My top 5 web development tools

As a small web design outfit in Kitchener I have to be particular about my development workflow and the tools I use. I can't afford to continually invest in new wonder apps that do a bit of this and a bit of that, and do this thing well but not that thing, but this other app does that thing but not... well, you get the point. So I have to really focus on what makes me money and will continue to make me money going forward. So I have compiled a list of apps that make web design and development on the Mac possible for me.

1. TextMate

   There is text editors and then there is TextMate. Renowned for it's unparalleled abilities to handle a seemingly limitless set of languages, TextMate makes writing ANY code fast and painless. I use TextMate for every bit of text editing that I do, XHTML, CSS, XML, PHP, SQL and javascript, just to name a few. It's not free but you will agree that there is no other text editor that comes close to TextMate.

2. MAMP

   If you are already a pro web designer you are already aware of the need for a live server environment to test out whatever systems you happen to be developing at the time. You also no that uploading to a remote location is time consuming and working SFTP, SSH or WEBDAV can be unstable. You best bet is to have a local server, but if that is not within your means (or know-how) then you need to look at MAMP. MAMP is a nicely bundled package of MySQL, Apache and PHP that allows you to run a web server safely on your own computer. Though Apache and PHP are already included on you Mac, they tend not be as current as those found in MAMP. MAMP also allows you to quickly change your servers from one project to another to keep your perceived root URL common across all your local web work. The best part is, the only version of MAMP you really need to get this done is free.

3. Safari

   Don't hate for this. I don't mind FireFox and I think FireBug is great but to be honest I never use either one on a regular basis. Safari, on the other hand, in an indispensable tool for me. By enabling the developer features of Safari I am able to peer into the DOM for those tricky to view javascript behaviors and see what is really happening on the client side. Safari, of course, is include with your Mac operating system.

4. PhotoShop

   What is web design without the design? There are a ton of free options out there, but lets be honest, there is no substitute for the real thing when it comes to mocking up proposed web layouts. I agree PhotoShop is outrageously priced but in the grand scheme of things, if you are getting paid for your work then the cost of this app is nothing more than a tax write-off at the end of the year.

5. Parallels

   You can dispute me on this choice because I honestly have no experience with anything else. The work involved in getting 3 valid VM's working for the purpose of testing 3 related and equally crappy browsers, IE6, IE7 and IE8, leaves me with no interesting in going through anything remotely similar in the near future. But my point is this, you need to have a way of testing Microsoft's Internet Explorer, version 6, 7 and 8 and whether you do this via Parallels or VMware is of little consequence to me. It needs to get done all the same. The cost of each is comparable to the other.

If the above list is all you ever invest in for your web design and development career then you are in excellent shape.

cataLog, RapidWeaver and good timing

Wow! I am blown away by the response to our latest theme cataLog Pro. In what I think is both a case of timing and luck, cataLog Pro for RapidWeaver 4.0 has surpassed any other theme in our library for initial launch numbers. Timing being a factor for a few reasons:

• RapidWeaver 4.0 is fresh in peoples minds
• There is a lot of new activity and 3rd party development surrounding RapidWeaver
• There are a great deal of new users
• RapidWeaver is fast approaching critical mass

And as always, luck can always play a big part in these things. Some themes I've made in the past have been the right idea at the wrong time and have picked up more and more as time went on. cataLog Pro seems to be a case of the right idea at the right time. This, apparently, was a theme that fit the bill for so many people with a need for it at that moment. I've received countess emails to that effect, "This is exactly what I needed for a project I was starting."

With RapidWeaver really taking off as it has off late, I really ought to do another talk at WatRMUG (Waterloo Regional Mac Users Group) and reintroduce the Kitchener-Waterloo users to website building, the RapidWeaver way.

iPhone 3G, Apple App Store and FlipSide5

With the launch of both the new iPhone 3G and the new Apple App Store, things around seyDoggy have been a little harried trying to cross all our t's and dot all of our i's in preparation for the big day. Everything went smooth without so much as a hiccup. I had to pull a couple of all nighters but all for the good of the site.

So it would appear that both FlipSide5 and Michael Sanford are leaving an indelible mark on the industry. Revered in many articles as the man and company to watch simply for the passion they pour into their products, one thing is clear, the level of commitment is unparalleled (and I speak from experience).

Since everything went fairly smooth, I thought I would take a moment to breeze past my local Rogers store on Ottawa and Fischer-Hallman in Kitchener and scope out the iPhone lines. If the crowds were gone I would have stopped in to grab a 3G. No such luck as the crowd was camped out in lawn chairs and been since the store opened hours before.

