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Code Editors and FTP Apps That I Use (Mac, Windows)

January 12, 2011 — 57 Comments

Espresso for Mac

[Don't forget to check out the Giveaway at the end of the post!]

I was asked recently to list out some of the applications that I use for editing code as well as interfacing with my servers via FTP, SFTP, and more.

I am a bit odd in that I use a number of different applications that functionally do the same thing; I do this because I appreciate the opportunity to work in different environments and see a change-up every once in a while (in other words I get bored easily).

And, for the most part, all of them do what I need them to do and that’s the bottom line, right?

Functionally, these apps do the following:

Also, I’ve got both Mac apps and Windows apps listed for those that need a flavor of either one. I grew up working in Linux/Windows environments and eventually found a home on the OSX.

Coda for Mac

I spend a lot of time in Coda by Panic and for a while it was my defacto editor as well as SFTP client, both of which it does very well.

I like it because it has a clean UI, intuitive features, and a very functional editor interface.

It can also help manage CSS, has Terminal access, and even has access to Code Reference Books and resources built right in.

With add-ons galore it can be a one-stop-shop for your FTP/Code editing needs.

Check out these screenshots for a glance [click images for larger view]:

The editor is great.

Manage some CSS!

Terminal access if you need.

The Book Resources are pretty sweet.

Transmit for Mac

Transmit by Panic (the same company that created Coda above) is primarily a file transfer app that enables you to do FTP/SFTP as well as Amazon S3 access, which is primarily why I first purchased the app.

For those that are interested, one of the value propositions that Panic showcases for Transmit is it’s transfer speed which, in selected tests has proven to be quite close to their advertisements. In other words, transferring files is fast.

Is it worth the extra purchase? Perhaps not, but if you’re in need of a large-file upload app to Amazon S3 then rock it.

Check out these screenshots for a glance [click images for larger view]:

Interface is clean and usable.

Amazon S3 connectivity! Win!

Espresso for Mac

Espresso for Mac is a sweet rich code editor and upload app built for the Mac that has a few features that I really like which make it a decent complement to the previous two.

In fact, I’ll jump into Espresso when I’m feeling bored with the Coda interface since it’s just as slick and clean.

The “Navigator” on the right side of the app’s screen is beautiful and for some might be the deciding factor on using it. I’ve seen some other people praise the “Snippets,” the organization of the app itself, and the fact that besides being a sweet code editor it supports FTP, SFTP, and Amazon S3 all-in-one!

For some it’s exactly what they’ve been looking for and I use it just as heavily now as I do Coda.

Check out these screenshots for a glance [click images for larger view]:

Well-thought out UI and design.

Navigator and Snippets on the right!

FTP, Amazon S3, and SFTP built-in!

CuteFTP Professional for Windows

There are a near-infinite amount of FTP clients for Windows-based systems but there’s only one that I recommend without reservation: CuteFTP Pro. I can’t remember when I first found it but I’ve been using it for more than a decade.

Worth every penny. It does everything you need and then some but it doesn’t feel bloated.

Notepad++ for Windows

Notepad++ is a free open source text editor that I used for quite some time. It’s simple and free and for most people will get the job done.

I have always enjoyed this app and I found little wrong with it in it’s stated capabilities.

Ultra Edit for Windows

UltraEdit has also been around for quite some time and was eventually where I landed for much of my work in the Windows environment. I distinctly remember hacking out HTML in my first few jobs on this app.

It’ll get the job done but probably not worth it unless you’re a serious software engineer.

GNU Emacs for Windows

I have a special place in my heart for Emacs as it was one of the first editors that I used when I jumped seriously into development. In fact, it was the first app that I downloaded and used for the my college career at Georgia Tech.

Many fond (and heartbreaking) memories! Still as good as ever.

So, that’s about it!

I use these apps on both my Macbook Air as well as my Dell XPS 1210:

I LOVE my 13" Macbook Air!

And…

This laptop has served me well. Great memories!

So how about you? What are you using?

Giveaway!

