We asked SitePoint authors what developer toys they would want for Christmas, then managed to source them — without relying on Santa.
TextExpander is an app which makes developers’ and writers’ lives easier, expanding custom shortcuts into commonly-used phrases or strings.
Why I wanted a TextExpander license
People have been raving about TextExpander for years and, although I’ve played around with older versions in the past, I’ve never implemented any text substitution software into my workflow in a big way. It always felt like I was missing out though, since I do fit perfectly in the Venn diagram of who this software was made for — Mac automation nerds, writers, and web developers.
The experience so far
Quite simply, it lives up to the hype. My hands spend most of their time on the keyboard already, and I’ve always been a fast typer, and now that existing speed is simply multiplied by the amount of (surprisingly) common text and code that I no longer have to write out manually.
You’ll want to do some Googling to see how other people are using the software — it can be a little tricky to fathom all of the creative ways to make the most of it — but also know you’re able to add a range of “Predefined Snippets” right after installing the software. These provide instant access to handy snippets for symbols, HTML and CSS, and a few other categories you’ll find useful.
Get 20% off a TextExpander license by following this link.
David TurnbullDavid Turnbull is the author of the Meteor Tips blog, a regular source of tips, tricks, and tutorials for the Meteor JavaScript framework. He's currently hard at work on a screencast series for beginning developers to get started with Meteor.
