My favorite new feature is the Sleep command, which lets you quit the app while saving state. When next you launch BBEdit after sleeping, all open windows and documents are restored, including untitled documents.

I wish every app had this feature.

You’ll never guess which prominent multiplatform editor has had this feature for some time, and didn’t even need to give it the throughly stupid (as well as completely inaccurate) name “sleep.” Which editor is left as an exercise for the reader. Is BareBones just working their way through the *info* screens?

Update: desktop-mode can also be set to auto-save the desktop while you’re working. What happens if God forbid BBEmacs crashes?

There are undoubtedly other ways to do any or all of these things; all I’m reporting here is that I’ve noticed myself reaching for BBEdit to do them, even though, as I say, BBEdit isn’t my choice for editing text. At $125, BBEdit is pricey for just these tasks, and I’m not recommending a purchase for these reasons alone.

It’s damn pricey for any tasks, seeing as how pretty much all its “features” have been in Emacs for probably at least the last 5 years. Yet year after year, the BBEdit lists are full of ‘OMG the keywords are GREEN! BareBones iz Teh Brilliantest!’ As far as I’m concerned, Aquamacs makes BBEdit even less attractive. Given the ridiculous prices for even minor upgrades and its Dark Ages level of programmability (good luck waiting for that Processing Codeless Language Mode, I mean syntax coloring) BBEdit more and more looks mainly like the clueless Mac fanboy’s choice.