I hope he keeps going. Now that I can have functions, I might actually switch!
Anyway, here's a review of Fraise versus TextWrangler based on an hour of using it...
Let's see. A few quirks that I can tolerate and don't break the deal:
When editing and saving somewhere else, it takes a few seconds for Fraise to realize. Then it asks if you want to reload the document. TextWrangler reloads immediately before you even switch to the app and doesn't ask. No option to turn it on.
Fraise doesn't have a way to click and drag in the gutter to select text. TextWrangler has it as an option that of course I turn on. I need this.
Fraise doesn't colorize everything that TextWrangler does. In TW, numbers (values) are colored as are certain function names that belong to the language. But this is no big deal as I rarely notice this anyway.
In TW when I save, it will remove all extra spaces from the ends of lines. This is so convenient. Fraise doesn't do this, and doesn't have an option. It has a menu option called "Remove needless spaces" but in LUA files it's disabled. What the hell is that? Can it be enabled and does it do what I want it to?
The "Shift Right" and "Shift Left" (Add tab spaces or remove them) commands in Fraise are Command+K and Command+L instead of the logical Command+[ and Command+]. This will take getting used to unless I can change it.
I also can't Entab or Detab in LUA files? What the hell?
Also notice the lack of a "Compare" feature. TextWrangler has it. Really convenient sometimes.
Other observations:
I had to turn off the options to add closing parenthesis and brackets because it mad inserting them into already typed lines frustrating. It makes sense if you're typing the coded line for the first time and there's nothing after it's on that line, but if I'm editing a line that's already complete, it should not insert that because who knows if I'm trying to surround something I already typed?
Your Function modification doesn't include those special functions like anonymous ones and others that are part of tables. Note in the right side of the screenshot below the Anonymous function under Sort.
Auto-complete is nice. But sometimes capitalizes stuff it shouldn't. And doesn't go away as gracefully as it should if I decide not to use it.
Fraise has an "Insert Color" feature, but it only inserts as rgb(##,##,##). Would be AMAZING if it could do Lua or Löve type color insertions. Or just the numbers in parenthesis without the rgb part.
The function list in Fraise shows the whole thing with the variables and the line number they're on. TextWrangler just shows the function name.
Fraise has a nice new-world style sidebar on the left with the documents. TextWrangler has an old-world outmoded drawer concept that takes up too much room and wastes too much space.
The document list in Fraise can be sorted. The one in TW is always in alphabetical order.
Fraise has a real toolbar. TW has a custom one that I don't even show. I do like having the one in Fraise showing. Much smaller and compact.
With the font options the same on both editors, Fraise shows more text on screen at once (2 extra lines), doesn't cut off half-lines from view and scrolls per pixel instead of per line. Now, the per line part is nice in TW, but nothing special. The rest is just melted chocolate on Fraise. (See what I did there?)
Again, with both editor windows opened to the same width and height overall, Fraise shows much more, has much more room to see the document and less for the UI. Very nice. The screenshot below shows the difference in space usage. TextWrangler even shows a horizontal scrollbar when I have wrapping turned on. It's not even needed! So why is it there?
Fraise has a "Full Screen" option, but it's really weird. Instead of simply making the app take the full screen with the toolbar and sidebar and status bar and all, it only gives you the document and makes it not take the full width of the screen. With Lion coming, would be nice if it acted like it should, and maybe gave us the option to show two documents at once.
There's a "Split Window" option but it was hidden instead of having a visible button on the scroll bar.
It has some bugs. Weird bugs. Strange bugs.
Fraise seems more simple compared to TW. TW has an options dialog with stuff I would never even use all out the wazoo. Fraise is simpler, but does lack some stuff I'd like to see implemented as mentioned above.
I want to like Fraise. I just hope I don't find anything deal-breaking that can't be fixed easily.
Screen shot 2010-11-23 at 2.59.44 PM.jpg
Above you can see how much space is being wasted in TextWrangler. Even with Fraise's taller status bar, TW's extra useless scrollbar negates any saved space. Even the functions list is smaller vertically. And the Gutter can be resized in Fraise which is one thing I hated about TW. If I could put the functions in the sidebar too, I could remove the toolbar all together.
Also,
"Power of the Meat" is an amazing remix.
