Coda 2 – Most Wanted Features
For writing and editing my sites, I use Espresso by MacRabbit. However, I keep seeing Coda 2 by Panic popping up and keep struggling to like it enough to switch. Here’s what stops me at the moment.
So what’s missing for me from Coda 2?
I’m currently sitting with version 2.0.9 on my system (OS X 10.8.5, 2.93 GHz Core i7 with 12 GB RAM) and my post is based on this. I have 6 days left of my demo and if any of these features are in fact already included, I will happily edit this post accordingly..
- I use Transmit by Panic all the time for FTP, so I know and love their software, and this seems to be almost baked-in to Coda. However, the Link Folder Navigation feature seems to be missing and this is a useful one.
- The FTP section seems to be a little slow as there is a delay when opening folders/directories.
- When viewing local site files, in Espresso you can single-click on an image name in your sidebar and see a preview of it with dimensions in the main window. In Coda, you need to use the Quick Look method and may have to resize the pop-up to see the dimensions. Or, you can double-click to open it in Coda, but either way, this is more clicks than I want to make.
- Another really smart feature in Espresso that I’d like to see is with file list view. A single-click shows the file and lets you start editing it straight away. In Coda you need to double-click files to open for editing.
- When editing CSS, there is no auto-closing with a semi-colon and elements like url() don’t get closing brackets.
- I love the fact that in Espresso I can drag the colour picker to select colours outside of the app. In Coda, I need to use the DigitalColor Meter (or similar) to sample colours from outside of Coda.
- Also in Espresso, the Navigator lets me drag to reposition tags and styles. I like this!
- Espresso also shows the tree view of my documents in the Navigator.
- It also shows my comments in the navigator for HTML/PHP docs.
- Likewise, in the Navigator my comments/banners are easy to see. In Coda, bookmarks are used but these are not so easy to see at a glance and they don’t appear in HTML/PHP files.
- When I add a bookmark or comment in Coda, I can use a clip, but there is no option to CAPITALISE my text. A leading capital seems to be needed for a working bookmark.
- When I insert a comment on a blank line in an HTML/PHP document, why isn’t the cursor positioned ready for me to type inside the comment?
- I can’t add comments to blank lines in CSS files.
- Indentation guides and source formatting please!
- Dropbox syncing for sites and clips so I can use Coda on multiple machines.
- Generally, Coda 2 feels a bit slow to respond when creating new files, searching, opening books etc. and I’d like to see it speed up.
There is a lot that I DO like, but I need to be won over before I’m going to write that post 😉
OK, so that’s what I’d like to see. Any other suggestions?
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Even with Coda 2.5.10 there is no auto-closing with a semi-colon when editing CSS. I’m badly missing that, would be a nice time saver!