Product Reviews

Being intimidated by the text-driven world of the Unix command line is nothing to be ashamed of. That's why graphical interfaces were invented. However, the command line, in the shape of Terminal, still exists on every Mac running Mac OS X, and comes with programs such as Emacs, a formidable text editor for writers and programmers.

If you've wanted to try out this venerable editor, but have been put off by the lack of a graphical interface and the thought of hours spent learning new keyboard commands, fear not: Aquamacs Emacs is here to show you another way.

You already have Emacs on your Mac. In Terminal, just type emacs and you'll find yourself inside it. But that's when the problems start: while it includes a useful tutorial program, the lack of familiar controls and clickable buttons puts off many new users. This is a shame, as it's a powerful text editor and programming environment - people who like Emacs tend to like it a

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lot.

Aquamacs provides easy access to the great features of Emacs, wrapped up in an 'Aquafied' package to make them more familiar to most Mac users. Instead of running in Terminal, Aquamacs is a standard application that you can drag and drop into your Applications folder. It displays text files in familiar windows with a toolbar at the top.

What's more, all the familiar controls have been added on top of the existing Emacs commands. You can hit command-Q to quit, as well as the standard Emacs quit command (control-X then control-C). Cut, copy and paste all work as you'd expect them to, and you can select text with the shift button or the mouse, just as you would in any other text environment on the Mac.

Browsing a directory of files within Aquamacs is easy, and simply clicking on a file's name will open it in a new window for editing. Syntax-highlighting support is built in, so any markup or code is rendered in a clear and helpful manner. There are so many features in Emacs that the menus can seem a little overwhelming, even with all the work done to make this a friendlier application. It's worth spending some time exploring what's on offer. Don't miss the built-in psychiatrist.

If you like applications that cuddle you and show you how to do everything, avoid Aquamacs Emacs. However, if you've always wanted to embrace the power offered by Unix, it offers you a chance to ease your way into a different world. It doesn't offer everything on a plate, but it does flatten the learning curve considerably.