I’m definite that I’ve slept through the announcement that this week is going to be some kind of app update week. First we had Pixelmator going 1.3, Parallels going 4.0, and here’s Coda shooting off with their 1.6 release. And what’s the major change in this one? Plugins!
The announcement of Espresso [beta review] seems to have set some kind of panic in the Panic team. The extensible architecture of Espresso, made possible by it’s plugins, lovingly known as ‘Sugars’, would have set it apart from it’s direct competition, Coda.
Hot on heels, the Panic team has finished up with the plugin architecture ahead of the Macrabbit team. Of course, we don’t know whether the plugin architecture was well underway before Espresso was announced, but they both essentially do the same thing.
Of course, the release doesn’t just introduce the plugin framework. Here’s a list of feature introductions. The complete list of changes can be found in the Release Notes page.
- Introducing Coda Plug-ins!
- Open Quickly. Find and open your files instantly. Hit Control-Q, or use the File > Open Quickly.
- Smart Spell Check. Spell checking for your words — not your code. (Live spellcheck requires Mac OS X 10.5)
- Added “Cappuccino” (Objective-J) syntax mode.
Will Coda be able to stay ahead of its competition or will Espresso get the better of it (when it gets out of beta)? While realising that Espresso is still in its early stages, I’m more inclined towards Coda. The one-window web development tool is my favourite mac application, the user interface of which is nothing short of mindblowing. In fact, Smoking Apples was designed and coded using Coda.
A single user Coda license costs a rather steep $99, while the upgrade remains free for existing users. A 15 day trial awaits those who want to take it for a spin.
