Bare Bones Software today announced the release and immediate availability of version 7.1 of BBEdit®, their award-winning flagship text and HTML editor. BBEdit 7.1 is a significant update, now with support for SFTP (the SSH File Transfer Protocol), FTP and SFTP server discovery via Rendezvous, and “Preview in BBEdit” live HTML rendering.

The new Preview in BBEdit feature allows customers to view a rendering of their HTML code under construction, in a window which automatically updates as the code is changed. This feature takes advantage of Apple’s WebKit technology, and so requires Mac OS X 10.2 with Safari installed (or Mac OS X 10.3).

BBEdit can now open and save files on SFTP servers via the same standard menu commands used for FTP. BBEdit’s FTP dialogs also provide a new Rendezvous pop-up menu allowing easy selection of local servers.

“BBEdit 7.1 adds several new features to take further advantage of the technologies provided by Mac OS X,” said Rich Siegel, founder and CEO of Bare Bones Software. “We think that our customers will find the Preview in BBEdit command to be a valuable part of their toolbox, while SFTP and Rendezvous server support are logical advances for today’s needs.”

This new release of Bare Bones Software’s award-winning HTML and text editor also adds several other minor enhancements and refinements and addresses reported issues. On Mac OS X, BBEdit 7.1 now requires version 10.2 or later, and is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther.” For Mac OS 9, the minimum system requirement remains Mac OS 9.1 (with CarbonLib 1.5 or later).

The BBEdit 7.1 update is available free of charge to all registered BBEdit 7.0 customers. An update package is available for download from the Bare Bones Software web site: http://www.barebones.com/support/updates.shtml.