FlipSide5 at WWDC '08

Well the reports abound from friends and colleagues who were fortunate enough to be at Apples WWDC this year; FlipSide5 games, graphics and references can be seen everywhere! This is a pretty big honor for seyDoggy, a little web and graphic design based in Kitchener-Waterloo, to have their work meandering through the largest Apple conference in history, seen in demonstrations, talked about amongst developer elite, given nods to by VERY important people, and seen in the top row of the Graphics State of the Union when presenters started in about the web app success!

Now don't get me wrong, I am not trying to take any thunder from Michael Sanford and FlipSide5, where all due credit lies for the vision and ambition of the company. I am just glad that I was able to play a part in shaping the face of a company that is set to really take off. It just really gives me warm fuzzies inside.

Sneak peek #5

So what the FRIG is the hold up? I am a cow to the paying gigs, that's what! It's sad to say but I rarely get time to continue with this side project. It's good to be busy I guess. It means I am doing my job right.

So this sneak peek is a dead giveaway to what the project actually is (not that there was much wonder anyhow). I have six more pages to get through, more or less, and I am done! Let's cross our fingers for a summer roll out?

Sneak peek #4 and more

So the bulk of all of the boring work is done on this project. Now I am getting into the super sexy stuff, the money making stuff... I must say that even the boring stuff looks goooood though.

And also...

So I have another project due out this Tuesday. I can't give any details but it's for a heavy hitting client of PUMP Communications. It should have been a fairly simple one but there were a few hang-ups in the beginning (design by committee sort of hang-ups) and in the end I don't think anyone was taking me seriously when I said the French translation might take up to a week or more (which it did).

Anyhow, with a few days to spare I managed to get the project up and fine tuned ready for release this coming Tuesday. Look for more on it then.

But wait...

Some time ago I worked for a lab in the automative industry and to shorten the story some, they recently needed a website, a place to download some of their docs. So in record time (less than a day) I pumped out this site. I mean it's not ground breaking but it's better than a kick in the ass for a day's worth of coding.

Sneak peek #3

I just wrote a new php function today that looks at the directory of the current page, extracts each folder name and then parse that information into a functioning breadcrumb trail. It's not as truncated as I would like it to be, but I just can't wrap my head around the problem enough to make the script smaller than it is.

So far everything but the header images on this new project is served up dynamically depending on the page you are on. But the really sexy part of this whole project is the skin! This thing is put together like... WOW! I can't wait to show you more.

Sneak peek #2

Oh it's coming along so nice. Did I say Easter? Well, yeah, I guess that's probably a realistic goal, but I just feel at times that it could be so much sooner. If it weren't for all these paying gigs getting in the way... hehe.

So I'm stoked about ExpanDrive, have you heard of it?Man, this little app is a gem! I am going to get more in depth on NutMac but I can tell you this much; developing php and mysql on a local machine is all fine and good, but there comes a time when you just have to move it live. ExpanDrive is making continued live development a dream, like it's still local, but with the power of the web server behind it.

Did I say Easter?

Sneak peek #1

I have an ever so slight break in my schedule where I find I have an hour or two of free time on hand and as the saying goes, idle hands make great websites... er... or something like that.

Anyhow, I have got something completely awesome in the works, a little some-some for me, a little self love. So I thought I would start a little easter egg hunt (since that's probably around the time I'll finish, LOL), and give you a little piece of the puzzle every week or so, depending on what I get done in that time.

So here is the first little nugget for you. It's not much yet, but let me tell it's part of a bigger, cooler whole.

I'm still alive

It’s been a while hasn’t it? I’ve just come off from making a run of RapidWeaver themes for THEME WEAVER; THEME 007, THEME 008, THEME 009 and THEME 010, all of which I am extremely proud of (but THEME 010 is my favourite). I’ve also been busy updating my own edGy, viEw and 2hadow (not quite ready yet).

So what’s kept me busy in my… erm… off time? I have a few things on the go. Namely RapidWeaved.com which has turned out well. It’s the RapidWeaver showcase site that lets anyone with a RapidWeaver site to show off their stuff. It’s kind of a throwback to the old RapidWeaver showcase that was once on their site but in recent time, have opted to hand select only the very finest examples (in their opinion) to post instead.

