What? At version 1.6 already, and not a single review? Must be ‘cause there’s nothing to complain about…
Hammer is brilliant. It does everything it says it does – fast, reliably, and unobtrusively. I purchased a license almost immediately: pointless to sit out the trial period, or to look at the competition. The app had paid itself off before I paid for it.
Initially, I was merely looking for a way to automate mundane tasks: compiling and reloading local sites. Hammer takes care of that, and throws in so much more.
HTML Includes and Variables help with organizing code into reusable building blocks, making writing and maintaining it more efficient and less error-prone. Hammer’s solution is implemented in a transparent, zero-learning-curve way: superb!
Todos can be placed where they belong, right in the code. Hammer will assemble them into a neat list, providing an overview of pending issues: lovely!
Optimized Building puts assembling and minifying code at your fingertips: comfy!
And that’s still not all of it…
As always, there’s room for imrovement. Hammer’s Reload function may require some tinkering with preexisting JavaScript (e.g. Typekit) in order to work around conflicts. And having the todo list ordered by line numbers wouldn’t hurt. However, in context with the overall benefit, these issues simply fade away.
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Bonus tip: while visiting the developer's website, consider downloading Anvil (free). It will extend the range of Hammer’s Reload feature to browsers on any device on a local network. (Some glancing at the Pow documentation may be required.) Fantastic for testing in Virtual Machines and mobile devices.