All Synced Up
For a while now I've been trying to find a way to keep my files synced across multiple platforms. SIMPLENOTE seemed to provide the answer. I used NOTATIONAL VELOCITY and JUST NOTES on my iMac and the Simplenote app on my iPod and iPhone and it all worked just fine.
The problem was that Simplenote stores all the files somewhere up in the cloud; there were no easily accessible files on my computer, which meant that if Simplenote broke, I'd not be able to access my stuff. Nasty.
So I turned to DROPBOX. Big advantage: IAWRITER is a fantastic app for the iPad. For a writer, its keyboard extensions are priceless. PLAINTEXT is good too. What I couldn't find, though, was a decent dropbox enabled text editor for the iMac. A bizarre situation ... you'd think there'd be loads of 'em, huh?
Then I realised that, since Dropbox stores its files on my local drive, I didn't need an editor that uploaded straight to it! Doh!
So I started looking for a suitable editor. I wanted something that gave me a list of files in a sidebar, as well as a decent editing area. I also wanted minimalist interface. BBEDIT came close. It has loads of features but if you don't need them you can turn them off and get it down to a nice clean window. But I'm picky and I'd rather have a sidebar than a drawer.
Then I found SMULTRON which, though no longer in development, is still available for download. Wow, I liked this one. I could reduce the interface to little more than a frame, I could set the colour of the background, and it has FULL SCREEN MODE! Yay!
So now I work with SMULTRON on the iMac and IAWRITER on the iPad and PLAINTEXT on the iPod and iPhone. The file lives on my hard drive but is synced up and down with dropbox, meaning that whatever device I work on, when I move to another, all the changes and updates are present and correct. COOL!
