MacMembraneThere are peels everywhere…

Perhaps the biggest complaint that one could level against the blog editor MarsEdit is the proliferation of windows that can overwhelm your screen when writing with the app. The primary post editing window, the preview window, the media manager and the main blog selector all have dedicated uses and with time one develops near ninja-like techniques for dealing with the app’s flourish across your desktop.

There is only one instance where MarsEdit’s windowy layout truly frustrates me. When I click on MarsEdit’s dock icon, the great majority of the time it’s because I have a flash idea and want to write a post. Instead of a fresh document window, however, I’m greeted with the blog manager window.

Easily managing multiple blogs, saving local drafts and editing already published posts are surely some of the features that make MarsEdit a joy to use, but for me the application is about writing. When I hit the dock icon I want to be articulating my thoughts within seconds. The blog manager, for all its usefulness, pretty much just gets in the way.

Here’s an AppleScript that will open up a new document window and bypass the blog manager altogether:

if appIsRunning("MarsEdit") then
	tell application "MarsEdit"
		set docCount to (count every document)
		if docCount is equal to 0 then
			launch
			close window "MarsEdit"
			make new document
			activate
		else
			tell document 1 to activate
		end if
	end tell
else
	tell application "MarsEdit"
		run
		close window "MarsEdit"
		make new document
		activate
	end tell
end if

on appIsRunning(appName)
	tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains appName
end appIsRunning

I run all my scripts via the excellent script launcher FastScripts, but a QuickSilver trigger would work just as well. If the above script can save just one thought from evaporating into the ether before there’s a medium ready to capture it, I’ll consider it a success.