Sublime Forum

Brand new GUI for Sublime Text

#1

Well, first of all, until now I haven’t the opportunity to thanks the devs behind Sublime Text 2, is such a awesome tool, and I really want to thank you guys for this awesome editor.

After some months of use of ST2, and visits over the forum, I’ve realized that many other people would like to change some little things about the editor, small details that can improve the usability and elegancy at day to day’s use.

Well, based in some of community ideas, I now come with a concept of editor for ST2, keeping the light and clean visual, but with some improvements.

In this preview the major upgrades are:

Tooltip concept (can be used for reference text, gradient, color pick or anything else);
Icons in the sidebar;
Chrome-like document tabs;
Preview Button (top right);

Shots:

https://photos-1.dropbox.com/thumb/AABYgIwEiEN50qLJpuPw9RZWj2CmeLg5DsxGa7lQc8w17A/41513649/png/2048x1536/2/1345665600/0/2/1.png/Y-_ae0Zh5gGuNBr8l0WNM48MVsKS2dIu1TMzrdb7q5o

https://photos-4.dropbox.com/thumb/AABHwuCNkrfJjv71Da290dWoIQ9Y2Lrpd5jd_76L_PzoGw/41513649/png/2048x1536/2/1345665600/0/2/2.png/3NKLB2Ql5mzrmJEXI8ajoLLeeMWBZHfVG6fG1XmNXkI

https://photos-6.dropbox.com/thumb/AABJRRfWv7cJpckvFFuTrVGordcnGi4NHhM5HoiV2KxqYQ/41513649/png/2048x1536/2/1345665600/0/2/3.png/ywy3Qaxf0rlnM9u_O0dwWmTBecZ6mXqNUBHTIg3-Nb4

https://photos-6.dropbox.com/thumb/AADWkAvePEDUMB7XG6nPUCDDWC4XuKCL0Uyx7gUX6-WWlQ/41513649/png/2048x1536/2/1345665600/0/2/4.png/7T5AutSFtZM9VHhxRBJ__v1B7EwBo4-qR9Rw8Od8-Qw

https://photos-6.dropbox.com/thumb/AABKMapcEyqb3R8vAye9hKcq1GR2hNQBnvw0TQHyQfKZDw/41513649/png/2048x1536/2/1345665600/0/2/5.png/PIOpO38lBu5f8G055sJfDVA86VzDfMjJ49pqoPdLwN4

Full image links:
dropbox.com/s/y7ltvzr1dnsfoz9/1.png
dropbox.com/s/834amvdenunxw4c/2.png
dropbox.com/s/a8bcnt0u1rhj1s3/3.png
dropbox.com/s/wueg7ool4hkgdp8/4.png
dropbox.com/s/zfuwjjrdv42xpyq/5.png

The main idea is made the editor GUI full editable (even more? :stuck_out_tongue: ). Giving a option to change themes easly.

As concept, this is not some upgrade that will happen, but most like an idea, many features would be added and many things may change, and thats why I’m posting it here, so all the ST2 community can work together to make an even more awesome Sublime Text.

Sugestions? Ideas? Start typing! :smiley:

obs.: If someone from staff become interested, I can provide full .PSD files and vector icons used in this concept, all I want is help make Sublime better!
obs2: This first idea is based on Mac OS X, maybe we can create some concepts based on Windows and Linux OS too.

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#2

Interesting. From a UI standpoint it looks pretty good. Though I’m not particularly fond of the tabs. They’re too dark and seem to disappear. As for the custom title bar, I don’t see that ever getting implemented since it’s a lot of work for just one OS while disregarding Windows and Linux. The new phoenix theme already has similar folder icons, and it might be nice to have file icons as well so nice job there. As for the textview, I think I would get distracted with a textured background. While it’s nice for dribbble likes, it does really add much to the experience. From an overall impression of the UI, there seems to be a lot of wasted space.

From a UX standpoint, I would love to see Jon implement custom tooltips and perhaps custom menus. As a plugin author, I’m always looking for the best way to interact with the user. Sometimes quickpanels and input panels just don’t cut it and the status bar gets busy fast.

Overall, your design screams OSX and I don’t know how well it will transfer over to other platforms.

I love seeing people taking an interest in ST2 and constantly trying to give back. Keep up the great work!

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#3

Nice job, but :

  • as a linux developper, I’m always wanting to keep everything text-based. I use the right tool for a specific task, and I really don’t need something that tries to do everything I need if it costs me 4Go of RAM or if it does it approximatively because [insert very good reason here]. I love Sublime because it does one thing and it does it very well : it edits text files.
  • just thinking of the GUI may lead to user experience disasters like Coda two, which may be pretty but is full of stuff I don’t need.

The problem with popups and stuff would be the same as it is with a preferences graphical editor : it could be pretty, of course, but it would be :

  • more expensive for the computer thant a basic text file
  • far less easy to use with Sublime (settings are treated just the way the other text files are)
  • a pain in the *** to maintain

So, in conclusion, I think it is more enjoyable to open a bit more the Sublime API than to close it a bit more by adding features that, maybe, not everyone needs. And I totally agree with you on one point : Sublime is awesome.

PS : Sublime has been made by only one guy.

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#4

The documentation stuff is part of what makes Eclipse (and other Java based editors) so darn slow. It would require quite a bit to do this quickly. I love the color related stuff. Right now I have a color picker bound to CTRL+ALT+C and I use that for generic picking. When it comes to designs, I’m typically either working on things where I know the HEX value (because it’s dictated to me) or I’m working from a photoshop mockup and I eyedropper it. I do like your idea quite a bit though.

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#5

Personally, I really like ST as it is. Should new features like these become available, I hope they would be options that could be turned on/added/whatever for those who wanted/needed them.

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#6

That GUI certainly smells Mac’ey, which is fine, but it doesn’t really provide any new features - It sounds more like a request for an extension to the theming framework (which I wouldn’t mind), than a “major overhaul”.
The only UI differences provided are rounded corners (which many will probably view as a waste of space - including myself. I don’t mind rounded corners, but when programming, I want to maximize my view of code. Hell, I’ve been using 6x2 fonts at some point in my career), customization of side-bar, and more chrome-style tabs. The color-scheme is already possible to deploy (if not already bundled - I use monokai, white backgrounds isn’t my thing). The tabbed title-bar is a lot of work, and only works well with one tab theme. The only thing that it really needs is the tunability of the sidebar, which we currently lack.

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#7

I would suggest you reach Jon before wasting any time on this.

Jon has a very special way of thinking and he has some goals set UI wise.

AFAIK, he has hired a UI Designer to work on this.

Cheers.

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#8

I’m all for the better tooltips, even the colour picker you designed, like Coda 2 really - I wish there was a merge, Sublime for me needs these extra little features to make it easier to visualise a colour, or even a way of making it so developers can add them.

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