I nearly forgot! Since I love these apps I wanted to share that love by giving 3 lucky winners a copy of any app out of this list that they want!

All you have to do is:

  • Tweet this post!
  • Comment with a link to your tweet as well as what app you’d like!

That’s it! Get going!

Update: Winners!

  1. ThatGuyKC
  2. austinklee
  3. Jon Stem

Thanks all! We’ll definitely have more of these!

In Giveaways, Tools
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John

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I'm passionate about startups, blogging, and human capital. I love what I do and who I get to work with. I am incredibly blessed.


57 responses to Code Editors and FTP Apps That I Use (Mac, Windows)

  1. Adam January 12, 2011 at 5:13 PM

    I have to go with the free options for now until I can generate a little income to buy Coda.
    Currently using Cyberduck for FTP and Text Wrangler for code editing.
    If you could get either Coda or Espresso w/ CSSEdit which one would you chose?

    Reply
  2. Michael January 12, 2011 at 5:27 PM

    Would love to use Coda!!

    Reply
  3. Jerry January 12, 2011 at 6:06 PM

    My first foray into the world of code editing FTPing… But im excited, espresso for Mac looks cool!

    https://twitter.com/jerrytwebb/status/25324698443194368

    Reply
  4. Vince January 12, 2011 at 5:08 PM

    Textmate for OSX.

    Dope.

    Reply
  5. Brent January 12, 2011 at 5:15 PM

    TextMate, CSSEdit & Transmit.

    Thx for the post. Might have to look at the other options.

    Reply
  6. Dave Anthold January 12, 2011 at 6:22 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/DaveAnthold/status/25319948125478912

    I would love Coda! This information is awesome – thanks!

    Reply
  7. Josh January 12, 2011 at 5:24 PM

    Coda just plain rocks. I dumped the bloat-ish Dreamweaver a year or two ago for Coda and haven’t looked back. And Transmit all the way for S3 uploads (along with the S3Fox plugin in a pinch).

    Reply
  8. Brian Alexander January 12, 2011 at 5:29 PM

    http://twitter.com/brianfalexander/status/25318369272008704

    I use all Three as well on my Macbook Pro. I like Coda the best.

    Reply
  9. ThatGuyKC January 12, 2011 at 5:34 PM

    Say WHAT?! Free stuff? I’m gonna say Coda please. (I’m a newbie so if Espresso would be better I’ll trust your judgement)

    BAM!
    http://twitter.com/#!/tentblogger/status/25317272289542144

    New Twitter is a little funky, but you can see me listed underneath your tweet as someone who RT’d.

    Reply
    • John Saddington January 19, 2011 at 4:12 PM

      hehe. you’re a winner!

      Reply
      • ThatGuyKC January 19, 2011 at 4:34 PM

        BOOM!! I’m gonna steal @blaneyoung’s catchphrase. I don’t care.

        That is awesome! Thank you so much!

        I have told so many people about TentBlogger.com and how awesome it is that they think I’m a blogging expert. HA!

        Proud to be a padawan tentblogger! :)

        P.S. I promise to buy/install StandardTheme on my new blog by March. Gotta save up my “fun money”. We went through Dave Ramsey’s class in December. Trying to be debt free and launch a blog is a lesson in patience. :)

        Reply
  10. Micah January 12, 2011 at 5:36 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/micahgodbolt/status/25319794328731648
    Love many of those apps. Don’t have Coda yet. Would be nice.

    Great wordpress standard theme. I use the same at godboltmedia.com

    Reply
  11. austinklee January 12, 2011 at 5:42 PM

    As the inspiration for this post…hook me up with Coda!! Pretty please!!

    http://twitter.com/austinklee/status/25311705194037248

    Reply
  12. Peter Anderson January 12, 2011 at 5:50 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/PeterNAnderson

    I would like to check out Espresso! Thanks, and I hope things are going well with your new daughter.

    Reply
  13. Jonathan Griffiths January 12, 2011 at 5:50 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/revjdg/status/25323585128103937

    Coda would be my pick, no doubt. Cheers.

    Reply
  14. Kyle January 12, 2011 at 5:50 PM

    I’d really like to have Coda.

