Web Design Toolkit
March 3rd, 2010Different software that I use, my preferred coding environments and third party apps that make life easier. I call this my “A List” of programs that every web designer should have.
Dreamweaver
Need I say more? Adobe just does stuff right when it comes to software, they always have and always will. Dreamweaver is the perfect environment for hand coding sites from scratch or just managing the content in the WYSIWYG editor. I get to pick and choose how I want to work, the WYSIWYG is great for editing stuff like content and images so you don’t have to spend time looking through all your code for that one typo. In Dreamweaver CS4 they did some major updates to make the WYSIWYG view even more realistic to what actually shows in the browsers. It doesn’t stop there, when it comes to developing, I build the entire site in the Code View and don’t switch over until I get ready to insert the copy onto the site.
There is other software out there that provides just the coding environment and they are okay, they just don’t offer all the features that Dreamweaver does. FrontPage however is absolute junk and I would never recommend that to anyone. Microsoft likes to inject a lot of their own meaningless code into websites that are built using FrontPage. They were out of the game for a while and just came out with a new FrontPage. I haven’t had a chance to look at it in depth however I still wouldn’t suggest that another developer give it a shot.
Basecamp
It doesn’t matter how many clients you have, you must use some form of project management. Basecamp is an online based project management tool that grows with you. Think of how helpful it would be if you had one go-to place with document collaboration, to-do lists, milestones, file storage, etc. Not to mention creating a login for your client to login and give feedback on designs, write the content for their site, upload graphics and logos, along with seeing deadlines that you posted for their project. If you’re saying to yourself, “that it would be awesome” then you need to get Basecamp, because they do all that and more.
Freshbooks
Since I found Freshbooks a few years ago not a day has gone by that I haven’t used it. I’m able to manage my clients and all of their login information. I have the ability to put together proposals and notify my clients via email when they are able to login and view them. I can send out one-time or recurring invoices, even auto-bill through my Authorize.net account. For my clients that aren’t very tech-savvy Freshbooks can send them a statement in the mail with a pre-addressed return envelope.
My clients can login and create support tickets which will automatically notify me or another staff member that is responsible for that item. I never loose track of where I spend my time thanks to the timer that helps me to log time spent on projects. I can also create staff & contractor logins for them to track their time as well. Clients can also login and see how their project is coming along by viewing how many hours have been tracked to specific tasks on the project.
Of course you got to have some way to manage all your expenses paying for domain names, hosting, and contractors so Freshbooks gives you an area to manage all of your expenses. Freshbooks will even give you a report at the end of the year to hand over to your CPA.
