That way you could collaborate with more people and over the internet, not just on the local network.

Final thought
Coda is a breath of fresh air into a somewhat stagnating segment of applications. The integration of different applications is well executed, and the individual tools are almost good enough to stand on their own. To some Coda, at $89, may seem a bit expensive, but if it can replace four applications, it’s well worth it.

8th August 2007, 17:42	#2 (permalink)
Magnus Administrator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Dubai Posts: 8,328	Coda: a first look Coda: a first look by Magnus It’s not every day that I get really excited about a new application. But some weeks ago when Panic released their latest application entitled Coda (Panic - Coda - One-Window Web Development for Mac OS X), I was instantly excited as soon as I read a little bit about it. And since it came from Panic, makers of Transmit, one of the best FTP applications for Mac OS X, I was even more interested. Four in one So what is Coda? It’s an attempt by the people at Panic to replace a set of tools and applications that many developers of web sites use. FTP for transferring files, text editor for writing and editing the code, CSS editor, and SSH client. So today you may be using Transmit for FTP, TextMate for text editing, CSSEdit for CSS editing, and Terminal for SSH. Coda replaces all of them in one application. Or at least it attempts to. The site is the core To start working with Coda, you set up sites. Each site has it’s own URL, FTP and SSH login details, as well as a local copy of the files you’re working on. Once a site is set up you can double click to connect to it, and Coda will restore the files you had open from when you worked on it before. Interface The interface is a bit different from many other applications and for the most part Panic got it right, I think. The main parts are the files, over on the left, which you can switch from local and remote view. Then there are buttons along the top for Sites, Edit, Preview, CSS, Terminal, and Books. What’s a bit confusing is that some of these pertain to individual files (Edit, Preview, and CSS), while Sites is obviously for setting up and connecting to sites, and Books is for reference. Let’s say you’re editing a remote file, and you click on Terminal. Would you expect the Terminal to open as a new tab or “over” the existing tab (which is the remote file)? I would say it would make more sense for the Terminal to be a new tab, but it “replaces” the tab that is already there. Then you have to click Edit to see the remote file again. Little peculiarities like this makes an otherwise excellent user interface a bit lacking. References If you’ve done any web development you probably know that you often have to look up something in a book or online. Panic thought of this as well and included easy access to online reference books in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. Share the load Programming and web development is often a collaborative effort. Panic thought about that and included functionality so you can share a document over a local network via Bonjour (see “What is Bonjour?” in the May issue of shuffle). What’s lacking I’ve not used Coda for very long, in fact I’m still within the 15 day trial period, and most things are excellent. It’s a very nice text editor, the CSS editor is not quite up to CSSEdit’s class but it’s close, the Terminal is good for any SSH work, and it’s also a good, overall FTP program (but I won’t get rid of Transmit anytime soon). One thing I would like to see is built in support for version control, like CVS or Subversion. Perhaps a special Coda server version that could be installed on a Mac, that would seamlessly integrate with Coda clients. That way you could collaborate with more people and over the internet, not just on the local network. Final thought Coda is a breath of fresh air into a somewhat stagnating segment of applications. The integration of different applications is well executed, and the individual tools are almost good enough to stand on their own. To some Coda, at $89, may seem a bit expensive, but if it can replace four applications, it’s well worth it.