¶ My new iBook arrived just in time for the Easter break. This is not only the first time I’ve owned a Mac but also the first time I’ve used one for more than about a minute.
First impressions are good. In fact the very first impression was surprise and wonder at just how much attention to detail was put into the packaging: from the white plastic handle to the rounded polystyrene corners to the welcoming cardboard flap hinting at the goodies inside. And dontcha just love that AC adapter? Straight away I realised that over a grand for a little 800 Mhz machine might not be so steep after all.
After about 5 minutes orientation I got into OS X – it all seemed to make sense. At the moment things seems a bit too easy; with Windows you want to get under its skin a bit for fear it’ll bite you but with OS X I’m happy letting it lead me along.
So next I went to install some software. Just ‘drag the icon to the applications folder’ it said. ‘But won’t that just copy the files over?’. Nope it installs. ‘So how do I uninstall?’. Drag to the trash. ‘But won’t that just delete the executable leaving a bunch of guff behind?’. Nope it uninstalls. Freaky.
It’s all good and I doubt I’ll ever look back, but I’m there’s some things I’m missing already pining for. Like a delete button (fn-backspace doesn’t cut it), a hash key (hidden behind alt-3, c’mon), a right mouse button (pressing ctrl for everything is gonna take some getting used to), a small caps-lock button, a large return button, the Save As dialog, ctrl-c, ctrl-v & ctrl-x (my muscle memory is not geared up for the Apple key), FeedDemon (which I’ve recently paid for) and Topstyle Pro.
Ah Topstyle. This brings me to the real point of this post. What CSS editing software do you fellow OSXers use? Is there anything that can rival Nick Bradbury’s Topstyle? (Get well soon Nick).
I’ve tried Style Master which is a fine piece of software but I’ve never really gelled with it. MacRabbit CSSEdit seems pretty good – its feel and functionality is quite similar to Topstyle but it lacks a few features (and I’m not even thinking about the HTML editor in Topstyle). What do you use?
Comments
1
Welcome to the light side! I don’t personally use a special CSS editor – I just use SubEthaEdit ( http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/ ) for all my XHTML and CSS. Works great! Especially when you’re collaborating with someone.
As for the install/uninstall procedures. Installing by dragging into the Applications folder does just copy the files. The thing is that most OS X applications are self-contained bundles, so copying is all you need to do.
Because of that, uninstalling is as simple as dragging the application the the Trash. This does however leave your preferences for that application intact in ~/Library/Preferences. So if you reinstall later, your preferences are still set.
2
Some OS X thoughts:
Clearly, the solution is for us to gang up on Nick and convince him to start porting his stuff to the Mac. (<laugh type=”evil” />)
3
Thanks for the tips Eric; most welcome.
The Save As dialog is all present and correct, but compared to the Windows dialog it seems a little clunky and cobbled together. Still, it does what it’s supposed to do.
4
Ah! I too have only ever used a Mac for about 10 minutes (5 of those were when you were at my house in fact), and I too have just bought one! Though I opted for the 17in Powerbook.
What fun, eh?
Unfortunately I don’t get hold of mine for another 8 days as it’s waiting for me in Boston, Mass. :o(
p.s. I’m going to be giving SubEthaEdit a try after Simon Willison suggested it to me.
5
Welcome brother! (“one of us.. one of us..”)
I echo Mr Meyer. Get NetNewsWire as a replacement for Feed Demon. You might like the xScope tools too!
6
RSS reader:
There is also Shrook 1.3 out now (Fondantfancies.com) which, although not free at $20, does seem to be a challenge to NetNewsWire Lite’s supremacy. I haven’t used it though, so I can’t tell you what it’s like other then it received a 5 mice MacUser rating.
7
BBEdit is a great editor for a lot of things. I use it for xhtml, CSS, Python, Java, C, etc. There are some CSS editors available though. Checkout http://www.versiontracker.com and http://www.macupdate.com
Like Eric said, OSXHints is a worthwhile stop. You’ll also find some good articles, reviews, etc. at http://www.apple-x.net
The keyboard and mouse do take some getting used to. I’ve been running Macs since the OS X beta came out and am now at the point where I have to stop and think about keys when I have to touch a Windoze box or an Intel Linux/BSD box.
Take care and enjoy the new system.
8
I’ve been using newsfan (http://www.makienterprise.com/newsfan/) and like it a lot.
