I won’t dig too deep into what’s new, since Panic’s site does a great job of this already. Overall, things like better MySQL editing, tighter Transmit integration, GIT support, code folding, file path bar and better CSS editing are all pretty nice.

The overall UI is quite different though and will take some getting used to. For example, when looking at Sites the search bar is now on the bottom right instead of top right of the window. It’s not a big deal, but this is a good example of how many of the UI elements we are used to just aren’t where they used to be.

There are a few larger issues as well.

1. Syntax modes don’t appear to be compatible between Coda 1 and 2. For ages I’ve used a custom PHP-HTML syntax mode for Coda 1. Apparently in Coda 2 I have to rebuild that from scratch since I can’t import my old mode. I’m not looking forward to doing this.
2. Color schemes for syntax highlighting can’t be imported from Coda 1. Like the above, I have a custom color scheme that I’m very used to. Coda 2 can’t read Coda 1 schemes, so now I have to rebuild my color scheme from scratch for Coda 2. This new version has a “simplified syntax coloring” which seems to also make it more difficult to fine tune color schemes. Of all the quirks and issues this one bothers me the most and will slow me down more than the others. When function declarations and variables are a totally different color that what I’m used to it takes longer to scan through code. At the very least I would expect some sort of import/conversion tool for old color schemes.
3. You can’t deselect individual files after using the Publish function via keyboard shortcut, or see a list of which files will be published. In Coda 1 when I hit control-command-P to Publish it shows me a list of files marked for publishing and lets me select or deselect individual files. In Coda 2 all it shows is the “Are you sure” modal window – no file list. I have to manually click on the Publish icon in the sidebar to see which files are marked and deselect them there. Coda 2 should automatically show me that window when I invoke Publish with a keyboard shortcut.
4. No more marked-for-publishing indicator in the Files sidebar. In Coda 1 I could instantly see which files had changed in the sidebar thanks to the little blue dot indicator next to the file name. This was extremely handy  for seeing at-a-glance which files had changed and were marked for publishing. Coda 2 got rid of that for some reason. Now you have to click on the Publish icon in the sidebar.
5. Hotkey for Clips has changed (among others). This used to be command-control-C, which made sense and seemed intuitive. Now it’s option-command-4. I’m sure this won’t mean a thing to anyone whose first experience with Coda is version 2, but it’s awfully annoying for the rest of us that have been using Coda since 2007.

These may not seem like large problems, but each one slows down my workflow and I’m not sure I understand the reasoning behind them.

Lastly, Coda 2 has crashed on me twice since I installed it today. I wasn’t doing anything particularly taxing, once it was just sitting idle. Coda 2 also feels a little slower. I’m not entirely sure if it actually is slower or if that’s just the result of an unfamiliar UI and the issues I mentioned above. Time will tell.

While Coda 2 is a great improvement in some areas, it’s taken a few steps back in others. I love Coda and it’s still hand-down the best editor out there, but if you already have version 1 I’d wait until version 2.1 or later before upgrading. I wish I had.

And another…

Lastly, some art from my new comic project, Meager Panic

Udpate: I hadn’t thought about this looking like “piss on Facebook” until now… That wasn’t the intent. This was drawn to go with a podcast that joked about Facebook buying companies they didn’t need, and that soon they would even own a urinal cake factory. Although looking at this drawing now, I don’t know “piss on Facebook” didn’t occur to me.

There is a little app out there called Smuteify that tries to automatically mute Spotify ads, but it doesn’t work on OSX Lion.

I wrote a little Applescript and combined it with a neat command line script called Audiodevice. Audiodevice runs on the command line to tell your system which output device to use for sound. It can toggle from headphones to internal speakers and so on. This works for Spotify by changing your output source to a device that won’t output any sound. My Applescript invokes Audiodevice, listens to what it returns and toggles your sound output accordingly.

The Setup

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Soundflower – you’ll need this installed if you want to use this applescript as-is. Otherwise, you can modify my Mute Spotify script to use another output source of your choosing.
• Audiodevice – this is the command-line script that does all of the real work.
• Mute Spotify - my Applescript (also see the update here)

1. Install Soundflower (or skip this if you plan to use another output source)
2. Unzip Audiodevice and place it in your home directory. For example, mine is in /Users/jeff/
3. Unzip my Mute Spotify applescript and place it in your Applications folder (or anywhere else you like)

Now when you want to mute Spotify ads you can either click the Mute Spotify script, or (as I do) invoke it with Quicksilver. Alfred or Spotlight will work just as well. When you run Mute Spotify it will toggle your output source and thus mute your audio. Run it again to unmute. Since Spotify uses Growl notifications to tell you which song (or ad) is playing, it will also tell you when an ad is over and a new song starts.

Thanks to @whosawhatsis and his Audiodevice script that makes this all possible. There are a few other methods out there for toggling audio via Applescript, but they all open your System Preferences window, navigate to Sound and then select the source. It’s a lot slower and needs to focus the System Preferences window so you have to stop whatever you’re doing. My method is quick and runs in the background. It should also work on all versions of OSX – please let me know if it doesn’t.

To be very clear – this is not intended to screw over Spotify. This is intended to stop the shitty practice of breaking your computer’s mute button. Mute is not pause. You will still see ads in the app window, audio ads will still play and are not automatically blocked (unlike Smuteify).

Tip: If you need to manually reset your sound source for any reason, Option-click on your sound icon in the menubar and choose “Internal Speakers.”

 
UPDATE: I’ve revised the Applescript to intelligently switch between Internal Speakers and Headphones so that you can use a single script whether or not you’re plugged in. Here’s the new version: Mute Spotify v2

Also, a nice trick – you can invoke either script with just one key by using Quicksilver Triggers. I used F6 for this, which isn’t used by anything else, so I now have a “mute spotify” key.