Update: I now have a /uses page which will be kept upto date.

I love these posts that show what designers and developers use to do their job - so I thought I'd post my own. It's been a long while since I last wrote anything, so thought this would be an easy one to get me back into writing.

Update: These are the tools I like to use, it's ones I use when I can, but as a contractor I am used to adapting and using what ever tools the client needs me to use. So don't feel that just because I like a MacBook doesn't mean I can't use Windows. 😊

Web Design

Editor

My editor of choice is Sublime Text 3 using the Seti theme & colour scheme with whole bunch of add-ons and custom settings. I'm happy with ST3 and I know there are other editors, like the new VS Code, but ST3 is not broken for me, so I don't need to change it.

Terminal

For terminal emulation I have just started using iTerm 2 - previously when using Ubuntu, I just used the default terminal - I tried Hyper but I didn't get on with it.

I have always used Bash but now on the MBP, I'm trying out Fish shell and Oh My Fish.

Desktop Apps

For design I use GIMP - Adobe Photoshop is far too expensive, does not work on Linux (which is what I've used for the past 10 years) and I never used more than 10% of its features.

I still have to use FTP for some clients, FileZilla has been my FTP client of choice for a long time.

My development browser is Chrome - it has great developer tools and it's faster than Firefox. I have Firefox and Opera for testing. Firefox is my main browser.

For notes and writing, I use Simplenote. It's cross-platform, which means all my notes are available on my phone, on the internet and my laptop.

Slack and Skype for communication. Currently trying out Franz - an app that houses other apps, like Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, Skype and more, all under one app.

Desk Setup

My development machine is a 15" MacBook Pro 2018 with 32gb of ram and its plugged into a 21" Samsung monitor. I've only had the MBP for about a month. My previous machine was a 15" Toshiba Satellite Pro with 16gb ram - It was about 4 years old.

Other Gear

My phone is a OnePlus 5T For testing responsive websites I build, I use the following mobiles and tablets:

  • iPhone 4s
  • iPhone 5s
  • LG Nexus 4
  • LG G3
  • Google Pixel 3
  • OnePlus 5T
  • Kindle Fire 10
  • iPad Mini

Not forgetting notepads, pens and pencils!

Have you written a similar post? I'd love to read about your setup.

Posted on , by in personal