Smultron 4.0.3

Smultron Editor's Review

Smultron is an advanced text editor that features a lot of useful functions.

Unlike many other Mac OS X text editors, Smultron provides an ergonomic design, multiple documents, and it is fast. Usually, most of the text editors can provide at least two of these things.

The weird thing is the way how it uses the multiple documents interface. Instead of using a tabular interface, Smultron uses a sidebar on the left side where it places all the opened documents.

The list of supported file types and syntax highlight is good. It can be used as a IDE with a little bit customization. It provides enough functionality for a lightweight, but at the same time powerful application.

The preferences are quite good. It features several advanced functions that can ease your work. One thing doesn't work to well though. The auto-completion functionality is highly unusable as it has multiple methods to fill in the auto-completion form. For example, one of these ways is by using the underscore character besides the 'Enter' key, which can be a total pain if you would like to use auto-completion for functions like the ones included in the MySQL PHP library.

Pluses: syntax highlighting for a decent list of programming languages; multiple document editing; good application speed; the possibility to use it as an IDE, the possibility to work with projects.

Drawbacks / flaws: weak implementation of the auto-complete functionality.

In conclusion: this is one of the best text editors for Mac OS X. With the provided features, speed, and ergonomic interface it can be a strong competitor for a shareware product: TextMate.

version reviewed: 3.1.1