Programmer's text editor with vertical split view for Mac OS X

I have been using TextMate 'til now, but I am missing exactly one feature: vertical split view.

I know that Coda supports it, but I am not a big fan of a huge IDE which changes my workflow too much – in other words, I hate it if one application takes over my job.

TextMate is actually all I need:

• code completion
• syntax highlighting
• snippets
• filebrowser (project folder)
• accessible via the terminal

But the Vertical Split is just one feature I am really looking for. Have you an idea which editor could be the solution to my problem?

3

9 Answers

I will always answer Vim (or MacVim in this case): it does everything you want, some more and runs on every platform which gets the next hype!

You can split horizontally and vertically until you bleed. If you shy away from the steep learning curve of pure VIM, you can make Cream to tune Vim into an easier and "more to the standards" version ... but of course you can still vertically split and tab yourself to death.

1

Emacs runs on OSX and is a very popular editor for code, text and well... just about everything. It was originally very much a geek's editor, but has since become much more simple and easy to use. You might give it a shot.

2

Sublime Text 2 looks promising (probably until TextMate 2 comes along), though it is only in (early) alpha stage.

Here's a Screenshot of the feature you're requesting in SublimeText 2.

1

If you think you might consider Vim, it definitely has vertical text splitting. You can split your window into as many windows as you like - top and bottom, left and right, two on the top and one on bottom, etc. The splits can be different files or different parts of the same file.

Vim has a steep learning curve, but I'm a big fan, and after watching me use it, my boss is preparing to switch from Textmate to Vim.

If you want to consider it, I'd highly recommend the Peepcode episode on Vim to get you started.

You can also try using TextMate's bookmark feature as a substitute.

Try Fraise or Smultron. (Fraise is based on and very similar to Smultron.) They both support split view and are both free or very cheap (Smultron costs $5).

Edit:
Link for Smultron changed to current version.

1

Have you considered Cinch?

It allows you to drag a window so that it resizes to half of the screen. You can also drag a window to resize to full screen. You can use it with Exposé to work with more than two windows.

This would enable you to continue using TextMate or any other editor of choice.

Cinch currently costs $7.

TextWrangler has a sweet split view. Still kinda two windows but check it out. command+click to highlight the two docs you want to compare, then right (control) click and choose compare. Observe the awesomeness. I posted this on MacRumors as well.

That and a lot of other great tips here:

Another free option is Jedit, available for Mac, Windows and Linux. It can split horizontally and vertically. Sublime looks better, but it's not free. Macvim is another option, but you have to get used to its different way of doing things.

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