I have to admit when I first moved from my old HP Desktop to my new Apple iMac I was somewhat weary about the tools I would use for my job as a Web Designer and Developer. I didn’t know exactly how my old workflow habits would transfer, and what software I would end up using. In the end these are the tools that I have found to be most effective.
Web/Graphic Design:
Adobe Photoshop CS3 (commercial)
Adobe has long had a popular creative suite with millions of copies sold each year. I have been a long time Photoshop user so for me this is a must have, however there is a free alternative…
The Gimp or Gimpshop (free)
Gimp is a free graphics editing program that allows users to use professional quality software without paying a couple hundred of dollars. Gimpshop is an edited version of Gimp that gives the users the feel of Photoshop only it is still free to use. The features of Gimpshop include menu and tool positions that closely resemble those of Adobe Photoshop.
Web Development/Coding:
Textmate (commercial)
Textmate is an excellent and lightweight text editor for the Mac OS X platform. It has many different coding bundles including HTML, CSS, PHP, and countless more. It is a very easy to use, yet powerful software program, and I personally use this for all of my coding.
Coda (commercial)
Coda is another highly recommended text editor for Mac OS X. During my trial period I really enjoyed using Coda due to its ability to connect and edit pages live on a web server. However, after some debate and comparison between Coda and Textmate I found that Coda has many extras that quite frankly I could live without. Nevertheless, still a nice piece of software.
Overall it is important to point out that there are ways to carry out Web Design and Development on a Mac without spending an arm and a leg on software. I personally settled on Adobe Photoshop and Textmate. What do you use?
written by Reid
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