This is the first of hopefully many Workflow Wednesday posts. To start off the little series I decided to highlight a program that has radically changed my experience coding websites, including this here blog. That program is Coda.
Program Overview
The only bad news about Coda is that it is Mac only. Sorry PC guys. It, like Dreamweaver, has a code editor as well as full ftp integration. You can simply and easily push files to your live server, and preview your code changes in the program itself. It’s perfect for a guy like me who doesn’t like to work locally and push things live, but work on my live server in its production environment.
Why Coda?
Like most web designers I learned to code HTML and CSS using Adobe Dreamweaver (I actually started off way back in the day with Adobe GoLive *ouch*). After using it for years I was underwhelmed by its complicated layout, usability and poorly integrated FTP/file manager. These problems don’t exist in Coda.
The layout is simple and intuitive, making it easy to find your way around from the very first usage. The site management is simple as well. Click the “add site” button, enter your local and remote site information and it’s off to the races. As a bonus Coda uses your site nickname as well as a generated preview thumbnail to let you easily and quickly move between your different domains or projects. These are the type of extras that really impress someone who is looking for something usable and beautiful at the same time.
File management is also intuitive and easy in Coda. Files can be edited in the right section of the program and then saved at will. The program keeps tracks of edited files that have yet to be uploaded, which makes it a breeze to get the files uploaded without browsing through your entire site structure. You can upload file by file, or use the programs batch of edited files. FTP transfers go quickly as well.
Coda has many other features that make it a great program, including the use of Books, which can append the program’s code-language library. If you have a Mac and are unsatisfied with your coding program give Coda a try. I know I’m happy I did.
For more information check out the Coda site!
I know that this is not the end all be all program, so if you like something better or have a suggestion feel free to leave a comment below!
3 Comments
Nice review R2. I’m also a Coda user, but am actually considering giving Dreamweaver another try. I hear the next version is going to be slick? for now, it’s Coda.
I dug coda from the little I have seen of it. If only they made it for windows. Dreamweaver is about on my last nerve.
@ben I have heard the story of dream weaver improving since studio 7… and here we are.
@justin – yeah, I’ve heard it too, but I haven’t used DW for a LONG time. I’ve always owned it because I have the suite, maybe we can convince @ryanvsclark to do a review and comparison. Ry?