Get on a job site and you’ll see various trades with their own set of specialized tools: from electricians to painters, all have their favorates and ones that help get the job done right!
The following is a list of tools, scripts and software I have used through the years to assist in producing results online. Feel free to explore, but at the end of the day, what works best for you is what matters most.
Just like the BlackBerry vs iPhone debate, Windows vs OSX, PHP vs ASP and on and on.
Please note and this is my disclaimer: I may have a few affiliate/referral links in here only because I use the products and believe in the products as well.
Have fun!
Computer Utilities
Personal favorites – a few freeware, some shareshare:
- RoboForm Password Manager
I’ve been using this for years and great for FireFox, IE or Chrome. Managing multiple clients and logins, something to review. Free Trial - CCCleaner
Want to keep your computer clean, fast and optimized for performance. Keep it clean, just like less is more! - Fastone image viewers and screen capture utility.
This one is really simple to use and I use it on a daily basis for screen captures and for explaining things when visuals are required. - Free Download Manager
Powerful, easy-to-use and absolutely free download accelerator and manager. - Sumatra PDF Reader
An alternate to Adobe Reader, Sumatra is small, fast and simple for reading PDF, XPS, DjVu, CHM, CBZ and CBR files. - Desktop Stickies
Need a simple method to take notes or remember projects but do not want to have to open a full blown application? Stickies help by keeping task right in front of you. - Cloudberry Explorer
Tool to access and manage files on Amazon S3 services
Client Tools
Need to share files, images and such?
DropBox for simple and easy file sharing ‘in the cloud’.
Operating Systems (if you have time!)
If you’re planning on going the ‘non-Windows’ or even ‘non-Mac’ route, a few Linux options
PHP – Where the fun is at!
Heard of CRUD?
Yes you could code it yourself, but why not check out AjaxCRUD to get a good headstart.
PHP Frameworks?
I personally like YiiFrameworks – high performance, caching and great for web applications.
PHP/MySQL – Run a Local Web Server
If you find yourself uploading downloading uploading just to test whether you ‘echo’ command works, then think about changing how you test and develop with PHP (or other).
Get Linux, Apache, MySQL installed – will save you lot’s of time
WordPress
Download and get WordPress here.
WordPress Themes
Free WordPress themes on WordPress Themes Directory
There are a number of free, ‘free-mium’ and premium themes available for WordPress blogs and content management systems. Many professional web developers will custom build WordPress themes by hand, others will utilize themes that are supported, refined and in use by thousands of website online.
