Some people think I'm just a photographer, others think I'm a web developer, some think I mainly work as a designer and others haven't got a clue of what I do for a living. In the past 6 years I did all my best to improve each single perk without leaving not a single one behind.
My work is my passion, and it couldn't be otherwise. I spent the last year finding a technological nirvana, working hard to identify a seamless workflow pattern that could help me improve drastically my productivity trough devices, apps and websites. One of my main tasks was being able to free myself from the slavery of being in front of a pc monitor the whole day, this made me become an iPad/iPhone power user, but many tasks were not achievable on my faithful iDevices.
There's support for keyboard shortcuts as well, making Magnet, at just $2, a must-have tool for the more organizationally-minded Mac users out there. Magnet Available for $1.99 from the App Store. First up on our list is Alfred, a classic OSX app that many readers will surely have at least heard about.It lets you quickly open apps, make web searches, open files, and more – all with only a few keystrokes and without having to use the mouse. Dropbox is a cloud storage service that lets you easily backup vital documents, files, photos, videos, and other things, making it one of the most important must-have Mac apps. While your stuff is stored in Dropbox, you can access it across any other device, as long as you're logged in to the same account. I list the following apps with the caveat that they might not be must-have for everyone. Someone who doesn't use their computer often might only need Finder, an adequately featured web browser, and a text editor.
Lately I've been working a lot on User Experience and front-end web development. By doing so I tried all sorts of Apps and utilities to better achieve my goals in the most efficient way as possible. But it takes time to achieve efficiency. I want to help you speed up your quest for efficiency by highlighting you, what I reckon, the MUST-HAVE OSX apps for UX/UI Designers and developers.
Apps
Google Chrome: for Internet browsing and testing. Mastering the Chrome DevTools will make you a web developer rockstar in no time. Don't forget though to test your projects on all browsers and platforms.
Must Have Software For Mac
DropBox: for backup and shared file storage. Since I switch my workstation many times during the week, a shared folder environment with a secure cloud backup makes me work faster and eradicates the fear of loosing my project files.
Google Drive: for backup and online document editing. Since I use Scrum as a Software project managament workflow I need to keep my weekly sprints and project backlogs updated and shared with my team to assure constant updates.
Sparrow: as my default email client. It seamlessly syncs with my Gmail Account. But I'm waiting for the Mac version of Mailbox.
Things: for task management. One of my favorite apps of all time. I use it to manage all my work and personal related project in to actionable task using the Getting Things Done method.
Trello Board: for team collaboration. Trello keeps track of every aspect of my projects and helps me update with my team. I sometimes apply the Kanban method for better performances on complex projects.
Evernote: for general reference gathering and storage. It syncs with my iDevices and now also with my Evernote Moleskine. I never loose a note.
Adobe Creative Suite: for virtually doing anything creative. Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, InDesign. Without it, I would be lost.
Coda 2: for coding. Coda 2 comes with: an improved editor with code folding, auto completion and workflow improvements, new tabs and sidebar UI changes, Git support, a full file browser, improved clips (code snippets), changes to CSS editing, live code hints and a full-blown GUI for MySQL management.
Trello Board: for team collaboration. Trello keeps track of every aspect of my projects and helps me update with my team. I sometimes apply the Kanban method for better performances on complex projects.
Evernote: for general reference gathering and storage. It syncs with my iDevices and now also with my Evernote Moleskine. I never loose a note.
Adobe Creative Suite: for virtually doing anything creative. Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, InDesign. Without it, I would be lost.
Coda 2: for coding. Coda 2 comes with: an improved editor with code folding, auto completion and workflow improvements, new tabs and sidebar UI changes, Git support, a full file browser, improved clips (code snippets), changes to CSS editing, live code hints and a full-blown GUI for MySQL management.
SublimeText 2: for quick coding. I use SublimeText 2 when I need to quickly fix or edit code snippets. Smart, quick and efficient.
Espresso2: for CSS editing. With it's wonderful WYSIWYG editor for Css, Espresso 2 boosts my front-end development productivity to the maximum.
Transmit: for FTP file transfer. Transmit makes my days easier with an intuitive interface and a clear ftp management.
1Password: for password storage. With hundreds of Social Networks, credit card credentials, ftp addresses and back-office logins, 1Passwords has become one of the first App I install on a new terminal. A true gem.
Balsamiq: for general wireframing. A no-brainer app I use when I need to enhance my hand drawn website sketches.
ByWord: for text editing. Markdown syntax has become my most reliable form of text formatting. ByWord helps me focus on my writing with it's minimal yet functional interface.
Sketch: for website and app design. A new addition to my toolbox, Sketch is a is a professional vector graphics app aimed at graphic designers developed especially for UI designers.
Briefs: for interactive iOS prototypes generation. A new addition, Briefs is an iOS prototyping tool for professionals. It comes with a standalone Mac app that allows you to build and test live prototypes, and a free Briefscase iOS app that lets you test prototypes directly on your iPhone and iPad.
Must Have Osx Apps
DayOne: for your personal journal management. Ipad app emulator for android. DayOne can be used as an honest and personal Dev log to review in the future.
OmniGraffle: for diagramming, charting, and general visualization. I mainly use it to create complex UMLs.
Mindnode: for mind mapping. Mindnode can be used to create site-maps on the go during brainstorms.
Essential Mac Apps 2020
Skype: for instant messaging and conference calls. Even though I prefer to limit availability to three precise moments during the day.
Utilities
GuideGuide: for making grids directly in Photoshop.
Uber Layer: for overlaying jpg layouts to Htmls during Css editing making your designs pixel proof.
Adobe Inspect: for cross browser testing. Adobe Inspects makes you preview & inspect web designs on your devices.
Page Layers: for layered website screenshots. It converts web pages to Photoshop files with separate layers for all page elements.
CssHat: to instantly turn Photoshop layer styles to CSS3.
Slicy: for Photoshop slicing. Slicy exports layer groups independently, giving you total freedom to move, overlap or even hide design elements.
QuickCal: for quick agenda management.
f.lux: to save yourself for going blind. Is your computer keeping you up late? f.lux is free software that warms up your computer display at night, to match your indoor lighting.
ImageOptim: for image optimization. By finding best compression parameters, ImageOptim optimizes images so they take up less disk space and load faster.
CloudApp: to quickly share screenshots and files with auto-generated links.
Kuler: for creating and picking colors and palettes.
DevRocket: to quickly create and export iOs UI elements.
Instashare: to seamlessly beam files from Mac to iPhone/iPad and vice versa.
Virtualbox: for running Windows Apps. You could ignore it, but you eventually need to try your web project on Internet Explorer.
Way Out is an escape route. It's goal is to achieve constant inspiration and create truly meaningful things. See this post as a small digital tool-set to start planning your escape as I planned mine.
