Uses

What I use

The following is a list of everything that I use.

I recently upgraded to a (MacBook Pro 16” (2019))[https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch-space-gray-2.6ghz-6-core-processor-512gb] with a 512 SSD and 16GB of RAM. Before that, I was doing all my work on a late 2013 27” iMac.
The MacBook Pro sits on an (Amazon Basics Laptop Desk Stand)[https://amzn.to/32pXwBl] - nothing fancy.
I use a (Keychron K4 Mechanical Keyboard)[https://amzn.to/3htGyYZ] - This goes with me everywhere I go, even when my laptop stays behind
I backup my work on a (WD 6TB MyBook Duo)[https://amzn.to/3gskblw] external hard drive. For now, I backup manually, but I plan on setting up TimeMachine to automate backups.
I use a (iPhone Xs)[https://amzn.to/3hs9voi] and never leave home without my (AirPods)[https://amzn.to/3aQXI0j].

I mostly code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, a little Python, and a bit of PHP. This is what I use:

PyCharm - for the little Python that I write
Vim - For HTML, CSS and the little PHP that I write. I also write Markdown in Vim. It is how I publish these posts. Vim is my preffered text editor. I’ll be honest, I am not very fast, but I am trying to use Vim for the speed benefit. I am on month 10 and slowly getting faster (oxy-moron?)
VS Code - For everything else. Before VS Code I used PHPStorm, but VS Code is bar none the most responsive IDE. I keep it slim with only a few plugins (Sass compiler)
NVM - The right way to install and manage NPM versions
CraftCMS - I sue CraftCMS on various personal projects. I also have a few WordPress installs, but this is my CMS of Choice
Drupal - I have a hate hate relationship with Drupal. We use Drupal 7 at work. I am told that Drupal 8 is a different experience, but meh.

Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign/Acrobat - The usual suspects. I work with a lot of graphic designers and they send these files.
Affinity Photo - My preffered image editor
Affinity Designer - My preffered vector editor
Affinity Publisher - Slowly becoming my preffered desktop publishing software
Sketch - I am slowly making the transition to Figma, but I still have some files that I haven’t moved over in Sketch
Figma - My preffered tool for UI design these days. I preffere it over Sketch for the team collaboration aspect

Teams - Not a fan, but it is the enterprise solution at work, and everyone outside of my team uses it to communicate
Slack - My team uses slack to communicate
Spark Mail - My preffere email client. I also have Outlook installed since the one thing that I cannot do in Spark Mail is the one thing that I do pretty often and is not supported – Send emails as attachments
Outlook - To send emails as attachments - this app is almost always closed
Zoom - My preffered online conferencing platform
CloudApp - For sharing screenshots, gifs, etc. (is this communication?)

Vim - As I mentioned above, Vim is my preffered text editor. I use Vim when ever I can.
MS Office - If I can help it I don’t open these apps at all. I am usually forced to by documents that I am sent by my peers at work.
Bear App - A nice MarkDown app that syncs across all my devices. As I am starting to use Vim more, I find that I use BearApp less.

Jira - My preffered Agile/Project management tool
Workamajig - Yes, this is a thing. This is the enterprise solution for managing requests to my team. I would have fought hard to choose something other than this if I had been part of the team when the desicion was made.
Todoist - The best task management tool. The dev team announced a boards layout. I am excited for it. I manage work and home tasks with Todoist.
Homebrew - This is listed in this section becasuse not having to manage packages, apps, and installs manually really is a productivity find. Once I started using Homebrew, I never looked back. This is my package manager.
Alfred - The time that Alfred has saved me is akin to the productivity that I am gaining as I learn to use Vim.

I am sure that I am forgetting a number of apps. This will be edited as my workflow changes. What am are you doing better?