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A WordPress Developer's Tips for Using Panic Coda

Panic CodaI 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!

By Zack Katz

Zack Katz is the founder of GravityKit and TrustedLogin. He lives in Leverett, Massachusetts with his wife Juniper.

9 replies on “A WordPress Developer's Tips for Using Panic Coda”

Wow, thank you so much. Wish I had found this years ago.. especially the wordpress book thing! No more million tabs open in the codex!

Excellent tips, thanks.

I searched for a while for the “Press Command-6 (or go to View > Mode > Books)” bit, till I discovered that in Coda 2 the books are located on the plus menu, next to the Full Screen button, top right of the window’s tab bar

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