DigitalSandbox

I am in love with a program. I haven’t gotten to use it much yet, but I am totally smitten. I am of course referring to Coda, the new web development tool from Panic. As a hand-coder I have always relied on my trusty text editor for site creation. Often with a browser (or three) open for testing. This system has worked pretty well for a while but I always wished there was something a bit more unified. The old browser refresh shuffle get really old when you are making small incremental changes that need to be tested at each step.

Coda seems to be the web development package I have been looking for. First of all it was written for hand-coders, by hand-coders. This isn’t WYSIWYG and those who complain about the lack of that functionality don’t really get it. It features a live updating preview so you can see what happens when you make changes without the browser refresh shuffle. This is especially nice in the split window view. It allows me to set up local files to work on but have them tied to a particular set of remote files which I can update with one button. And the handy set of reference materials is like icing on the cake.

I wish I had a Mac here at work so I could keep playing with it. I only got a few minutes to play with it last night, but I am thoroughly impressed. I’m sure that as I get to play with it more (while finally redesigning this site now that school is over ? forever) I will find some areas where it could be improved, but for now it solves so many of my current issues with my workflow that I am anxious to get back to working with it. I am nearly certain that some of my graduation money will be headed in Panic’s direction.

FYI - I am not affiliated with Panic in any way. I just really like this software.