# Unboxing the new GitHub Atom editor

The very first moments with the Atom editor: how it looks, how it works, what’s
missing still.

I got a beta invite, I feel special.

[Atom.io](http://antom.io)

It’s a rare occasion to get to try a new editor that rivals the all mighty
Sublime Text. Speaking of Sublime Text, Atom UI is very similar to Sublime Text.

## The look & UI

Straight out the box:

![GitHub Atom editor with the dark theme on](/images/Screenshot-2014-03-26-09.38.41.png)

The light theme is alright also:

![GitHub Atom editor with the light theme one](/images/Screenshot-2014-03-26-09.39.26.png)

Settings look like this, no more `json` files (consider that good or bad):

![GitHub Atom editor settings page](/images/Screenshot-2014-03-26-09.39.52.png)

In settings you can search packages and see shortcuts related to them:

![Atom editor settings view](/images/Screenshot-2014-03-26-09.42.29-2014-03-26-09-52-52-2014-03-26-10-01-59.png)

## The differences compared to other editors

Atom is based on web technologies, it’s written with Javascript and CSS,
building packages for it is really easy, since these technologies are common to
all of us front-end devs.

In a year or so, I really see this being the de facto editor for web developers.
Remember TextMate? The editor we all used and loved, until one day, a day just
like today, we were all head over heels into Sublime Text.

## What’s missing

- How do I manage projects? Can't find a package for that
  Found a
    [package for that](https://atom.io/packages/project-manager).

- No SFTP package. It’s nice to work from the command line sometimes on small
  demo sites
- And probably loads of other stuff also... I just last night installed it :)

But hey, Atom is still in its infancy. It looks very promising!