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Your preferred development tools?

R

redlion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
6
0
Mac OS X is often regarded as an outstanding web development platform.

  • What are your preferred development tools?
  • What are your chosen special apps that make your development a whole lot easier?
  • What tools make up your development system (professional or personal projects)

Development tools:

  • Coding (html, css, php et al.)
  • Design/ Graphics / Images
  • FTP
  • Browsers used for testing
  • Browser extensions
  • Local testing
  • Debugging
  • Utilities (MySQL management, Subversion client etc)
  • CMS

Other factors:

  • Machine
  • Hosting platform
  • Help? (books, forums, blogs)
  • Inspiration (books, forums, blogs)
  • Communication tools (clients or colleagues)

Hopefully this gives us a chance to find hidden gems that either improve our current work flow or reasons to change!
 
Hmmm,

It will be interesting to see what kind of responses you get here. I too would like to have all these points answered in such detail.

On the other hand I am wondering how many professionals would be willing to cover all this for you? It looks like you are targeting pros with this, no?

Generally this forum is a nice exchange between folks who are struggling with a specific problem or question. There are many professionals and advanced amateurs who volunteer great help.

Looking at your list I wonder if these same people will gladly provide all these details without knowing more about you? I mean if you walked up to an award winning chef and asked him for his price winning chocolate cake recipe would you be that surprised that he might prefer to keep that information to himself? I bet some developers would prefer NOT to divulge every nuance, strategy, tool and business plan component that made their own hard to establish business a success.

You might get some great answers though...
 
I code in Coda.
PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript, MySQL
FTP: Transmit
Graphics: Photoshop
Server: Linux
I wrote my own CMS
Test everything in Safari then in FF, lastly IE 6 and 7 running in parallels.
I run MAMP for a PHP and MySQL server locally and use it when I am not editing the files directly on the server,
I use
Navicat light for a database manager
 
  • I like BBedit with it's Apple scripting capabilities, and use it for HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, etc.
  • FTP: Fugu or Cyberduck
  • Server stuff: MySQL, MAMP (for local testing and hosting on XAMP)
  • Graphics: Photoshop Elements or Gimp
  • Testing: Firefox, Safari, Opera, IE6 (on mac ies4osx) in this order usually
  • Debugging: The extensions below as well as W3C's validators, Accessibility checkers, Section 508 (OK, these are somewhere between testing and extensions)
  • Extensions: For Firefox: Web Developer Toolbar, Firebug
  • No CMS for me. Considering Subversion, but doesn't meet my current needs
  • Inspiration: The Internet :) also read blogs
 

I am not necessarily targeting this at pros. It can also be for the hobbyist, freelancer or someone just starting out and getting to grips with web development. My apologies if the topic comes across as asking for too much information. The disclosure of any information hopefully adds to the 'nice exchange between folks who are struggling with a specific problem or question'.
 
No worries...

Here is mine:

Coding: Creatext, Firebug, Textwrangler, Stylemaster
FTP: Transmit
Graphics: Photoshop & Illustrator CS3
Server: MAMP
CMS: MODx (beginner)
Testing: Safari, FF and IE6
Debugging: W3C
Extensions: Firefox Web Developer Toolbar, Firebu
Inspiration: Everything and nothing really. Try to sue my own photos...
 
Code: Coda
Graphics: FW CS3, PS CS3, and (soon to add flash cs3 to the mix)
ftp: transmit
server: linux under dreamhost(so phpmyadmin and various other management tools are arleady there)
local testing: opera, ff, safari, ie

Other stuff:
Hardware: MBP and MP
references: interwebs and a whole lot of books
 
Development tools:

Coding (html, css, php et al.): Coda. I just switched. Its great! :D I also use TextWrangler or Dreamweaver CS3 when I need a feature that Coda doesn't have.

Design/ Graphics / Images: Photoshop CS3

FTP: Coda; Cyberduck for those cases that Coda cant handle.

Browsers used for testing:
Mac: Safari, Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Opera, IE6
PC: Safari Beta, Firefox 2, Opera, IE7

Browser extensions:
Firefox: Firebug and Web Developer
Safari: Safari Stand and Inquisitor.
I'm a PC switcher, so I use Safari most of the time. Firefox feels too Windows-ish to me.

Local testing: MAMP

Debugging: Coda, Firebug, Web Developer, and Xray bookmark.

