Open Source software
}I am a big fan of Open Source software, mainly because I am an even bigger adversary of pirated and "copied" software. Software is generally expensive (e.g. Microsoft anything) and keeping up to date with version enhancements can be budget busting.
Enter: Open Source software. Freely distributed. Updated (or not) automatically. And usually with as good (or better) functionality as some paid-for applications. I have huge respect for the people that code, support and maintain these apps, and then make them available for use, for nothing.
Mozilla Firefox
First to open, and used the most
All web browsers are free, but I still feel that Firefox deserves its place at the top of my list. For development, Firefox is firmly at the top of the list, mainly down to its plugins.
- FireBug is just awesome for interrogating HTML, CSS, and Ajax requests and responses. At the present time, no other browser's dev tools have the Ajax tab anywhere near as good as Firefox.
- Web Dev Toolbar has been around forever, but is very handy for measuring, interrogating and manipulating what is currently on the screen. It also includes a handy mobile device emulator (Ctrl+Shift+M).
- Selenium (IDE) is my latest find — especially awesome for testing form-heavy websites. The export to PHPUnit is my next development project.
- Pros
- Awesome development tools
- Easy plugin development
- Synchronised tabs
- It's not IE
- Cons
- Upgrades itself constantly, and seems generally to be getting worse
NetBeans IDE
My default development tool of choice
Sometimes frustrating, occasionally crashing, but the best one that I have used, ever.
Development IDEs have come a long way since the WYSIWYG Dreamweaver days. They now concentrate on code development and the tools required for making the coder's life easier. NetBeans is not perfect, but it is in constant development and is continually improving and integrating with new languages and technologies.
- Pros
- Continuous development
- Integrated SVN, GIT, XDebug, etc.
- Class, method and function hotlinking
- Does not integrate into Windows — multiple versions can be installed (and removed) quickly and easily
- Cons
- Background synchronisation can sometimes take a while
- Does not integrate into Windows — cannot be a "default" app for opening file types
Dropbox
Cloud storage across multiple platforms
Take a photo on your phone and within seconds, view it on your desktop.
- Multi-platform synchronised app
- Mobile integration with cameras and sharing options
- Desktop integration with screenshots, search results...
Notepad++
Quick and easy to use
With some nice features including integrated FTP, code overview and multiple tabs.
WinMerge
Compare files or whole directories
One of those handy tools that I need on every device I use. Quickly and easily compare files or whole directories and shoot changes across from one to the other.
WampServer
A Windows web development environment
Providing an Apache2, PHP and MySQL development environment.
- Multiple PHP versions
- MySQL & MariaDB database options
- Virtual hosts, phpMyAdmin, etc.
FileZilla
One of the best free FTP programs out there
I love the "directory comparison" and "synchronised browsing" features for comparing local/remote locations.