Nova (text editor)
| Developer(s) | Panic |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 4.1
/ September 16, 2020 |
| Engine | |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Type | Text editor |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | nova |
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Nova is a text editor for macOS developed by Panic Inc. It's primarily focused on editing source code for websites with the ability to preview and publish files online. Nova was developed as a replacement for Coda, the company's previous web-focused text editor.[1]
Features
Nova's editor is custom built and proprietary, as opposed to Coda's editor that was based on SubEthaEdit, though most of Coda's core features are included.
Preview
HTML documents can be previewed in the editor alongside the source code. Updates made to the document or any files linked within that document (CSS or Javascript) will update the preview pane instantly. The preview pane uses WebKit to render the content, and includes Safari's developer tools for debugging.[2] Websites served locally can also be previewed without linked files being updated as they're saved.
Syntax highlighting and editing
Nova provides syntax highlighting for multiple web-focused programming languages. Some of these also include suggestions that show up as the user types which can be pulled from a language server which is built to work with the Language Server Protocol. Auto-completion for CSS and HTML is included by default. Syntax highlighting and suggestions are extensible via Nova's plugin system.
Clips
Short snippets of text or templates can be stored as clips. Clips can be inserted into documents by either binding them to a shortcut key or selecting them in the clips menu. Clips can be extended by Nova's plugin system.
Build and run tools
Projects in Nova can have tasks associated with them to run, build and publish source code. These tasks can be made with shell scripts or any other programming language with an executable accessible by Nova. These tasks can either be run on the user's computer, or remotely over SSH (Secure Shell). Plugins can provide their own build and run tasks for projects.
Plugins
Features such as syntax modes, tasks, code suggestion/language parsing services, and clips can be distributed as plugins in the Nova plugin library.[3]
Differences from Coda 2
Coda 2 was the last version of the preceding text editor that Panic Inc. had made. Since Nova shares little to no source with Coda, some features are missing, such as Air Preview which allows Coda to share previewed documents to the companion app "Code Editor"[4] or Coda's built-in MySQL database tool which has no equivalent in Nova. Coda also included "books" which were links to various documentation sites for web technologies which could be read inside the editor, which Nova does not include.
License
Nova can be used for free for up to 30 days before requiring a license. Licenses are perpetual and include 1 year of updates to the editor, after which a maintenance license can be bought to add another year of updates for a lower cost.[5]
See also
This article "Nova (text editor)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Nova (text editor). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ "Panic Blog » Nova. Our next big thing". Retrieved 2021-01-15.
- ↑ "Preview Workflows in Nova". library.panic.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
- ↑ "Nova Extensions". extensions.panic.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
- ↑ "Coda 2". panic.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
- ↑ "How to Purchase Nova". library.panic.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
