Cabin Fever or How I dealt with the Purple Plague
I write almost everything in TextMate. I have written so much code in this great editor that I constantly reach for shortcuts and snippets outside of it, normally resulting in some benign default function of the current app which almost always produces a FAIL. It’s because of this that I’ve taken to writing emails, tweets, wiki entries, blog posts and most everything else I can in TextMate by gathering plug-ins and bundles that extend it’s functionality. It’s no surprise then that the more capability I added to the app, the less time I spent in the respective apps that were being replaced. This extra time eventually led to me developing a pretty monochromatic outlook on my workspace. I was getting cabin fever, er, TextMate fever… from the minimalist program. Although the interface for the app is very straightforward, many aspects ( purple? ykm ) didn’t fit with the rest of the Mac interface. So I set out to see what my options were.
Being a graphic designer, I have always been indifferent about the icon. I would invoke QuickSilver, pull up TextMate and see same purple gear on a bordered window with a pen and I’d rather eat pencil shavings. I’m sure there are lots of people who depend on that icon being there for them when they get to work each day, and even more importantly need it to stay purple. I’ve got nothing against gears or purple or bordered windows in general, but the icon was impersonal and dry. I had to have something new to look at.
Renovation can be scary…
Research for inspiration yielded what I call ‘Gunk‘. I wanted an icon that made me want to type without making me feel like a sun-deprived cave dweller. I frequently map out site concepts and ideas, and sometimes actually write, in a moleskine, and decided it would have to do. So I made up the logo ( “opened a window” in purple fever terms ) 
and started looking into what had already been done for TextMate and found a wealth of plugins, which I reduced to Webmate, SVNMate, and MissingDrawer. I looked into ProjectPlus which could have replaced parts of MissingDrawer and SVNMate but it proved bulky and loved to pick fights with any other plugin I added, which started to defeat the purpose of how I use TextMate as I would have to disable blogging and other plugins to use it.
So I used WebMate for the convenience factor it added to basic html editing, SVNMate for the SVN status icons it added to the project view, and MissingDrawer to kill the rounded corner drawer that I loathe. Note: if you regularly put the project drawer on different sides of the main window (Dave), this plugin isn’t for you. I then grabbed several goodies from a nice makeover kit from Alexander Atallah called SuperMate, modified the square tabs a smidge, added the code collapse from SubtleGradient and I was starting to feel a spring breeze. I then took the documentation from SuperMate, gave it an overhaul to have decent markup and updated it to include all the additions and zipped the whole deal for you to download. I’m sure that TextMate 2 is in the works, but I’m hoping that this will tide me over. If you like it, leave me a comment.
update: now includes an ico for windows users of E-TextEditor thanks to Chase Swindler
please: leave comments people. I’m seeing a response for a document icon set and I don’t want to waste time making it if no one wants it
Nikita Rudenko on 
GUiLTY on 
rc1 on 
My TextMate setup | BenKreeger.com on 
jasonevers on
Utterly outstanding theme! Appreciated by those of us that spend far too long huddled in the tight, but comforting, confines of TextMate, this has certainly given me a fresh outlook!
Very very very nice.
I hope Allan will use a style like this in version 2.
If only the various document icons would be moleskined it’d be perfect.
Fantastic! Any plans to release a ‘moleskined’ icon for the documents?
Hey Hanni,
Thanks for the comment. I was throwing the idea around recently and of doc icons and decided that I would do them based on user response. There’d be no use in putting a huge icon list together if:
But if Tm2 doesn’t come out within a month or so and I’m still getting comments and/or requests, I’ll definitely look into it.
Thank you for this wonderful icon. I incorporated most of the “hacks” a long time ago but your icon is a really nice addition.
Greetings
Very nice.
I love the new icon.
A great help, if only for the WebMate plugin–thanks!
jon
moleskin + textmate = happiness; or probably deep inner-guilt for not writing anymore, damn Rails and its addicting sexiness.
I really like Green Moleskin
2 questions…
1) What text theme are you using?
2) What Quicksilver theme is that, shown in “TMate.jpg”
Thank you for this. I appreciate all the fine touches. I also disliked the color purple to work with and the gear! Enjoying textmate for all the good reasons, and this polishes things off. Your design is spot on for textmate and writing – inspiring, inviting.
