TextEdit on Lion has version control coming out of its ears, vertical layout for Eastern languages, and improved toolbars. It’s got some really great forward-looking features.
It also is slow as a hungover mule carrying ten sacks of potatoes. Launching the file open dialog takes countable seconds. It’s no longer instant the way it used to be. And losing that responsiveness has been getting on my nerves more and more the past few weeks.
Today, I finally had enough of Lion’s TextEdit. I replaced it with Snow Leopard’s. I keep an entire SL install around on a spare USB drive. (/Volumes/Backed was my last Carbon Copy Cloner backup, made as I was about to switch to my new SSD HDD.) I launched my copy off that backup. Now that I’ve been using it, I’m not sure if I’m going back anytime soon.
When you open a lot of files throughout the day, searching for items, making updates in to-do lists, and so forth, that re-found zippiness is incredibly welcome. I’m no longer plagued by “Could not create file” errors, or slow-loading screens with their pause-pause-pause delays.
Find and replace has returned to the uglier but faster floating panel from the built-in version, and “replace” is back to being a standard element rather than an option.
Returning to 10.6 TextEdit is like putting that mule on methamphetamines.
Speed, I tell you, speed.
I’m going to give this about a week and see how things go before I make a more permanent commitment. For now, I’ve remapped my Quickeys macros to open the SL version rather than the Lion one, but I haven’t changed anything else in-system.
Are you a heavy TextEdit user? How has the change to Lion affected your workflow. Pipe up in the comments.
And for all of you who are about to comment “If you hate Lion so much why not go back to Snow Leopard,” well get off of my lawn, you rotten kids.
I love Lion, but I’m not afraid to keep making it better.
Hackinations: How to bring the spring back into TextEdit’s step originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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