Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools
Transmit: An exhaustive review
Blogger Shawn Blanc is at it again. After writing a thorough exploration of NetNewsWire, he's turned his attention to Transmit, Panic's popular FTP client. He starts with the origin of Panic and Transit 1.0 (there was no "M" back then) before looking at the Transmit we all know and love, comparing it to "...the huge dude in the gym that makes everyone else look like 7th graders."Favorites, Droplets and visual confirmation of what's going on (via the Dock icon) are just a few of the little things that make Transmit so pleasant to use. If you're searching for an FTP client, check out Shawn's review.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cody said 5:49PM on 1-02-2008
Hey Dave,
I was curious what wallpaper/dock you are using. It looks awesome! Thanks.
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Ryan said 6:22PM on 1-02-2008
I use Coda now, another Panic product. It is fine for simple (S)FTP-ing; but I really love the all-in-one concept.
For more advanced (S)FTP-ing, I prefer to use the open-source Cyberduck FTP client.
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Quine said 7:05PM on 1-02-2008
transmit rocks!
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Gordon Werner said 8:53PM on 1-02-2008
Ahh ... the Beagle Bros ... I remember them.
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Jeff Wingstrom said 9:28PM on 1-02-2008
errrum is this really $30 better than cyberduck? it's just ftp!
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Quix said 12:13AM on 1-03-2008
"errrum is this really $30 better than cyberduck? it's just ftp!" - Jeff
Until Cyberduck can do Amazon S3, yes.
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sam said 3:43AM on 1-03-2008
Transmit is probably Panic's most disappoint app. With so much great stuff, I wonder how Transmit slipped through the cracks as a mediocre ftp client.
I think it is clear that once you use Yummy FTP, it is lightyears ahead of every other client available.
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Daniele Procida said 4:56AM on 1-03-2008
I like and use Transmit. But I can't trust it - under certain repeatable conditions it will trash your data.
This happens when:
* I'm using TextWrangler to edit CSS or PHP on a server
* the FTP connection idles and times out
* I make a new change to the file and save
Sometimes Transmit will reconnect and put the file correctly.
Sometimes, Transmit will leave an empty file on the server.
This happens with a variety of local/remote host combinations.
Several users have reported the bug, but it's still there in the most recent release.
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brian said 11:07AM on 1-03-2008
TW has built-in FTP abilities. May not be an ideal solution, but it'll prevent data borkage. And if it doesn't, you'll know the problem is not with Transmit.
Which is why I develop locally in the first place. :-)
- set up my Mac with PHP, MySQL, whatever else my server has
- work locally
- when done, upload and test
Your server is running Linux or something else? Use Parallels! You can still edit files locally--just turn on file sharing on the VM and mount the VM's drive via SMB. Server is running Windows that you can't afford? Download and use the free trial version!
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb430831.aspx (or just google for 'download windows server')
Rhywun said 11:41AM on 1-03-2008
From the article: "But there is a reason the for-pay apps are for-pay."
I agree.
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rickster said 11:43AM on 1-03-2008
I'm a happy Transmit customer; the guys at Panic have the gift of elegance in their apps.
That being said - I also move tons of digital files (hough none to S3). For me, Yummy FTP has turned out to be a better fit for uploads of thousands of files at once.
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Jack said 3:33PM on 1-03-2008
It seems to me you are mostly paying for cool design here, which is fine if that's what you want to do, but there are other options. Some people act as though the only other option is Cyberduck, but that's not the case - for example most dual-pane file managers (programs loosely based on Norton/Midnight/Total Commander) have an FTP client included. A great free dual-pane manager that includes FTP capability is muCommander - I'm running that under Leopard, and am very happy with the way it works for FTP transfers.
It's also worth pointing out that you don't actually need an FTP client at all - you can probably use your web browser to access many FTP sites (by using ftp as the prefix instead of http) for downloads only (particularly at sites that allow anonymous logins), or if you know how to set it up, you can make FTP connections direct from Finder. From the Finder menu bar click on Go, then Connect to Server, and enter the details as you would in a web browser (starting with ftp://). If there's a username and password required and/or you want to got to a specific directory then enter the address like this:
ftp://optional_username@some.site.address/optional_directory/
A popup box will prompt you for the password (and username if you didn't include it on the line above). The one disadvantage of this is that although it offers to remember the password on your keychain, at least for me it doesn't even if I check the box - a bug perhaps? - but you can either re-type the password each time, or if you feel like experimenting you can go into the utilities folder and run the Keychain Access app and try to enter it manually (that didn't work for me either, but then I didn't try all possible ways of entering the address). anyway, once you do this the directory on the FTP server will appear in a Finder window.
Personally I happen to like muCommander. Those who feel that free software can't possibly be any good (or who are willing to spend $$$ just because they like the design of a particular program) may not care for that option, but it works great for me and I'm happy with it.
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Tony said 11:34AM on 1-07-2008
"It seems to me you are mostly paying for cool design here, which is fine if that's what you want to do, but there are other options..."
Transmit is *much* more than "cool design", and has features well above and beyond Cyberduck, using your web browser, etc. I haven't used muCommander, but a quick look of their website leads me to believe it doesn't have all the features of Transmit.
Moto said 12:51AM on 5-29-2008
I have the same problem with saving passwords as you have here. Anyone an idea how to solve this?
mingistech said 4:27PM on 1-03-2008
I always use Transmit for connecting to my .Mac storage. Finder is sooo slow at uploading and usually hangs forever at the end of a transfer.
This app is totally worth the $$$.
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Tony said 11:14AM on 1-07-2008
Transmit rocks. I've used the good (and free) Cyberduck quite a bit, but it really doesn't hold a candle to Transmit. I love how I can edit a file in Transmit (it'll launch whatever external app you need), then when I "save", it re-uploads the edited version. Nice. It also handles huge uploads better than Cyberduck...
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