BBEdit from Bare Bones Software, Partner for the Month of August, a Powerful Link-friendly HTML and text Editor for macOS

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BBEdit is a powerful text and code editor specifically for macOS, developed by Bare Bones Software. Since its release in 1992, it has become a favorite among web developers, writers, and software engineers. We use it daily here at CogSci Apps.

BBEdit is a link-friendly app, so it is fully compatible with Hookmark. Rich Siegel and Patrick Woolsey of Bare Bones Software are original signatories of the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking.

We’re delighted to announce that BBEdit is Hookmark’s Partner for the Month of August.

BBEdit offers a range of advanced features, such as comprehensive search and replace functions, including regular expressions, extensive syntax highlighting, and support for numerous programming and markup languages. (This document, for instance, is authored in BBEdit’s markdown mode.) Its interface is user-friendly and highly customizable, allowing users to create a workspace that suits their specific needs. Additionally, BBEdit integrates seamlessly with version control systems like Git, making it an essential tool for collaborative coding projects.

Amongst BBEdit’s standout features are its scripting and automation capabilities. Users can create custom scripts using AppleScript, Python, or Perl to automate repetitive tasks, significantly boosting productivity. The text factory feature allows batch processing of files, enabling multiple text transformations in a single operation. BBEdit also supports direct FTP and SFTP connections, allowing users to edit files on remote servers.

BBEdit 15 adds over 200 features, such as ChatGPT Worksheets, Minimap, new Cheat Sheets, and much more.

With its robust feature set and continuous updates, BBEdit remains a top choice for those seeking a versatile and powerful text editing solution on macOS.

BBEdit is so powerful and full of features that we can only scratch its surface in this post. We will mention a few link- and focus-related features relevant to Hookmark’s objectives.

Links and navigation in BBEdit

BBEdit has extensive features for navigating documents and dealing with links.

  • For any file, via the edit menu, you can invoke Copy Path,
    Copy Full Path, Copy URL, and Copy Name.
  • BBEdit highlights syntax errors in HTML, including issues with links. It helps ensure that all links are correctly formatted and functional.
  • You can preview how your html links will look in a browser directly within BBEdit. Live Preview shows real-time changes as you edit your HTML.
  • You can search for specific links across multiple files and replace them with new URLs. This is especially useful for updating links site-wide.
  • If you control-click on a URL, the popup menu will show the open link command.
  • The top bar shows you the potentially abbreviated path of the current file.
  • There’s an extensive Go menu enabling you to navigate in many ways: by line number, function, jump point, and more.

Project windows, discussed next augment these capabilities.

Project windows

Project windows facilitate work on related files. You can add files and folders to the sidebar. You can navigate between files in a project by clicking or using keyboard shortcuts (⌥⌘[, ⌥⌘]). Project files are a great way to remain focused while you work, which is also the overarching objective of Hookmark.

Using Hookmark with BBEdit

In a previous blog post, we described some examples of using Hookmark and BBEdit to

  • fill out web forms (e.g., bug reports (Bugzilla, Trello, etc.)) while keeping a linked local copy;
  • draft forum topics and replies while keeping a linked local copy;
  • reply to intricate emails and take linked notes about them in BBEdit (handy because email apps are a very distracting environment);
  • take linked notes about the information you are processing (documents, videos, podcasts, etc.); and
  • compose like a Pro with Hook to New > folder containing BBEdit project files and text documents

We also have a dedicated web page on using Hookmark with BBEdit

The following video discusses Using BBEdit with Hookmark (the video refers to “Hook”, which was the original name of the Hookmark app).

More to learn

While it’s easy to be productive out of the box with BBEdit, it’s powerful enough that you can keep on learning new features. And the features keep coming, release after release.

To learn more,