9
Thanks for the newsreader recommendations folks, but what about CSS editors!?
10
Congrats on the new system. It’s been just about a year since I got my TiBook and I have never looked back. Two of my favorite applications are CSSEdit and SubEthaEdit. Both have a great extened preview function (SubEthaEdit is CMD+R) that uses Safari’s engine to preview the current document. CSSEdit is available from the preview menu (can’t remember the shortcut) and you can select an html file to preview the css with.
Another great program is Fugu (a free sFTP client) or Transmit (FTP, SFTP, $25). I used Fugu quite a bit until I finally needed a good FTP client also so I broke down and bought Transmit which does booth and does it well.
Anyway, best of luck!
11
You can plug in just about any USB two button mouse and it will just work. NO drivers required. Many like microsoft and logitech do offer OS X drivers that add extra features. Try just about any USB mouse to cure your control-click problem.
I just realized your are using an iBook so you probably aren’t usng a mouse. But if you want to carry a mouse around with you this still applies.
12
I personally use CSSEdit together with BBEdit. I love the interface of CSSEdit and the developer is always open to suggestions. The program is updated on regular basis too.
About saving dialogue boxes, I can strongly recommend DefaultFolder, I can’t live without it. Go to: http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolder/ It’s a cool app that lets you jump to a folder, create favorite folders, favorite apps etc. very cool tool!
13
www.versiontracker.com
www.macupdate.com
Apps to look for.
ftp: Cyberduck (free)
Movie Player: Mplayer (free)
most people would recommend LauchBar
Newsgroups:MT-NewsWatcher (free)
RarMe, MacPar (free)
14
Welcome aboard :)
Well, it’s kinda outdated but you might find a few useful links on the list I compiled a while back:http://www.mrxsss.com/mac.html
For CSS, as others mentioned CSSEdit is really good (that’s what I use) and the developer is definitely listening, if you’re missing features, make sure to e-mail him.
Take it easy!
15
Enjoyed the thread. I have been using BBEdit Lite for OS X for a while now for CSS and raw HTML, etc. coding. I suppose I should break down and try a real CSS editing app.
Some recommendations:
-Be sure to try GraphicConverter (shareware). It’s an excellent complement to PhotoShop.
– Visit www.freeverse.com,, download some card games, and hang out online with us creative Mac types. You might even make some good contacts and get even more assistance and recommendations. – Mozilla is God. :)Kudos!
16
<plug type=”shameless”>I’ve been running a weblog on Mac OS X stuff for a while (though it’s gone a bit quiet in the last week or so) – so hopefully you may find it useful ;-)</plug>
17
I’ve been using skEdit and loving it. Doesn’t do as much automatic css stuff as Style Master but a fair bit and the rest is excellent.
18
To delete files using the keyboard, first select the file or folder you want to trash, then hit ‘command-delete’. Voila! It’s now in your Trash can. Plenty of other keyboard shortcuts like this exist. :) Welcome to the Mac!
19
for ctrl-click-less hassle look up ‘sidetrack’ , this free app lets you use a trackpad tap as right -click and lets you assign trackpad edges as scroll areas amongst other options .
It’s slightly less responsive than the apple pad driver but well worth a try .
Happy Mac-ing , you won’t regret it !
20
RE: CTRL vs. CMD keys
I teach video editing and come across this muscle memory thing all the time. After a while you’ll find the Mac method better ergonomics (it predates the windows versions of the same commands).
The apple key is designed to be a pivot for your thumb, which is closer to your natural typing position, and allows you to use the same fingers you would anyway (CMD-Q for quit is a good example). This is faster and means most touch typists won’t have to look.
One criticism people have had of the mac is its lack of the ALT key functionality, which gives full menu control. That can now be turned on in System Peferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard Shortcuts.
Also, if you don’t get the revolutionary LaunchBar, consider Quicksilver, which is free-they’ll speed up your navigation etc.
21
Lots of comments.. lol
Yes, some applications will leave other stuff on your hard drive, but it’s almost always easy to find. The file names, or at least the folders containing them, are in plain English, and likely are named after the application itself. If you want to check that you’re deleting everything from an application, simply look for that app’s name by using the Find field in the upper right corner of any Finder window.
