A WordPress Developer’s Tips for Using Panic Coda

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Clik here to view.I use Panic Coda for coding. I like its Mac-style interface and it “fits” me well. There are some items that are frustrating, including a lack of auto-complete for functions you’ve already used in your code. Here are three tips to improve your coding experience.

My Three WordPress + Coda Tips

1. Install WordPress Syntax mode for Panic Coda

As a WordPress developer, I use lots of WordPress functions. This will allow you to auto-complete WordPress functions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include function parameter hints, but that’s what tip #3 is for.

2. Replace your WordPress Syntax mode colors

I didn’t like the color set it came with, so I exported my colors:

1. Go to Preferences > Colors
2. Select the color set you like in the “Language” window (I exported PHP-HTML)
3. Click the “Export” tab
4. Edit the .seestyle file in a text editor
5. Find and replace PHP-HTML with PHP-HTML-WP
6. Save the file
7. In Coda, click the Import button and select the .seestyle file
8. Voila: your colors are now what you’re used to.

3. Configure a WordPress Codex book in Coda

Coda comes built-in with six reference “books”; web-based documentation pages for HTML, Javascript, PHP, and CSS.

There was an awesome shortcut in Coda I didn’t know about: Command + Double-click on a function name to open a Coda Book describing that function.

How to configure a WordPress book

1. Press Command-6 (or go to View > Mode > Books)
2. Click the + button in the bottom-left of the window
3. Use the following settings:
   • Book Title: WordPress
   • Book URL: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/
   • Cover Image: Optional. DRÄ Studio has an article with tons of more book options and a nice WordPress cover image to use.
   • Use for Mode: PHP-HTML or PHP-HTML-WP, depending on whether you installed the Syntax Mode in Step 1
   • Search URL: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/*
4. Click OK

Now, when you have auto-completed functions and you forget what parameters the function takes, you can Command+Double-click the function name and be taken directly to the WordPress Codex page relating to it!

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