Ten programs that you shouldnt go without.

Hey guys Izikeo here,
Ever wanted to be a web developer, but you could never find the right tools? Me too, been there, done that. Well over time, my collection of tools has increased, and now I would like to share with you, the top ten programs I use everyday, for web development.

First on my list, is probably the oldest program I have in my collection. Photoshop. Its probably the biggest most well known name in image editing. Nothing, and in my opinion I mean nothing, compares to it. Back when I was getting started, adobe was over 800$, and you had to have it, no questions asked. You cant do PSD to HTML without it, and lets face it, it makes designing templates that much easier. Adobe now offers monthly subscription plans that gives you Photoshop Extended, which is 50$ USD a month. Cant get much better.

Here’s some of the features:

1. Great Image resizing and cropping functionality
2. Most advanced layering system
3. Easy to use graphic tools
4. Great color pickers

PHP Eclipse is probably the best php program I have ever used. I have tried a few, such as Kamodo Editor, Notepad++, and Adobe Dreamweaver. However PHP Eclipse takes the trophy here. It offers good syntax highlighting, good code completion, and easy to understand file structuring.

Heres the features I use:

1. Project style File structuring
2. Supports just about every programming language you throw at it
3. Great syntax highlighting, and you can customize all the colors to your liking.
4. Code completion, and detects linked files for custom functions
5. Tabbed content, so you can many open files at once
6. Supported by all operating systems.
7. Has code outlines that show parent and child code

This is by far the best screen capture tool I have come across. I always wanted macs function to capture just a part of the screen, but windows doesn’t come default with a program that does this. The default screen capture for windows, captures the whole screen. This to me was annoying because most of the time I only wanted a part of the screen, or maybe just the color code for something, and didn’t need the whole screen. This program fixes this problem. It gives you all kinds of options in screen capture. My favorite, and most used is regional select.

Here’s some of the features:

1. Multiple screen capture options, such as: Region, Polygon, Full Single Window, Scrolling (for the long web pages you need a screenshot of), Full screen (Similar to windows full screen but better)
2. You can draw lines, arrows, circles, ovals, etc over the screenshot.
3. Can set short cut keys for each screen capture option.
4. Runs in background, can start up with windows to always be active
5. Requires little to no processing power.

A good developer needs to stay motivated. Coding in silence, I’ve found is very hard to do. I recommend listening to music. Pandora is probably the best radio service I have ever seen. You can choose personalized radios, and create your own station. However some people don’t like radios, so I recommend Spotify. Spotify lets you create play list that with premium can be accessed any where at any time.

Heres some features I like about Pandora:

1. Random music is sometimes a good thing.
2. Customize-able stations.
3. Very cheap for premium only $36 USD a year.
4. Accessible with your mobile device with internet connection.
5. With premium version you can choose different layouts

Heres some features I like about Spotify:

1. Build as many play lists as you’d like
2. With premium you can take your music anywhere on or offline.
3. Can pick what song you listen to when ever you want.
4. Very big music library.
5. Available on mobile.

Google has probably been my savior. I have learned 4 programming languages purely from Google searching. Every time I get into a bind, these guys bail me out. If you know how to use this search engine, you can be pretty powerful.

You should know most of the features Google search has.

WinSCP is (in my opinion) by far the best windows FTP and SFTP program. It is very light weight, without sacrificing functionality. It’s very easy to use, and beginner friendly. Its set up is very straight forward.

Here’s some of the features I noticed:

1. Complete control over your upload and downloads.
2. Light weight, wont bog down your computer.
3. Offers great functionality such as drag and drop file transfer, and savable sessions.

Transmit is the Mac version of WinSCP. It is the best FTP program for the Mac. It offers many of the same features as WinSCP as well. However it is not a free program, but well worth buying.

Some of its features include:

1. Drag and Drop File Transfer
2. Multi-Connection File Transfers
3. Bandwidth Limiting
4. Dual Pane Toggling
5. And more!

Again, Google to the rescue. Google has been my choice for all document writing. Resume, all the way to spreadsheets, Google drive covers it all. It comes in real handy when your boss or client wants to keep track of work progress, as you can share the document with anyone who has a gmail account.

Heres some features I use:

1. Awesome (not featured filled but enough to do the job) document writing.
2. Amazing spreadsheets that give you total control.
3. Drawing tool for graphs and what not.
4. Presentation tool

Last, but definitely not least, is Dropbox. Dropbox is good for many things, mainly for keeping track of your files between multiple devices. However what I use it for most is to back up my client’s files, so they always have them. You can create folders and share them with anyone that has Dropbox. Its really an awesome storage utility.

Heres its key features:

1. Awesome storage utility for backing up files
2. Downloads and uploads are lightning fast.
3. Runs in the background, no computer lag.
4. Files are accessible anywhere through the dropbox website.