3 Great Web Dev Tools for the Mac OS
I exclusively use the Mac OS for all my development, with occasional forays into Windows via Parallels for checking in Internet Explorer 6 & 7. Some people like Dreamweaver’s integrated approach with FTP and editor in one, but I’ve always felt that Dreamweaver was a huge resource hog. I prefer using a couple of tools that are best in breed rather then the Swiss army knife approach. There are a couple of tools that I use on a daily basis that make my life as a web designer much easier. Transmit for FTPing, Textmate for all coding, and a simple screen shot program called Paparazzi. I use the standard Adobe suite just like everyone else, but these three are uniquely Mac and a joy to work with.
Transmit
There are a myriad of FTP programs for Mac OS X and I’ve tried a bunch, but I always return to Transmit. The interface is slick and when you connect to a 
server the folders and files view work similar to Mac OS X’s Finder. A recently added feature is the ability to open a number of connections in different tabs; I use this all the time now and couldn’t live without it. I use Transmit in tandem with Textmate by clicking on files I would like to edit and saving them back down in Textmate. It’s pretty seamless. You can also attach any file extension to different apps that you would like Transmit to open as the external editor. So all of my CSS, HTML, PHP, and JS files go to Textmate and all graphics open in Photoshop. If you’re looking for a solid FTP program, give Transmit a try.
Textmate
Using Textmate is like a religious experience — once you use it, it’s hard to think of working any other way. Textmate is pretty simple on the surface, but 
where it derives its power is from the pre-installed Bundles. Bundles are a customizable set of Snippets and Commands. Most of the Bundles are for numerous programming languages and there are some great ones for scrubbing text and even ones for getting more Bundles. What makes the Bundles great are that they are fully customizable, so if I don’t like the style of the Bundles code, I can just edit it. A huge time saver are tab-stops. Basically, you type a short phrase and hit tab and the code is completed for that phrase. This way of working is so ingrained in my head that there are times when I’m in a web form and I’ll try to trigger code completion, not realizing I can only do that in Textmate. Textmate runs about $50 US so it’s not hugely expensive. I’m looking forward to the new Leopard-only version coming this fall.
Paparazzi
This is another tools that is super simple and works perfectly. It’s free to try and use, but i’d throw the developer a couple bucks via donation. Basically, Paparazzi allows you to take a full screen shot of a web page, not just a browser window. It allows you to specify the size of the screen shot and even allows you to delay the shot, in case there is some Flash on the page you would like to capture at a specific moment. I use this a lot when I’m making changes to an existing site. Most of the time the original mock-up for the site isn’t representative of what the site has grown to be, so it makes more sense to take a screen shot and add the changes.
Wrap up
Well, those are the tools I spend a lot of my time working in. If you work in something that you think is better, I would love to here about. Just leave a comment below.
→ Jorge Quinteros @ July 28th, 2007 at 9:29 am
I agree with you in all accounts. I happen to own and utilize all of them.
→ Gianluca Negrello @ July 28th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
For my coding needs I found SkEdit (http://skti.org/skEdit.php) way sweeter to work with than TextMate.
→ Aaron Moodie @ July 29th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Like your site! have you checked out Coda? a new text editor/ftp app made by Panic (transmit) Worth checking out.
→ Rik Catlow @ July 30th, 2007 at 5:08 am
I’ve tried Coda. I think it good, but the editor needs a little work. I prefer the Textmate method of code completion. Pretty much the same reason I don’t use SkEdit.
→ WEBARMY @ July 30th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Good suggestions. But DreamWeaver CS3 for the mac is smokin hot. It’s not as big a resource hog and runs well. I usually have it Flash CS3 and PhotoShop CS3 open at the same time with little to no hang-ups.
→ Matt Downey @ July 30th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
I agree one hundred percent. I use these applications every day and couldn’t do what I do without them. I’ve tried Coda, but (as weird as it sounds), could never get used to the “tabbed” window approach. I like being able to Expose in and out of programs with ease.
→ Matt @ August 1st, 2007 at 10:43 am
I was so excited to try TextMate when I first got a Mac because of all the hype… But, I just don’t like it. To each their own I suppose.
I’m so used to DW that it’s hard to break the ties that bind at the end of the day. If you’re very used to DW and are considering dropping cashola for TextMate, I’d advise against it. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be: stange syntax highlighting, a mind of it’s own in code completion, and all around a complicated and annoying switch from a DW mindset.
If you’re using a plain text editor (which nobody truly is, liars say they are but they are lying, hehehe) then TextMate is an upgrade, otherwise stick with what you know and you’ll be plenty more productive. :-/ That’s my 2 cents.
*off topic* nice looking site, I’m feeling the minimalism, well done!
→ Rik Catlow @ August 2nd, 2007 at 11:05 am
Well, I’ve got the new CS3 Web Design Premium here at the office and I fired up the new version of Dreamweaver. It’s basically unchanged since I last used it. I really don’t see the appeal, but as you can see from this site. I value simplicity a lot and Dreamweaver is a mess.
Oh, Matt the syntax highlighting is customizable in Textmate and the code completion is different, but once you get the hang of it it saves a lot of time.
→ yann @ August 5th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Funny… I’m thinking about redesigning my site and I stumbled upon yours which is very close to what I had in mind… Even the 900+ px width… Needless t say, I like it! ;)
OK, I’ll try to comment on the actual article now: I couldn’t agree more about TextMate… You’ll see why if you checkout my site.
I’d only ad a few to the list:
xScope
Navicat (I know cocoa MySQL, but try Navicat… it’s worth its price, and it’s not cheap ;)
MAMP (The pro version is pretty sweet, but the free one’s great too)
→ Cristiano Rastelli @ August 7th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Just my 2 cent tip: i’m using (happily) Red snapper - trial here: http://www.tastyapps.com/ - which is a simple Safari plugin that can save web pages not only in bitmap (PNG, JPG, TIF, etc.) but also in PDF, with working embedded links and selectable text.
→ Tony M @ August 15th, 2007 at 8:35 am
I’ve got Textmate, Coda and SKedit installed and bought on my machine… ech has it’s strong points. Unfortunately I don’t program so much of the textmate functin is lost on me but it was the first i bought for coding.
I find the snippets powerful but the auto complete in SKedit pips it just…
Coda i use for contructing pages as that is normally a the slow part of the process and doesn’t require bulk uploading etc…
but they are all great apps, and kick seven shades of shoe shine out of the homesite on the works PC.
→ Jorge Diaz @ August 21st, 2007 at 11:44 am
I am using Transmit and its great. I like the feature when you are done uploading something, some nice menu inform the uploading is done, thats handy because you are doing other things and notice when the files are up on you server. I downloaded TextMate trial and its great. Does anybody know something about CSSEdit what do you prefeer TextMate or CSSEdit?
Nice Site! it´s my style too. ;)
→ ramon @ September 22nd, 2007 at 1:19 pm
My three would be Textmate, Headdress & Transmit.
→ eko @ November 6th, 2007 at 9:31 am
i used Smultron to edit my file, such us HTML, CSS, PHP or JS