The web preview changes have a few clicks ( i used to keep a file from a project opened in its own window). ONe thing only do I dislike in the changes: the preview window in steel, which is not elegant to my mind or , to put it in practical terms, it jars the eye when moving around between views and editors…….frames in general set things apart make them stand out, which is unnecessary when in the background, and preview is usually open in a larger size window anyway , which isn’t so pleasant switching between windows.
So please fix it for me….this Sunday on your only day off, or you won’t get any pudding.
Brilliant!
Love it! I would enjoy seeing a “moleskinned” doc icon set. Thanks for putting this together.
Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus asking for a doc icon set. Love the editor, hate the purple… Thanks for the fix.
Am I going blind? I can’t seem to find the file to download. I have done this once before, but after updating to the latest cutting edge, all my beautiful stuff are gone. I am trying to do it again, but I don’t see the download link.
And, I would live to see document icons. Thanks for the great work.
Hooman – I can’t find it either… maybe we’re both blind?
My bad – it’s the big green button
LOVE it! Looks SO much better now.
Love it! Thank you so much! Everyone asks me about this and admires it when they see it on my laptop.
Cool theme, but the plugins are really [bad]. Don’t install them!
Comment edited by administrator.
For me the svn badges do not line up with rows in the project drawer. They seem to expect lines about 1 px larger. However, the linespacing in my project drawer does match that of your screenshot.
I started on a icon set for the most common files and started a git repo with the psd and the icons, feel free to fork and add some more icons.
http://github.com/hugowetterberg/tm_green_moleskine_icns/tree/master
Thanks for the great tweaks, and the plugin pack! You’ve saved me a bunch of hassle, and the UI changes are easy on the eyes.
For me, Textmate still can’t replace Word and Mellel for long documents. And I do like your icon, although I’d never be sufficiently fastidious about them to think of replacing the Textmate one.
On a (very) tangential note, if you type a lot and are nerdy enough to have made said new Textmate icons, you might like one of these: a modern Model M keyboard.
I read this entire article [and think the] subject [is AWESOME!]. Upon a third-rereading [I still think the new] Textmate theme [is great and the world needs more of your work].
*This comment has been modified from it’s original version. It has been formatted to fit my opinion.
Pretty awesome theme/set of plugins. Keep up the good work!
[...] grown weary of having to sort-of finagle and finesse TextMate into usable shape. Admittedly, the Green Moleskin mod helps substantially (good bye project drawers!), and the use of updatable bundles has kept this [...]
Love it! Thank you
Heya Jason
I am having a weird issue with tabs. The top border of my tabs are raised above the rest of the outline of the tabs by about 1-2 pixels. Maybe this is intentional but it almost looks broken. Am I crazy? I’m on snow leopard 64
Nah, you’re not crazy, but it is definitely a Snow Leopard issue. I may throw in some Snow Leopard-specific tabs graphics if this is an issue that is a bother to people. Thing is, even with the semi-recent assurances of Textmate 2 and it’s development timeline sans any actual information, I am beginning to jones for it pretty bad.
Thanks for the reply,
It only irked me at first. It’s not really that big of a deal, but if you do have a quick fix graphic that’d be cool.
Thanks for all of your hard work.
[...] Green_Moleskine (package incompatible avec SuperMate !) (intègre webMate, SvnMate, MissingDrawer), Refonte de l’interface et ajout du support des icônes SVN + Nouvelle Icône pour l’application. [...]
hi there, I love this. Deals with my periodic “refreshophilia” better than just changing themes.
You might want to think about updating the folder icons a la: http://www.creative-toolbox.com/2009/03/update-your-textmate-folder-icons-for-leopard/
I always apply that folder icon update as a separate step.
I’ll have to implement that for sure; It’s much nicer. I’m really just going to have to buckle down and overhaul the whole thing. It seems the reason I started this project has come around again and I’m getting cabin fever. I need a new look and Textmate 2 is officially vaporware to me given Allan’s recent switch from reassurance that 2 is coming to defense of his credibility. Be on the lookout for me pushing the limits of this old app’s interface.
Nice. I changed the icon colour to purple. Can I share on github or elsewhere?
I’m all day on textmate… I love your modifications!
Thank you!
It’s great mod, thanks a lot! I also experienced same tab issue as defn described above, and solved this by switching back to a standard tabs. If only app icon was 512×512..
I have answers!