    Free options that I use a lot are Cyberduck & Smultron

    http://twitter.com/#!/kyleike2/status/25323307104468992

    Reply
  15. Jon Stem January 12, 2011 at 5:54 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/jon_stem/status/25322589979156480

    I’d love a copy of UltraEdit!!

    Ideally, would love to have Coda – but I haven’t been able to make the switch to Mac yet.

    Hopefully someday soon I’ll rack up enough awesomeness to score a Macbook Air! :)

    Thanks, John!!

    Reply
  16. Eric Ryan Jones January 12, 2011 at 6:06 PM

    Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/witharmshigh/status/25327610913357825
    I’ll take Transmit please :-)

    I’ve always been a dreamweaver person but the new mac apps are winning me over slowly…

    Reply
  17. Mutant Minds January 12, 2011 at 6:41 PM

    Ah, your making me want a Mac even more. Maybe I should go out and get me a second job to buy one.

    Great post, I am going to check out Notepad++.

    The apps that I use are:

    FileZilla for FTP
    Aptana Studio 3 for editing

    Both of these are free apps and seem to get the job done for me.

    ________________________________________________________________

    If I am a winner, I would like to get UltraEdit.

    http://twitter.com/#!/mutantminds

    Sorry, new to Twitter and I don’t know how everyone is getting that /status/##number## stuff off their tweet.

    Would be glad if someone could help a noobie. :)

    Reply
  18. Patrick Thunstrom January 12, 2011 at 7:02 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/pathunstrom/status/25341250781577216

    If I win, I’m a windows user, and honestly have no idea which would be best for me (Just now learning to code.)

    Reply
  19. Craig Allen January 12, 2011 at 9:13 PM

    FileZilla for FTP all the way. When I use anything other than a plain text editor for coding, I love Espresso: cheaper than Coda and just as nice.

    Transmit would be sweet!

    http://twitter.com/craigallenme/status/25373283390062592

    Reply
  20. Chis Rouse January 12, 2011 at 8:47 PM

    http://twitter.com/chrisrouse/status/25318179391672320

    I’d love a copy of Transmit for Mac. Looks like a great replacement for Cyberduck and FileZilla. Wish something as good existed for Windows.

    Reply
  21. Jeff January 12, 2011 at 9:46 PM

    http://mobile.twitter.com/jmscholen/status/25378091694030849

    Thanks for the post. I was curious about what you use as well.

    Reply
  22. Pablo Lara H January 12, 2011 at 9:57 PM

    Transmit please!

    http://twitter.com/#!/pablolarah/status/25385686936850432

    Reply
  23. WebMama January 13, 2011 at 3:04 AM

    Hi! Love your blog!
    http://twitter.com/NataliaUzhakina/status/25458420182155264
    Now I use Win and NotePad++. But my goal for this year – Macbook Air. And Espresso for Mac looks cool :)

    Reply
  24. Peter January 13, 2011 at 3:22 AM

    Coda !

    http://twitter.com/#!/polle/status/25467595989712896

    Reply
  25. Jon Manna January 13, 2011 at 7:56 AM

    Hey John! Great apps. Would love to win Espresso for Mac.

    Tweeted here: http://twitter.com/#!/jonmanna/status/25536061077716993

    Reply
  26. Dean Saliba January 13, 2011 at 10:51 AM

    When I edit anything HTML related I jiust use NotePad. I also use CuteFTP to upload to my webhost. :)

    Reply
  27. Joshua Chase January 13, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    Great tool Kit. I also use Coda, Espresso, and Transmit. I will tweet anyways and keep up the great posts. I love to read what others use for development.

    Reply
  28. Reuben Urias January 13, 2011 at 11:15 AM

    Coda!

    http://twitter.com/#!/wwjd3/status/25586146348105728

    Reply
  29. Sam January 13, 2011 at 11:43 AM

    A code editor named Espresso?! Someone knows what makes the world go round. I’d love to win a copy of Espresso for Mac.