And it’s that very project that has really spun the old cogs in my noodle. That site is a database right? Why then am I treating it like a blog when it should be handled by some sort of content management system with a database and some back-end programing to control it all? Well… because I don’t know a lick of SQL and can only struggle through enough PHP to parse a few RSS feeds. So I figured enough is enough, I’ve been wanting to learn some back-end web programming and I have now set off to do it. I am currently making my through the SitePoint book Build You Own Database Driven Website using PHP and MySQL by Kevin Yank. I am riveted. No really, I love this sort of reading.

So what about Objective-C then? You might recall that I wanted to give Chris a hand in the whole RapidWeaver plugin market and I did read the book, Programming in Objective-C, but then I saw the support involved through Chris’s eyes. Honestly, it’s not the sort of thing that a guy with a full fledged theme store like mine should get into. Don’t get me wrong, I want to some day. And Chris has definitely shown my that it’s a worth while endeavor, but it’s the sort of thing where I would have to sell my theme store before I got knee deep into plugins. I am not ready for that.

Who knows though, if all goes well with the PHP and MySQL, there are certainly a lot of things I could see making for RapidWeaver that have been missing for some time.

New frontiers

What a busy, trying time! With many projects on the go, logo's, banners, themes (and more themes), showcase sites, tutorials, photography gigs to wrap up before Christmas... It's no wonder the holidays never feel restful to me. So why then would I go and do something as crazy as learning Obective-C programming at such a time? I guess I am just a little crazy that way. That and because Chris has taken up making plugins and wants me to join him in our continual quest to take over the world together. I have to admit I have wanted to make RapidWeaver plugins for quite some time and this was the fire that needed lighting under my proverbial behind. Will I actually make any plugins and how soon? I can't/won't make any promises. It's a little far beyond any limit I have stretched my self to in the past and I do have a theme store (or two) to support. So here it to the new year and all that it may (or may not) bring!

micro-blog micro-fatigue

Staying tuned in is becoming increasingly tiresome as of late. Anyone who tries to keep up socially in the tubes knows what I am talking about; there's Pownce and Twitter and Jaiku and Facebook and flickr and MySpace and 9rules and VIRB° and Tumblr and Bebo... did I miss any? Guys like me try to get our foot in each of these just so we can have some background knowledge on what's going on with these and other upcoming sites and services. We are generally accompanied by the same cast and crew in each location as we tend find these sites and tell our friends and colleagues about them and then we engage in the same conversations... "What are we doing here?"

I have sort of been pulling back a bit from these sites lately and really focusing more on the ones I believe in more than the ones all my "friends" are on. I have left Twitter (more or less), and become more proactive on Jaiku (much faster and more flexible). I share more of personal life on Facebook rather than trying to promote my business through that channel. But most importantly, I am back to putting content on places where it will benefit ME most... Back on MY sites, that I make, that I host, that belong to me. I don't need a service to allow me to micro-blog... I am a web designer... I know how to do it myself.

So what transpired to make me come to this realization? Time management and the fact that I am trying to find time in my schedule to start a podcast (for what I can't say at this moment) and in the shuffling around of my schedule I realized that I commit WAY too much time that really aren't serving the company as well as I had hoped.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still sign up for all of these new services, etc... I have to... it's part of my job. I just won't set my hooks in so deep... I'll just hire an intern for that! :)

New theme, more articles and a wedding

Busy, busy, busy...

I have had my hand dipped in a great number of projects over the last few months, and indeed the last few weeks have been intense. There are a two sites to be release in the coming weeks which I am quite excited about. Neither of which I really had much say in the actual design of, but was the keystone when it came to turning the concepts into functional websites. I'll keep you posted about those.

New theme...

Something else which has been all consuming is is the release of THEME 007 from THEME WEAVER, a very nice new RapidWeaver theme. As I am sure some of you know, I am heavily involved in everything that THEME WEAVER puts out and THEME 007 is no exception to that rule. I was more or less left to my own devices when it came to that one and I couldn't be happier with the results. I even went so far as to offer a discount for it on my own RapidWeaver theme site.

Get faster, get better...

I recently wrote and extensive article on nutMac.com about looking and learning your way to better productivity and sped up workflow on the mac. It's a good read if you make your living on a mac.

Recent wedding...

A recent wedding has left me with a ton of new material to write for Merrifield Photography so keep your eye out there for more photography related reading material. The results of this wedding have actually got me rethinking my position on never doing weddings again (which I say every time). I might just get back into again. I certainly get asked enough.