The cool thing is that 99% of the time, if you get rid of all folders associated with an application (mainly ones that didn’t already come with the OS), you won’t wreck anything else. Applications do share use of system files, but they don’t modify, delete, or update any of them.
Yup, it’s just that easy. Apple spent the time doing the behind-the-scenes work so that we don’t have to.
22
bbedit, the holy grail of all editors!!
;)
23
Brad Choate’s OS X inventory includes CSSEdit.
24
Hi, it’s the first time I saw your site. And welcome to the Apple’s world. It’s a good move to buy that ibook.
About the CSS, I’m not very familiar about it, but I use CSSedit as you mentioned in this entry. It’s quite a good software to me.(good enough for the newbie like me for the blogging!!)
Anyway, nice to see a nice blog site and the author also use Mac.
All the best,
Kai
25
I’m in very nearly exactly the same situation you are – after toying with a Mac for about an hour total over the course of months, I got an iBook G4, and I’m loving it.
Just about the only thing I really, really miss on the Mac is Homesite, and I’ve not found an editior with the equivalent built-in FTP that lets me edit pages on the fly, while the program quitely takes care of the upload/download aspects.
26
BBEdit – ‘nuff said. CSSEdit- just recently started using this. The ability to create groups of styles has been a GODSEND! SubEthaEdit-Very cool in that it allows multiple authors to collaborate on a file and see changes in real-time. Haven’t spent much time with it though, as the toolset does not seem to be as robust as BBEdit.27
How weird, I was bored so just tapped in ‘Ello ello ello’ in Google and this popped up.
I’m from Brighton too!
28
I’ll ditto the Sidetrack comment… easily the most useful thing for Apple laptop users ever.
You can configure the trackpad so that a tap is left click and a click is right click (or vice versa), you can configure scroll regions (scrolling on a trackpad is really cool compared to a scrollwheel), and you can even have “corner clicks”, where if you tap one of the corners, you can have a keystroke or whatever played. For example, I have Command+Shift+< on the left corner for going to the next left tab in Safari, and Command+Shift+> on the right corner for cycling through tabs to the right. Works brilliantly.
29
If you are used to EMACS, it could be good to know that Cocoa appllications (such as TextEdit, but not BBEdit) have some built-in EMACS shortcuts (such as Ctrl+T)
Also make sure to check <http://www.macosxhints.com/> for power users hints.
30
Hi Richard,
Welcome to the often much better side of the computing universe!!
BBEdit is great for 98% of all coding requirements and well worth its price. However, one of the better aspects of the app is a bit hidden.
BBEdit’s Glossary items, once you understand how it works and start implementing it, you will save a lot of work and time typing your code. It’s also context sensitive so if you work on a .php file you have PHP glossary items, whereas if you work on a .css file you can have your favorite CSS tags.
The way it works is by creating separate files with the identifier name as the file name and the code to complete (add) inside the document, and then set a trigger for the autocompletion to take place.
I have set mine to CTRL-RETURN.
If you have any questons or need some help, give me a shout via my nospam e-mail.
31
I’m a few days late here, but here’s a link to my boyfriend’s OS X blog ... He reviews software that he finds helpful, or sometimes just enjoyable. :)
32
Hey Rich,
As a fellow mac-newbie, I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said. The install/uninstall thing is a bit of a revelation.
I think my pet annoyances at the moment are the lack of delete key, and the inconsistency regarding the home/end/pageup/down keys. Some apps use fn-home to go to begging of line, others use ctrl-home. Odd.
But so far, very nice.
33
For a FeedDemon replacement, take a look at the upcoming Pulp Fiction…the feature listing and screenshots look very slick…
http://nslog.com/archives/2004/04/15/pulpfiction.php
34
I too am a newbie. New ibook g4.
Maybe I just don’t get it yet, but the save as dialog is driving me nuts. What I mean is, on my pc, the save as dialog allows me to “browse to” or at least type in the filename and directory to house a the new saved version. On this mac, the save as comes up with on;y two boxes, a filename and a directory, but no browsing to subfolders and no chance to type in a specific directory/filename just a dropdown of the toplevel directories for each drive. Can someone take the time to help me with this? Thanks.
msl
35
Just in case matthew Landry finds this (and hasn’t discovered it already) –
In the Save dialog, to the right of the filename, there’s an arrow. Click that, and you’ll get a file browser similar to the Column View in the Finder.
Works well. :)
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