Sublime Forum

Sublime Text 2 vs WeBuilder

#1

I’m currently discovering Sublime Text which is great, but to switch away from Webuilder, I’m still missing some features…
Here is a list of the pro’s/advantages of each program, I could be wrong about some stuff, and I’m only using it for web development (HTML/CSS/PHP).

Sublime Text 2 pros

  • Fast
  • Fast access to files ctrl+P
  • Great Syntax Coloring (dark)
  • Multiple selections
  • MiniMap very usefull
  • Lots of Plugins :
    • Zen coding
    • Code Intel
    • Can I use : CSS support jumpto
    • ColorHighlighter : shows CSS color visually
    • htaccess color syntaxing
    • GotoDocumentation : PHP doc jumpto

WeBuilder pros

  • Easy buttons for fast access (no need to remember 999 shortcuts)
  • Visual image insertion in HTML (automatically with size) and CSS
  • Snippets library (no need to remember the shortcuts, but you can make some)
  • Good/Easy color picker
  • Change caracters OR tags cases
  • Working code printing with line numbering and syntax coloring

I’m open to any comments…

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#2

I really can’t see how this is a Pro for an editor. As a programmer what do you use more? Your mouse or your keyboard? If you want to use mouse more, probably dreamweaver would be a better solution…

  • Visual image insertion in HTML (automatically with size) and CSS

Tools -> New snippet.

- Good/Easy color picker

I think there is a plugin for that.

- Change caracters OR tags cases

Ctrl+k,l and ctrl+k,u.

- Working code printing with line numbering and syntax coloring

There is a plugin for that.

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#3

Wohohoh, STOP RIGHT THERE! THAT’S A SHORTCUT, BURN IT WITH FIRE!

[size=50]this comment deserves a slap in the face, i know[/size]

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#4

weslly.github.com/ColorPicker/

github.com/joelpt/sublimetext-print-to-html

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#5

[quote=“S0und”]

Wohohoh, STOP RIGHT THERE! THAT’S A SHORTCUT, BURN IT WITH FIRE!

[size=50]this comment deserves a slap in the face, i know[/size][/quote]

Hahaha, such a great troll

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#6

okayy… let’s try to be constructive and let me explain more precisely, looks like you need more details :

1- Case change : CTRL+K, L and CTRL+K,U changes both tags **AND **text… I said I wanted to change the case of tags **OR **text…
for example if I select a bunch of line in my html and I want to change only the case of the inside text and not the tags, if I press “CTRL+K then L”
everything is changed… that’s not what I wanted… ok… this is not an important feature :stuck_out_tongue:

2- ColorPicker : of course I allready installed the ColorPicker plugin (the other one, “colorpick”, only works for Mac if I’m not mistaken)… ok, so now I have the usual color picker from windows… like in Paint… duh… I wanted something more modern… :ugeek:

3- Buttons : I don’t care if I look like a pro or not, I want my coding to be fast and practical… maybe lots of coders have a great brain memory with 100s or 1.000s of shortcuts in their heads… I don’t… :unamused: Even when you have editors with buttons, you can hide the button bars to look like a pro if you want :smiley: , but if you have bad memory or are just starting to learn the shortcuts… you’re wasting a lot of time trying to remember… for example, I printed out a cheat sheet with the most important shortcuts and zen coding… of course I hope to no need it anymore after a while.

4- Code printing : If you read well, I said working code printing… because for me it doesn’t work, nothing happens, even if I click the menu “File/Print as html in browser” (on 2 different computers)… but maybe you will tell me it doesn’t work with Sublime Text in portable mode…

5- Image insertion : I allready installed the “AutoFileName” plugin, which is great but only if you know the name of the file you want to insert and if you start typing it… which in most cases in don’t remember… that’s why I prefer to be able to have a dialog box to browse to my image folder and preview it there before selecting it… I would love to have a better solution of course… how do you guys do it… I’m open to suggestions :sunglasses:
And I don’t see how the snippets library can help me… maybe you need to explain this to me…
For now, what I do is “img+TAB” so i have my tag… but then, how to choose an image ?

Ok, and here is a list of the shortcuts I modified for myself :

  • F1 : PHP goto_documentation

  • F5 : CSS can_i_use

  • F8 : toggle_side_bar

  • SHIFT+F9 : convert HTML entities

one more thing… on Webuilder, if I want to turn lines of text into a list I just select the lines and press a button.

In SublimeText… I select the line and then I have to do “CTRL+SHIFT+L” for multi-line edit, then “ALT+SHIFT+W” to wrap selection in tag, then write “li” which is at this point added to every line that is selected… and finaly add the “ul”…
it doesn’t seem to me that this way is faster than cliking a button…

Maybe there is a snippet or plugin i don’t know about yet :unamused:

Happy trolling :wink: (well not really… I’d prefer you to be constructive than to waste our time… or maybe you don’t use Sublime because it’s fast ? But only because it makes you look like pros ? LOL )

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#7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WEIdPb8hAjo#t=202s adresses your last problem.

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#8

@domdidom: You probably misunderstood. pro as in pros and cons, not pro as in professional.

If you have to move your hand to the mouse then move the cursor to that button, most likely you are slower than pressing ctrl+shift+L then alt+shift+w then type li. Also, ast @vitaLee mentioned, there is a quicker way of doing that.

If pressing few keys is too much, you can always create a macro.

Btw, how can you type code if you have a bad memory? :smile:

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#9

By the way instead of hotkeys you could also use command palette.

