Light and dark variants site by side in Terminal.app

The counterpart to the dichromatic Hemisu color scheme for Vim, Hemisu for Mac OS X Lion’s Terminal.app comes in two versions, dark and light.

The dark and light themes running in MacVim

Features

• Two modes: one optimized for daytime, the other optimized for low light conditions
• Made to work with both GUIs (gui) and 256-color terminals (cterm)
• Provides harmonious colors and styles for all predefined UI elements and syntax groups

Usage

To install and use this color scheme, move the file hemisu.vim into your colors directory (e.g., ~/.vim/colors/).

The color scheme comes in two flavors, dark and light. To toggle between the two modes, set the background in Vim:

:set background=dark
:set background=light

To enable syntax highlighting and use the color scheme automatically when you start Vim, add the following to your .vimrc:

if &t_Co > 2 || has("gui_running")
  syntax on
  colorscheme hemisu
endif

License

Hemisu is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

See the link below for the repository on GitHub.com, which includes these instructions and the .vim file, and check out the dedicated page. Feel free to leave a comment to report any bugs you find or just to let me know you’re using it.

The text colors were chosen for maximum legibility on the dark background. The soft white text is accented with the red-pink bold text style.

Peppermint on the desktop

Feel free to download the .terminal file and enjoy.

Version 1.1

• Increased background opacity for better legibility when window is on a light backdrop
• Removed background blur
• Very subtle adjustments to colors

Version 1.0

• Initial Release

To make a backup of example.txt, open the file in the editor, go to Plug-ins > Make Timestamped Snapshot or hit Ctrl+Option+Cmd+S, and example_20110412.txt will be created in the same directory. I’ve only included the year, month, and day in the timestamp to suit my usage, but it can be easily modified if need be (just edit my shell script).

> coda

Or, to open a file in Coda:

> coda file.txt

To open multiple files:

> coda file1.txt file2.txt

Note that if one or more of the files don’t exist, they will be created for you. You can also use a wildcard as with other commands:

> coda *.php

Download the script or check out the public Git repository on GitHub.

Apache HTTP Server 2

As noted in a previous post, I use Apache, which comes bundled with Mac OS X, to develop locally. That way, I can write dynamic pages and preview them without uploading anything to an external development server or the production server. In order to do so, I usually set up virtual hosts for each site I am working on:

VirtualHostX

VirtualHostX is a free application that offers a GUI for editing the Apache virtual hosts configuration file. You can pay to unlock the application if you need more than three virtual hosts configured at one time (which I haven’t as of yet).

Sequel Pro

Sequel Pro provides a clean, Apple-style GUI for managing MySQL databases. You can create, drop, and modify databases and tables, create stored procedures and functions, and easily build and test queries in the query editor. The only major functionality that is missing is user management. I’m still relying on MySQL’s command line utility for setting up database permissions. The Sequel Pro website promises these features in the next major release, though I don’t see any sign of further development online, and I have not seen a software update in a while.

Coda

For almost everything else, I use Coda. Coda is, as far as I am concerned, the ideal editor and FTP client. Each project you work on can be saved with stored FTP and/or SSH connection details and code snippets. The editor is very flexible with syntax highlighting for many markup and programming languages and extensible via third-party plugins. The application also features a GUI CSS editor, which I have never used, opting instead to hand code my style sheets. You can easily switch from code view to a preview of your document in Webkit and any Web browser you have installed. The list of features goes on, but they are all laid out on Panic’s website. Despite the long list of features, the software does not feel in the least bit bloated. The interface is clean and stays true in every detail to the OS, and I have never run into a bug.

Billings 3

For the business side of my work, I use Billings to keep my projects organized, track my hours, and of course, bill for my time. Billings lets you keep it simple or keep very detailed records. I like erring on the side of logging too much information during the course of my jobs, which allows me to generate fairly detailed invoices with minimal effort when the time comes. The interface is mostly to my liking, though several features that should be front and center (such as project notes) seem to be buried in odd places. I have run into some bugs, but for the most part they are fixed in frequent software updates, and unfortunately, I have also seen a bug introduced in an update. Overall, Billings’ utility outweighs its annoyances.

Do you have anything to add about these applications? Have you found better software for the job? I’d like to hear about it.

1. Open the file /private/etc/hosts, and add one line for each virtual host you want like so:

   127.0.0.1 newhostname 127.0.0.1 othernewhostname

   The IP listed should always be 127.0.0.1, and the name of the host can obviously be whatever you choose.

2. Open your Apache configuration file (/private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf on Mac OS X Leopard), and add these lines if not already present (you can add them at the end of the file):

   NameVirtualHost *:80 Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

   The Include directive tells Apache to look in a separate configuration file for virtual hosts, which makes it easier to manage. Make sure you use the path that corresponds to your installation of Apache. The path listed above corresponds to Leopard.

3. Open the configuration file (you may have to create it, if it doesn’t exist already) that you pointed to in the main httpd.conf file, and add the following for each new host name you specified in hosts above:

   <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName newhostname DocumentRoot /path/to/root </VirtualHost>

4. Restart Apache. The easiest way to do this on a Mac is to go to System Preferences... > Sharing and uncheck “Web Sharing”, then check it again. You should then be able to use your browser to navigate to http://newhostname/.

This was just an overview. For more detailed information on setting up virtual hosts, see: Apache Virtual Host documentation.

A very easy way to manage virtual hosts on Mac OS X is through a handy application called VirtualHostX, which is free, except that it limits you to three hosts. You can register it for a small fee to remove this restriction.