Nudge Up

Update Your TextMate Folder Icons for Snow Leopard

As we all wait for MacroMates to announce any new information on the development of TextMate 2.0, I decided I couldn’t take it any longer and had to do something about the outdated folder icons in the Project Drawer. So I took matters into my own hands and crafted up a OS X Leopard folder icon to make my TextMate 1.5 app feel slightly more current and with the times. I did this a couple of months ago but I wanted to share my efforts to those wanting to do the same.

The folder icon is the same pixel dimensions as the original folder icon. So rest assured, the new folder icon works great and looks just like folder icons you find elsewhere in OS X Leopard. If for some reason you’d like to keep a backup of the original folder icon just make a copy of the same named file (FolderRef.tiff) before replacing it with the icon I supply. One thing to note though, when your TextMate updates itself, the original folder icon will get restored. You’ll have to just go back and replace it again. A little annoying but luckily it’s not to much work to get it back to the way you want it. Follow these instructions to start using the updated folder icon:

1. Locate your TextMate app in your Applications folder.
2. Right-click on the app to bring up the contextual menu and select “Show Package Contents”.
3. Navigate to this folder: Content > Resources > File Icons
4. Download this updated folder icon resource: FolderRef.tiff
5. Drag the updated folder into the File Icons folder and allow it to replace the original folder icon resource.
6. Relaunch TextMate and you should see the updated folder icons that match the rest of your folders in Snow Leopard in 2010.

These updated folder icons go quite nicely with The Missing Drawer for TextMate. You can find the latest build for it here: http://code.google.com/p/textmate-missingdrawer/

While on the subject of TextMate, here are some random thoughts about the state of powerful text editors for the Mac:

• I really want to love and use Panic’s Coda with its modern UI and all-in-one approach but TextMate’s ridiculously handy set of built-in key command triggers and code folding keep me coming back.
• I’m still holding out hope that MacRabbit’s Espresso will be the one for me. (I love using CSSEdit.)
• Is TextMate 2.0 ever coming out or will it become the Duke Nukem Forever of Mac apps?