Can BBEdit 9 Pry Me From TextMate?

Juan Magdaraog — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:16:52 +0000

BBEdit was one of the first HTML/Text Editors I used when I switched to the Mac platform. I used it for a short time before making the switch to TextMate. The main deal breaker for me was the price. Currently BBEdit is priced at $125. Its price is slightly more than what I’d normally pay for a Mac app, except for Adobe apps. For a text editor it is quite expensive.

BBEdit 9

BBEdit now is on version 9 and along with it come new features and improvements from previous versions. Improvments such as Projects, a way of organizing files related to each other, Completion, it completes your codes as you’re editing or with a key stroke similar to what Typinator does. It also has integration with MobileMe so you can synchronize your settings, preferences across multiple machines. A whole lot of other new features and improvements are introduced in BBEdit 9. Check out the web site for the complete list.

It’s no debate, BBEdit is a robust text editor with a whole lot of bells and whistles. However similar to my pet peeve with Microsoft products, BBEdit offers just so much features that I’d probably use only 10% of it, leaving 90% of it’s features untouched.

So while BBEdit is a great text editor with a whole lot of muscle I feel that it’s just too much for me. At $125 it’s just not worth it for me. Now, price it the same as TextMate then that’s a different story. But that just won’t happen right?

Power users will find BBEdit an indispensable tool in their arsenal but for people like me who are just your average joes, TextMate will do just fine. It’s a whole lot cheeaper.