Review: Araneae 5
Editor: Araneae 5
Version: 5.0.0
Developer: Ornj.net
Platform/OS: Windows
WYSIWYG: No
Price: Free
Prior to it being suggested in the forums, I had never heard of Araneae. I was even more surprised to see that the fifth version of the the software had just been released (frankly, in these Web 2.0, everything-is-in-beta days, I’m surprised to see version numbers larger than 1.0 anymore). Upon launching the program, I was pleased by the clean interface. Unlike TextMate, however, Araneae’s simple appearance doesn’t belie a flexible, complex, and powerful editor; rather, Araneae is basic inside and out and lacks many (almost all) of the features I’ve come to rely on in an HTML editor.
What I Like
- Simple, clean GUI.
- Free.
- Small download — less than 1MB!
- Column text selection. I don’t know why all editors don’t have this.
- Stackable/draggable document tabs.
- Quick clips, which are kind of a mix between snippets and code wizards.
- Find and Replace sidebar.
Gripes
- Support for CSS/HTML/PHP doesn’t seem to go beyond syntax highlighting — no code hinting/completion.
- One of the features of Araneae is supposed to be the ability to download extensions and more Quick Clips, but that part of the website (as of this writing) isn’t currently available.
- I couldn’t find a way to customize or create Quick Clips, making their usefulness somewhat limited.
- There doesn’t seem to be a file browser or project sidebar.
- There’s no “Replace All” function in the find and replace dialog. Seems like you can also only search one file at a time.
- The overall lack of features for a 5.0.0 release.
Wishlist
- My major “wish” would be to get the extension download site up and running so I could see how extensible Araneae really is.
Overall
At this point in time, Araneae’s features are so few that it really can’t be considered much more than Notepad with syntax colouring. I appreciate that the software is lightweight and free (even for commercial use), but I can’t see myself ever using it. Perhaps when the extension site is online, I can take another look. Until then, I’ll pass.
4 Comments »
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I think you are being a little hard on this product. Like you, I have recently ‘discovered’ this product (perhaps it started life at Version 5?). I use Blumentals HTMLPad and TextPad for my web page coding so I don’t find this product that much of a problem (compared to TextPad) and I really like the extensibility of the product using XML – this alone is a feature that needs to be championed.
This is a great web site!
Regards, Peter
Comment by Peter Anderson — October 19, 2006 @ 10:11 pm
@Peter
I certainly don’t think it’s a bad program, nor is it difficult to use. It simply lacks most of the features I look for in an editor (hence the rating, which is based on feature set). I have been waiting for the customization part of the website to open in order to see how Araneae can be extended (I’m not familiar enough with HTML to try on my own).
Thanks for your comment.
Comment by Eric — October 22, 2006 @ 10:22 am
Hey Eric,
The extensions page has been up for a while now… http://www.ornj.net/araneae/extensions/ … will these make you update your score?
Comment by Randy — September 3, 2007 @ 3:22 am
Thanks, Randy. When I get a chance, I’ll take a look.
Comment by Eric — September 3, 2007 @ 9:28 pm