Top 10 Mac Apps for Web Design & Development

Coda

Coda by Panic is what I always wished Dreamweaver to be. A simple, sleek interface with all of the tools that I need to get the job done. Gone are the days of unnessesary bloat and endless menus that plauge other editors (Dreamweaver).

Coda has everything you need for building websites, text editor + file transfer + svn + css + terminal + books + more. Whoah.

Billings

Billings has been a timesaver as I can quote, track time, and invoice from the same application. I can run reports, set up recurring invoices and more.

It comes with many invoice styles to choose from you can however setup a custom template. Expect to learn the not so intuative templating system though. Only downfall to a really beneficial app.

I also like that it is a local running program and not a webservice with a monthly fee.

Fireworks

Fireworks was the first graphic program that I learned on (besides MS paint). It's not as robust as Photoshop, but it is easier to use and perfect for website mockups and graphics.

I've been a fireworks fan since the days of Macromedia, Fireworks MX was the version I learned with. It has had alot of new features and releases since then. Such as pages and integration with the Adobe Creative Suite.

Transmit

Transmit is the definitive ftp client for the mac. Whether you are transfering files with FTP, SFTP, WebDAV or Amazon S3, transmit handles it all, and fast.

There are some free and open source alternatives, such as Cyberduck

MAMP

MAMP sets up a local "Mac, Apache, MySQL, PHP" development environment in a few clicks. Install MAMP, then in preferences change the Apache Document Root to your sites folder, and voila! A local running php test environment.

It comes default with common libraries compiled such as curl, gd library, and more.

Last.fm

Ya can't work without music! Forget iTunes though, setup a profile at Last.fm, install their desktop app and start listening to your favorite music.

While your at it add me as a friend. ;)

The Unarchiver

You will invevitably come across an archived file that you cannot open. Either it was packed in a .rar or stuffed with stuffit. Install the Unarchiver and open many more types of file formats than the built in unarchiver in OSX can handle. Like a swiss army knife it'll open just about anything.

Fontcase

Fontcase is an "elegant and powerful" font management application. Organize, preview and activate fonts in its itunes like interface.

Fontcase has a powerful tagging system, which is designed to let you control your fonts like you control your music.

1Password

There once was a day when remembering a password or two was no big deal, now some of us (me) have hundreds of passwords. Never forget a password again. Manage passwords, software licenses, credit cards, and more then sync them all to your iphone.

Sequal Pro

Sure PHPMyAdmin gets the job done, but probably in twice the time it will take you to edit your local or remote MySQL database in Sequal Pro. Need to send a database schema to a client? Forget drawing it up in a graphic program, simply create your tables, export to a Graphiz dot file, then to .pdf.