But I’m getting ahead of myself. Lemme back up.

Built by the folks at Panic, Coda is the first web development application with which you can code, FTP and test your creations using a single, unobtrusive interface. It’s very easy to learn, and offers some extraordinarily useful features. Panic’s focus here is clear: simplify the development process by eliminating unnecessary windows, and rolling the important ones into a single tidy package. Well they pulled it off, and very well!

Highlights

The first really impressive thing about Coda is the built in browser – and we’re not just talking about a WYSIWYG type “design view”, but an actual preview for static and dynamic pages. The default engine is Safari, but you can change it to Firefox or any other browser you have installed.

On that note, Coda really shines with its document split feature. Split a file (vertically or horizontally) for simultaneous code and preview modes. Need multiple splits to work on more than one file? No problem. Use one split to preview and two more for code view.

Another useful tool is the DOM hierarchy inspector, which works like the Web Developer plugin for Firefox. Highlight, lock or unlock any element of a site you’re working on to see the associated class or ID name in a “breadcrumb” style breakdown at the bottom of the Coda window.

Once you have a section locked you can then move around by clicking any element in the trail of the DOM. There’s also a JavaScript log, which could be considered Coda’s answer to another plugin – Firebug, for finding and debugging errors.

Next up we have Clips (think Snippets in Dreamweaver). What’s useful about Clips is that you can build your own library of code snippets (with or without wildcard placeholders), then assign hotkeys for dropping them into your pages. There’s even a community Clips library to get you started.

Coda’s solitary, uncluttered window is far more appealing than Dreamweaver’s UI, which is sometimes overwhelming and irritating with all the panels that you can accidentally move or float if you get careless with the mouse. I’m not crazy about the file viewing system either.

Coda does a nice job of keeping that simple and easy to navigate. Double clicking a folder takes you into it, rather than just showing/hiding its contents. Once there, you see only the files in that folder – but navigating back up the hierarchy a step or all the way to your home folder is one click away.

Publishing is a snap too. Coda tracks the files you have modified or saved and gives you small visual cues in the sidebar. Click the “up arrow” icon to publish one file at a time, or use the ‘Publish All’ button to upload everything.

There are many more cool features in this application. I could go on but that’s Panic’s job. ;) This is a review, so I’ve got to cover the cons too…

What’s Missing

A lot of simple functionality is missing from Coda. A few of my annoyances include:

Remove Comment/Collapse Code – one of Dreamweaver’s nicest features are the one-click utilities alongside the code view panel. It’s nothing to comment/uncomment PHP, HTML and CSS. Particularly, the absence of an expand/collapse code feature is a disappointment.

Copy Files – I might feel stupid later, but I couldn’t figure out how to copy files or folders between sites! The obvious workarounds are 1: duplicate then move the file, or 2: right click a file and select “Show in Finder”, then copy/paste to a new location in Finder. Either way, these are time-wasting extra steps.

Find All – the ability to search not just documents but folders and entire sites is critical. I’m floored that’s it’s missing. Sometimes I just want to see a list of every occurrence for a particular item, without replacing anything. Unfortunately Coda only let’s you replace all without seeing all.

Shortcuts – the lack of key commands is most noticeable when working with multiple files. Reaching for the mouse to click a tab every time really slows things down. Switching tabs via key combo is must so faster, and could even extend to switching the focus between splits or views as well (i.e. Edit and Preview). If there are commands for this please set me straight.

Compare Files – you cannot view local and remote files simultaneously, and there appears to be no syncing or comparison functions.

Clips – (suggestion) opens in a floating module which lays atop the window. It would serve better if tucked into the sidebar like the Symbols feature.

Summary

Coda is still in its infancy (v1.1 at this time, with 1.5 in limited private beta), but it has the potential to become killer development software. Even now what makes Coda so attractive is not just the pretty interface but the price tag – a mere $79. It’s a solid app, without a significant investment, and has a great many enthusiasts to talk shop with.

Cultured Code ran with that concept and worked it into a sweet little app called Things. I picked it up about a month ago when I saw that it was available for beta. I was hooked right away. Quite honestly, it’s been more useful than any other project or task management software I’ve tried so far, because I actually use it!

The problem with most project oriented apps is that they’re hard to learn or adjust to. They also seem counterproductive at times, eating time instead of freeing it. Navigating can be cumbersome, and of those I’ve tested – the overviews left much to be desired. I often spent more time in the app than working on tasks, or never bothered to add them in the first place because it took too long. With Things there’s almost no learning curve, so you can add (and get moving on) your projects very quickly.

Right away you get a sense that it’s easy to manage – and it actually is. I dare say it’s even fun. ;) The interface is sleek, uncluttered and almost too simple, but not to the point that it compromises functionality. Things puts your tasks in front of your nose in a way that you don’t have to wander around the app to find what it is you really need to do.

Create multiple Projects or Areas of Responsibility and add multiple items to them without losing sight of anything or having to endlessly drill down. This app really shines when it comes to overviews, in my opinion. Switch between several views with just a click – Today, Next, Someday and Scheduled. Things will show you the info you need and not what you don’t. To access details for individual items simply click on the folder for that Project or Area. Don’t have details yet? Use the Someday feature to drop in something you have no specifics for, then move or edit it accordingly later.

