Giving TextWrangler A Whirl

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I downloaded a new text editor entitled TextWrangler, because it was free, to give it a shot. I wasn't dissatisfied with the one I was using, I just wanted to see how this program worked. For one thing, it doesn't page wrap right outta the box, and that's a little irritating that I gotta figure out how to change that setting.

Interesting, I tapped the Return key a couple of times to start this new paragraph, and the cursor returned to left side. This makes the entire paragraph above exist on one line. This might be okay for formatting, but it's not so hot for creative writing where I'm constantly looking at what I just previously wrote to remember where I'm at in the flow of ideas.

I found the setting that wraps the text at 72 characters wide. The authors of this program call it "soft wrap". Oddly, I saw another setting called a "hard wrap". If I continue to use this program (TextWrangler) all this might become clear. One aspect of this program that seems a little better than TextEdit (It comes with the Mac OS) is the way the letters pop up on the screen so punctuously.

A .pdf help file came with the download that goes on forever and a day about the features available in this text editor. It's really loaded for bear. It could take as long to master the available features in this program as it does to learn a huge program like PhotoShop, when presently, all I need it for is writing up blog entries.

I don't think that's what a lotta true Apple affectionados use it for. At least, not the power users. They use programs like TextWrangler for writing source code and other technical applications it can be adapted to be used FOR.

There is a strange window to the right side of this main panel that I haven't figured out what it's for. I don't know how to make it go away so readily, and it's not bothering me except for how it piques my curiosity, so, for right now I'm shining it on.

Now, after I gave this entry the title I created in order to save it in case of a power outage, the content of the second mystery panel changed from "untitled" to the new title, but the other heading stayed the same. "Documents".

If this panel makes my most recent blog entries available for instant viewing by listing them in this panel it could be very handy. Besides, it helps block out the jungle of icons on my desktop so that I can focus on writing.

As I sit here writing I keep getting these odd images of imagined instances of how I could do some one task or the other if I could just learn AppleScript. The last image I "saw" was a "what if" sort of deal where I was imagining being able to finish this entry, then double click on a beautifully designed icon I created myself for this very purpose, and when I double-clicked on that stunning icon it would set off a chain-reaction of events that published it on the internet via an AppleScript I tailor-made to do the trick automagically.

I fear for my future as a script writer. From reading the posts I get from the AppleScript e-mail list sponsored by Apple, even if one becomes fairly proficient at coding these scripts, they're always changing the rules.

Most recently the posts are about the changes in AppleScript due to the Snow Leopard upgrade to include 64-bit innovations. A couple of guys are screaming about having to change their ways and especially their old scripts that they've been using for years. The response from the older members seem infuriatingly calm and placid.

This list is one of the only place I'm aware of where there are Apple employees with Apple e-mail addresses that actively participate in the forum. It amazes me that sometimes these guys openly state that they'll look into the member's complaints if they seem legitimate.

I'm not writing anything to this group. I don't know enough yet to ask a good question, and I ain't gwine mess things up in case it gets to the point where I have a good question. Netiquette comes hard for me. I had a rather humiliating experience happen when I was trying to learn to use Linux. I didn't employ the few skills at statecraft I might possess to reach the good end.

I may screw this effort to communicate with a mostly technical group that tragically stick to the topic they openly state they're there for. I have a very pathetic wheedling way of learning what I need to know in order not to scrape on the bottom of the barrel. I don't care what kind of fool the other thinks I am is, but the fact that they're projecting will finally catch up with them, and then they hate me because I'm beautiful... or not. LOL

It took a long time for me to stop hating people simply because they're beautiful. Maybe not until that ad jingle showed up on TV. Once I began to self-observe to see if I was unconsciously hating people because I was envious and jealous of their beauty, I began to see that other people were acting just like me by hating beautiful people too... and Aiyeeee!... they were looking at me that way too. OMG!

How rude! They were shoving me out of their space for my reasons for shoving others out of mine. How dast they... this? How could that be? Well, of course, ya' can't have this without that. Then, slowly, incrementally, inch-by-inch, I began to re-member vague occasions when significant others told me they thought I was beautiful. It had seemed too good to be true to me. Oh, fuck! Another double-bind. Damned if I do. Damned if I don't. "... all fall down."

Can you imagine the response I get from nerds when I write in their precious forums like this. it doesn't work. They don't see the humor in my irony and sarcasm. Talk about your futile efforts, it's trying to get people who have limited themselves to what they've been taught to physically perceive in order to be model citizens can be a real drag, man.

I've stopped writing a couple of times during this first outing to read the Preferences file for this new (to me) text editor. It's got one hell of a lotta settings one can play around with. That's always good for me. I opened a tutorial program i found under the Help menu in the drop down menu bar. One of the titles in the index is about how to wrap text. I think I've figured it out, but I might as well slog through the documentation anyway as a matter of correct procedure. I'm nothing if not big on correct procedure. '-)
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