Recently I have switched to a different computer and, as a result, my entire Jekyll installation had to be migrated. During that process I decided to try out a new way of creating articles for my blog: with emacs. Emacs is a highly customisable text editor available for all major operating systems. It has impressive history, starting in 1976. However, its unique behaviour and conventions (most of them preceding standards we take for granted nowadays) contribute to a steep learning curve, which can be discouraging for new users.

The idea to try emacs out can be credited to Matt Gemmell, whose article on the topic turned out to be pivotal in my discovery of this potent tool. Matt is a Scottish author and a former developer, offering precious insights into some curious and powerful workflows. I wholeheartedly recommend you to visit his blog, if you haven’t already.

For the last couple of years I had been using BBEdit as my text editor of choice. It is an excellent, feature-rich programme, allowing for a comfortable work with Graphical User Interface (GUI) and a pointing device (e.g. mouse, trackball or touchpad) as a main way of navigation. It is also a programme of an old provenience, although not as impressively old as emacs. I really cannot say anything negative about BBEdit: it fits my workflow perfectly, not only in regard to maintaining a personal website, but also in everyday operations on text or data files. I should note that my curiosity about emacs is not rooted in dissatisfaction with BBEdit. I just want to experiment with a solution of another kind to see if a terminal-based text editor can be of use for me.

Since these are my beginnings with emacs, I do not want to formulate any opinion on this piece of software quite yet. It deserves a longer and more intentional use in various situations. I intend to publish updates on my little experiment along the road.

This is article no. 17 from the 100 Days to Offload series.