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A Few Weeks with MarsEdit

I've been using MarsEdit since shortly before version 2.0 was released. Though I think Daniel did a fantastic job updating the application, I've hit a few bumps in switching over from ecto.

Some of the things I'm not quite used to in MarsEdit (outside of the new keyboard shortcuts) include:

  • The post window stays up while something is posting. I like how ecto closes it right away. When I publish, I want the thing gone from sight. I never (rarely) have errors posting, so leaving it up just means it gets in the way.
  • I think the slug field should use the same font (Monaco 10 here) as the blog entry itself or let me make the field larger.
  • Several times, somehow, I've messed up the date in MarsEdit. It doesn't seem to take typing as well as ecto and I miss the "now" button ecto offers as well as the stepper arrows.
  • I like how ecto shows me the post ID in the list. MarsEdit does not.
  • I also like how ecto shows me relative dates in the list. MarsEdit does not.
  • ecto displays HTML entities as a different color. In fact, it can show HTML, attributes, and brackets as three different colors. MarsEdit shows all HTML as one color.
  • Why can't I post something to my blog as a draft on the server? Have I overlooked something?

Of course, there are many things I like about MarsEdit, too, including:

  • Slightly better template tag support
  • An improved markup shortcut system
  • Better support for WordPress-specific things like the slug (but where's the "Password" field?)
  • Refresh All. Nice.

One thing I'd actually consider a bug: a line of bold (via "strong" tags) text with a carriage return after it is shown without the carriage return (break) in the preview pane despite the fact that WordPress will insert a <br /> tag in such instances.

One Response to "A Few Weeks with MarsEdit"

  1. [...] Most of my earlier observations still stand. All except the "slug" bonus and the "relative date" knock, I [...]