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#10

Great, thanks :smile:

So to turn my lines into a list : I just select the lines, do “CTRL+ALT+ENTER” or “ALT+SHIFT+W” and type “ul>li*” in the command line that appeared ! :bulb:

Zen coding seems powerpful, thanks for the link :sunglasses:

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#11

I know I have to get used to the hotkeys and even haven’t used the command palette yet :blush:

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#12

To be honest I also have a problem with all these hotkey incantations. So I have a bunch of the most useful commands mapped on Ctrl+Shift+stuff (except for basics like Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V) and invoke the rest with the palette.

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#13

[quote=“iamntz”]@domdidom: You probably misunderstood. pro as in pros and cons, not pro as in professional.

If pressing few keys is too much, you can always create a macro.

Btw, how can you type code if you have a bad memory? :smile:[/quote]

Hello, sorry for my “pros” misspelling - i edited my first post to correct that.
I’m a french guy and still need to improve my english. But I think I understood your “pro” right…
I just need a good way to insert my images :stuck_out_tongue:

About my memory, I’m working on it :sunglasses:

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#14

If I may chip in:

You’re comparing a text editor to a visual HTML editor (not very dissimilar to Frontpage and the likes).
It’s basically comparing hand written code to generated code, which is not a very useful comparison to make.

Since ST2 is a text editor, it’s focussed on keyboard use. If you don’t like that, then there are no real alternatives when it comes to pure text editing.

Trust me: you’re better off writing your stuff “by hand” then using editors that provide you with “short-cuts” and generate code for you.

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#15

[quote=“ReinierK”]If I may chip in:
You’re comparing a text editor to a visual HTML editor (not very dissimilar to Frontpage and the likes).
It’s basically comparing hand written code to generated code, which is not a very useful comparison to make.
[/quote]

Hello, sorry, but Webuilder is a code editor… maybe I should have precised it.

:sunglasses:

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#16

[quote=“domdidom”]
Hello, sorry, but Webuilder (from Blumentals Software) is a code editor… maybe I should have precised it.

:sunglasses:[/quote]

This may be so, but it is directed at web developers specifically. A guy like me, who doesn’t do web stuff for my job, would find most of the web stuff useless bloat. That is why I prefer that ST2 is a basic text editor (with awesome features mind you) and allows plugins for people who have specific needs.

I am not against toolbars (some people love them and used proper I can like them to), but I personally would be hiding it in ST2 so I could see more of my code. With things like the command palette, all I have to do is bring it up and start typing what I want to do and it shows up. If I remember the shortcut, even better, and if I don’t, the command palette always tells me what the shortcut is if it has one.

With a toolbar, I have to move my hand away from the keyboard, find that icon (if it is one I don’t use often, finding takes a bit longer) and click it. If you have a lot of icons in the toolbar, it becomes more frustrating. Toolbars work best when they are simple…like web browsers before plugins add a billion buttons. That is what infuriates me about things like MS word…a billion little toolbar icons. MS Word, Excel etc. could really benefit from a command palette I think.

Anyways, I don’t think an optional toolbar would hurt anything, I just don’t think it is “needed”. Imagine as well all the devs who put together plugins: now they would have to create toolbar buttons. Oh the horror of non-graphic designers throwing together crappy buttons.

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#17

Hello, sorry, but Webuilder is a code editor… maybe I should have precised it.

:sunglasses:[/quote]

I stand corrected, I should have looked into it a bit further. But my point more or less remains valid: it’s a visually oriented editor by the looks of it (and I’m talking about all the Office-like buttons).

I also doubt it will try to teach you best practices (like using relative sizes and the sorts).

What I find so incredibly great about ST2, is that is comes “unbiased”, as in it doesn’t really do that much for you based on what you’re writing, it simply gives you great tools to increase your productivity and speed.

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#18

Sure, I understand… actually I’m not really against it and would like to be able to code with it as it is.

My comparison of the pros is only to ask you guys who know ST2 if you know how to do some stuff I can’t do well with it yet.

Like,

  • Inserting an image not only the img tag, but the source/path to the image easily.
  • How to print the code… cause the printing plugin doesn’t work for me.
  • Using another colorpicker… maybe by being able to start the any you want.

these things would be great :smile:

Another thing, the printing code is to able to document code for myself… but apart being able to put comments in the code… do you guys know of any software that enable you to comment code ? :bulb:
What I mean is having the code syntax highlighted and putting some speech bubles with text here and there to explain the code for me (bad memory) or someone who will have to use the code later. So that I can be able to edit it again if I have to, and print it out…

Not sure I’m explaining this clearly… :blush:

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#19

Hey there,

I can only give my opinion on these things:

  • inserting images (and other tags) is easiest with Zen-coding. Paths to images I always type by hand, as they’re always in short locations like ‘/images/sprites.png’. I’m not sure why you would need another way of inserting images :wink:

  • do you mean physically printing the code on a printer? What would be the reason for that? Sorry if I don’t understand, but it seems a little… awkward to me :wink:

  • I think there’s a colour picker plugin: Color Picker plugin

For commenting code, I recommend use DocBlockr, a good way of commenting your code. This is available is a ST2 plugin.

I recommend installing package manager by Will Bond and then installing plugins through his awesome package manager.

Again: if you could clarify why you need these specific functionality I might be able to help you better. Somehow it seems to me you’re using some unusual practices and you would be better off changing them, instead of looking for tools that help you out :wink:

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