Tools of the trade
by Rob Mason ~ February 20th, 2007 Filed under: Tools.
I’ll detail some of the key tools I use to create websites for those who are interested. Many website developers use a series of WYSIWYG toolsets, which are fine, but on a personal note I prefer to get down and dirty with the code.
You’ll see a general theme emerging as you read on, notably most (if not all) of these tools are free and/or open source. There are many benefits to open source, the key one forme is cost. Most tools are available free of charge; are constantly updated by dedicated and talented developers; and put most commercial products to shame with their features and support.
Firefox - the best web browser in the world! Standards compliant, secure and quick. On top of this it has a great community of developers building loads of really useful plugins, from web development tools to ones that speed up your browsing. I recommend you download it now.
Notepadd++ - as most of my sites tend to be hand coded, this is my weapon of choice. Open source, free and hugely flexible.
FileZilla - yet another open source tool (sense the trend here?) for uploading files to the internet.
Wordpress - free blogs for all. No hassle, no installs and up and running in minutes.
GIMP - Graphical Image Manipulation Package. Basically a fully functioning alternative to Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro only without the several hundred pound price tag!
Google Docs & Spreadsheets - free alternative to Microsoft Office and because it’s Google it’s free, secure, well written and constantly being improved.
Basecamp - online project management. Allows me to communicate and share information with my clients.
Gmail - my chosen email solution. Being web-based it means I can access my emails from almost anywhere…even via my phone!