Utilities (MySQL management, Subversion client etc): Pixel Stick (Measuring) Pipette (Color Picker)

CMS: Haven't decided yet. I want one for my clients, but I cant find the right one.

Other factors:

Machine: Local: Aluminum iMac 2.8 ghz. 4gb ram, 750gb hard drive.

Hosting platform: Linux

Help? (books, forums, blogs): Coda books, w3schools, php Functions index, macrumors web forum

Inspiration (books, forums, blogs): Any site that I like.

Communication tools (clients or colleagues): everything used to talk (voice box, mouth, teeth, ect. :p)
 
development: textmate, cssedit and sometimes coda
graphics: photoshop (saving up for cs3)
FTP: Flow (unreleased private beta)
Browser extensions: firebug, safari debug menu
local testing: mamp
Other stuff: I use rapidweaver a lot when i don't want to mess around writing code for formatting and freeruler is an awesome pixel perfect ruler app
 
Development & FTP: Coda, Textmate, Cyberduck
Graphics: Illustrator [ Photoshop should only be used for editing photos! :rolleyes: ]
Testing: Browsershots.org
CMS: phpMyAdmin, but on client side, I build editing features into their site.
Hardware: 24" iMac 2.8 4GB, 1st Gen Macbook 2.0 2GB when showing clients on the road.
References: Google. Everyone's best friend. Also books like CSS Mastery and Mastering PHP/MySQL. Junk like that.
 
My exhaustive list...

XHTML/CSS:
- DreamWeaver CS3 (for large development projects)
- Smultron for page-by-page edits, PHP or Script

Graphics:
- Photoshop CS3

FTP:
- Transmit

Q&A:
- Safari / Firefox / Camino (OS X)
- Safari / Forefox / IE7 / Netscape (XP via Fusion)

Machine:
- MacBook Pro 17" / 2.33Ghz Core2 Duo / 2GBDDR2
- Logitech MX Revolution Mouse (the best there is, period)

Books:
- CSS Pocket Reference by Eric Meyer
- Don't Make Me Think! by Steve Krug
- Designing With Web Standards by Zeldman
- Web ReDesign by Goto & Cotler

Correspondence::
- Mail
- Adium
- MotoRAZR v3c
- RingCentral.com
 
Photomax said:
I mean if you walked up to an award winning chef and asked him for his price winning chocolate cake recipe would you be that surprised that he might prefer to keep that information to himself? I bet some developers would prefer NOT to divulge every nuance, strategy, tool and business plan component that made their own hard to establish business a success.
Click to expand...

It's more like asking the chef what brand/size pot he's using to mix that award winning recipe in.
 
Here's how I work :D

Coding: Coda
FTP: Transmit
Browsers: FF, Safari, IE6, IE7
Local testing: MAMP Pro
CMS: Typically a custom CMS
Inspiration: CSS gallery sites and other places
 
What are your preferred development tools?
Textmate, CSSEdit, Photoshop.
What are your chosen special apps that make your development a whole lot easier?
XAMPP for testing local PHP files. Spaces in Mac to organize my apps and make workflow an ease.
What tools make up your development system (professional or personal projects)
As in hardware? Black Macbook, external keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Development tools:

  • Coding (html, css, php et al.) - Textmate, CSSEdit
  • Design/ Graphics / Images - Adobe Photoshop CS3
  • FTP - CuberDuck
    [*]Browsers used for testing - Multifox [Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 Betas], Safari, IE6 and 7 on PC.
    [*]Browser extensions - Developer toolbar on Firefox and Firebug.
    [*]Local testing - XAMPP for PHP files
    [*]Debugging - Firebug for Javascript
    [*]Utilities (MySQL management, Subversion client etc) - None really.
    [*]CMS - If I had to, Wordpress.


Other factors:

  • Machine - Black Macbook and desktop PC.
  • Help? (books, forums, blogs) - Some Javascript and PHP books.
  • Inspiration (books, forums, blogs) - cssremix.com, cssbeauty.com etc.
  • Communication tools (clients or colleagues) - Adium, Highrise, Backpack.
 
I use Coda for all my coding/ftp needs. It's such a great program. I wish I would have found it faster (I started using it a couple months ago). Sometimes, when I only need to transfer files by FTP, I use Cyberduck.
 
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