Like tags? Things is on board. Add tags to dynamically group items, or use the search filter to find items by tag, title or note. That’s right, you can add notes (of course!) to any task. Things will keep them out of your way too – but never out of reach. Notes are neatly tucked into each task’s module. Just double-click to see associated notes and tags, set a due date or make a task repeatable.

Quickly add, edit, delete or reorder your tasks or Projects. Color coding and highlighting lets you know immediately what is done, what needs done, what has been updated today… the works. Best of all, Things keeps your lists tidy! Via preference setting, you can have it automatically move completed items to a Logbook each day, week or month.

I am really impressed with this software considering it’s only in beta. There are a few minor usability issues (the drag/drop capability and repeatable tasks are still somewhat limited), but the developers are working on them. I have to wonder how Things would hold up to large team usage as well. It seems targeted mostly toward small agencies or freelance types. Then again I don’t work in a team so I can’t comment on that. Overall, I think Things is already well worth the reasonable $50 price tag for the final release.

The only reason I need Windows at all is to test on IE, so I decided I’d rather dual boot when I need to than waste my money on an OS I don’t want (Vista). I made a beeline for Denver on Saturday and bought a shiny new Macbook Air. My conversion to the Mac cult is now officially complete! I’m still opinionated though, ;) and here’s what I think about it so far…

It’s pretty AND environmentally conscious

This baby really is as compact, lightweight and beautiful as the commercial indicates. It’s almost unnoticeable sitting on your lap, and carrying it around is much less cumbersome than most portables. My old machine weighs in at 5lbs, while the Air is only 3lb. I didn’t think 2lbs would make that much of a difference, but it does! As for the display, it’s mercury and arsenic free but there is NO noticeable compromise in the performance. It’s bright, clear and fast – popping right up when you activate the machine after it’s gone into screen saver or sleep mode.

The downside: You can’t move the display back as far as I’d like to be able to. The design of the casing prevents it from extending past a 45 degree angle (approx). Not sure about the standard Macbooks, but I know my Compaq can be moved waaay back, almost to the point of being even with keyboard.

It’s intuitive

The Air has a trackpad that’s been revamped into something more user friendly, making your time working on it that much nicer. Employing the same technology as the iPhone, it has motion sensitive controls allowing you to “swipe” to navigate. Use two fingers to scroll up or down in any application. While browsing, use three fingers to move forward or back between web pages. If you’re skeptical (I was) believe me when I say it works well, responding to the lightest touch. No more precision clicking on the scrollbar (or arrows) anymore, or losing track with the paging keys. FYI, you can also customize the trackpad to enable “tap clicking” instead of using the built-in button. And if you don’t want to hit Cmd constantly to bring up secondary menus, it’s now now as easy as a two finger tap on the pad.

The downside: When browsing, the intelligent motions (swipe, pinch, etc.) only work RELIABLY with Safari. I’m a Firefox girl, so I was disappointed to discover that after I got it home and downloaded FF.

It’s simple

When it comes to hardware, Apple continues to impress me. Another sweet feature they included with the Air is the magnetic power cord. Yep, just like the iMac. Nothing new, but what’s cool is you can plug it in so the port connector faces front or back depending on the orientation of your machine or how you’re positioned while using it. Little details make big differences… with the Air you won’t have to worry that you’re pinching and bending the hell out of your power supply, OR bother with looping the cord around something just to keep it out of your way.

The downside: If you’re lazy (I am), you may notice it’s tough to “feel for the port” and connect when you want to plug in quick. If you don’t mind rotating the machine around or leaning way over to see it every time, forget I mentioned it. But I say again, it’s the little things. ;) The casing is aluminum so it’s supposed to be very durable, but I suspect most people will fumble to plug in, eventually scratching it up. Also the indicator light on the end (so you know it’s connected) is not very visible.

It’s seriously mobile

Finally we come to the optical drive, or lack thereof. I understand how this might make some of you nervous. We’re so used to having a separate volume for storage/media playback that it seems weird to go without. You don’t have to. Apple’s answer is Remote Disk (i.e. cd/dvd sharing). If you have an iMac, the Macbook Air is the perfect companion for it. The iMac can be your workhorse, while the Air unchains you. Install software remotely, and access drives on your other computer. By the way, it does NOT have to be a Mac.

The downside: If you require the ability to play/burn CDs or install software directly while on the road, not having an optical drive might be a deterrent. You can always pick up a Superdrive, but that’s just another thing to carry and sort of counteracts the whole “light as a feather, free as a bird with the Macbook Air” sales pitch. ;)

What it’s NOT

It’s not exactly cheap. The most basic model of the standard Macbook is about $700 less and even has a faster processor, running at 2GHz over Air’s 1.6GHz. It’s also more expandable, but it comes out of the box with only 1GB of RAM. The Air has double that. Hard drive space (80GB) and screen size were the same on both setups, so you might say the choice comes down to convenience vs speed. Honestly I could not see a difference between the two. There’s also a higher end model available with a 1.8GHz processor that has one of those new drives (with non-moving parts) but I did not feel the $3000 price tag was justifiable.

Is the Macbook Air worth the money?

If you’re a designer, gamer, or video/music editor and you already have a “power machine” in your home/office – definitely! But if you’re thinking about it as a primary workstation, I’d say rethink it. It’s designed to function more as a supplemental tool. The Macbook Air would also be an ideal solution if your profession keeps you on the move but doesn’t require the use of resource intensive software (stock trader, publicist, lawyer, etc.).