    Tweeted here: http://twitter.com/#!/petrasam/status/25588711680905216

    Thanks for your generosity.

    Reply
  30. Josh Wagner January 13, 2011 at 1:13 PM

    I would love to have Coda. Heard a lot about that, seems great.

    Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/jbwagner/status/25616037936369664

    Reply
  31. Shawn Grimes January 13, 2011 at 1:20 PM

    Awesome giveaway!

    Link to tweet http://twitter.com/#!/shawnrgrimes/status/25617763762438144

    I would love to own a license for Espresso! I have Coda and others from this list, but I have been using Espresso lately and my trial is about to expire!

    Reply
  32. Dan Sullivan January 13, 2011 at 1:25 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/dansully/status/25619170385199104

    Espresso is great for a lot of things, not to mention it’s beautiful.

    CODA is a great app, and I’d like to win it so I can stop using it 15 minutes at a time. That gets a little difficult :)

    Reply
  33. Diana January 13, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    I have transmit. Codra would be great!

    Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/dianabog/status/25625238372876288

    Reply
  34. Aaron Fenwick January 13, 2011 at 3:24 PM

    I would love to be able to try Espresso!

    http://twitter.com/#!/Aaron_Fenwick/status/25649244731867136

    Reply
  35. Marc Cardaronella January 13, 2011 at 5:38 PM

    I would love Coda! I’m just getting into CSS and it looks like a fantastic package.

    http://twitter.com/#!/MCardaronella/status/25681226996121600

    Reply
  36. Jimmy King January 13, 2011 at 10:03 PM

    Espresso = )

    http://twitter.com/akaJimmy/status/25749198158692355

    Reply
  37. Peter P January 14, 2011 at 1:17 AM

    I use Notepad++ and filezilla.

    I used to use cute but filezilla is free and does everything I want.

    If I win, I’d like to exchange the software for 15 minutes of your time to talk css. That would be far more valuable to me!

    Here’s my linky-dinky, btw http://twitter.com/#!/PeterPollock/status/25797932389236736

    Reply
  38. Kyle Reed January 14, 2011 at 12:25 PM

    I have started to use Coda a lot more…love it

    Reply
  39. Isaiah January 14, 2011 at 3:58 PM

    I love Cyberduck, and have used Espresso in the past (Macheist), but the license has expired and I haven’t even looked at it since…
    Thanks for the post!
    http://twitter.com/#!/ihenni/status/26019401002123264

    Reply
  40. David Santistevan January 15, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    Hey man, here’s the link to my tweet: https://twitter.com/dsantistevan/status/26341268636303360

    I would love Espresso for Mac. Looks amazing!

    Thanks.

    Reply
  41. Ben Brandt January 18, 2011 at 8:55 PM

    http://twitter.com/#!/benjaminbrandt/status/27544386036305920

    Thanks for this post, super helpful look at some awesome tools. If I have to choose one, I think I would love Espresso :)

    Reply
  42. davegullett January 19, 2011 at 8:04 AM

    http://twitter.com/#!/davegullett

    Would love a copy of Coda…I’m still new to all this and it seems to be a great tool to learn on…

    Thanks for the great post, John.

    Reply
  43. Peter P January 19, 2011 at 4:32 PM

    John,

    In the winners list, I think you’ve spelled my name wrong.

    :-)

    Reply
  44. Dan Armor January 27, 2012 at 10:47 AM

    Ohhh! I want coda….
    https://twitter.com/#!/danarmor/status/162908236876484610
    is it too late… is there going to be another contest? :/

    Reply
  45. Dan Armor January 27, 2012 at 10:59 AM

    Oops… I’m on windows… Duh!… never-mind! (use Gilda Radner accent)

    Reply
  46. Dennis J Carmody May 25, 2012 at 1:30 PM

    Would you recommend Coda 2? I never purchased Coda (didn’t do a lot of coding) but I’m finding that I’m doing a little bit more here and there as time goes on. Worth the purchase price?

    Reply
  47. lokesh July 10, 2012 at 5:11 PM

    amazing post john….Coda is the solution for me!!!!!

    Reply

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