I was on holiday when Bryan released the new version of Codekit and never had the chance to to check out the full features of the newly released application. But I have to admit I really liked the looks of the new website (designed by – I believe – agenericguy) and I could not wait to come back and have a go at it.
I have always been a fan of the big man’s application, despite having moved to grunt for projects necessitating more than myself on them.
Compiling, Image optimization, minification, browser refreshing are obviously still on with this new version, so what’s new in Codekit 2, beside the brand new UI?
Built-in server
Codekit 2 introduces a buil-in web server that hosts your currently-seleted project.
Very cool as you can preview your work (there’s a button for it) and use that url to preview your work on various devices. Live refresh will work the way mixture does it and your connected devices will be reloaded upon changes.
Codekit can be hooked up with MAMP if your project needs it, by turning the external server required switch on.
Note that Bryan has got your Android needs cover, with the non-Bonjour URL.
Bower
Bryan has added the package manager for web dev within the new version of Codekit.
This means that installing normalize, jQuery, bootstrap or foundation can be done in no time within the application. And that your components can be easily updated right from Codekit.
Autoprefixer
Great news, Autoprefixer has made it into Codekit. You can now enable the feature on a file-by-file basis. Codekit will run Autoprefixer on the CSS file created.
What about Codekit 1?
So what’s happening to Codekit 1? Well, it’s been deprecated and it won’t receive any additional features. I’m sure a few people having purchased version 1 will feel disappointed, but don’t be. Really.
We all have had a great run with version 1, wich was a gift to us really. And now, we end up with a better verion for (again) nothing since you get it for between 29 and 38 bucks (you actually get a discount on that if you’re coming from version 1). It’s a no brainer.
Verdict
There are more features and fonctionalities added to the new version of Codekit but I wanted to make this post a quick one. I can only encourage you to check it out yourself but I can assure you Brian has really upped is game on this one.
I’m defo gonna upgrade and move to Codekit 2. The new version makes you want to push grunt aside and go back to where it all started.
Good work Bryan!
So long.
My name is Flo Preynat and I am the freelance webdesigner and developer behind shoogle designs. I live in France and specialize in responsive web design. Give me a shoogle or get in touch with me on twitter.
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