For some time, I have used TextMate to write my blog entries. But my usual process has been simply to write them in plain text, then copy and paste that text, HTML tags and all, into the WordPress admin system. I will admit that this is incredibly clunky, but there you have it; I viewed TextMate mainly as something to use for the hand-coding of HTML and CSS when I had the occasion to do so. Lately I have been looking more closely at this great text program and its other capabilities, and noticed that there are quite a few nifty things that I have been ignoring.

I would never claim to be anything like a programmer or real developer, but I do have some basic understanding of Web stuff, so I know a useful and smartly put together piece of software when I see it. TextMate deals with whatever sort of code you want through a group of “bundles,” which are basically a set of scripts that make whatever you’re doing a bit easier–closing your tags, cleaning up your code, making it nice and tidy, reducing repetitive tasks. And it’s very extensible, in that even if you have some sort of really obscure language you work with, you or someone you know can put together a bundle that makes working with it easier.

So, I recently discovered that I can create, edit, and upload posts, all through the TextMate system, and this is one of my first tries at it.

Here’s a shot of TextMate in action, using the Markdown bundle: