Let’s say you are at working in front of your computer. You have something you need to quickly write down. Do you use a sticky note or a digital file?
Ten years ago I used to jot quick things down on sticky notes or a paper notepad. But now I jot things down into a text file on my computer.
My text program of choice for these quick notes is TextWrangler. It’s plain and simple. No formatting. For some odd reason, I rather like the mono-space font.
However, now TextWrangler is no longer being developed. The developers of the program say that we are supposed to switch over to BBEdit. I just can’t get myself to change programs. I have an odd affinity for TextWrangler.
Today is the day that I finally move over to BBEdit. I’m going to be doing more code/programming work, and I understand that BBEdit is good for that. Here goes! I’m actually kinda nervous letting go of TextWrangler. But this comparison chart makes me feel better.
Have you considered Simplenote? https://simplenote.com
It’s from the WordPress folks. Like the name says, it’s simple
Simplenote is free?! I’ll give it a try.
For the last 20+ years I’ve been using Apple’s TextEdit (formerly SimpleText).
cmd-shift-t puts it into my preferred mode, plain text, an extremely minimal interface which can be tucked into the corner of screen saving tons or real estate. Super efficient.
Its content gets copied/pasted into a Google doc if it’s important enough to save. (Been using Google docs for the past ten years.)
I also love that plain text mode strips out all the formatting and uses monospace text.
Sounds like you use TextEdit for all the reasons that I use TextWrangler.
Let’s say you quit the program without saving your document. When you reopen TextEdit, does it automatically reopen your unsaved text document? TextWrangler does that. I love it.
When I need to think something out, I head to BBEdit.
If I’m figuring out something with programming, I use BBEdit.
If I’m writing a blog post draft, I use BBEdit.
Now, when I just need to think anything through, I head to BBEdit.
How do I structure the backend for a custom linking section on my site? Let me fire up BBEdit and start typing.
I’d like to blog that, actually. That single paragraph. I inhibit myself too much with my blog, thinking it needs to be more complete. But a blog is a log. I should reserve PAGES on my site for the full-form long content.