Web Development on the Mac

randombar

Hi Lads,

Making the move from Pc to Mac and I was just wondering what kinda of web develpment SW was out there for the mac? Freeware like notepad++ or better would be great. Dreamweaver was a nice tool on the pc but I don't want to have to fork out for it on the mac.
Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks
Gary

heggie

there is some excellent software out there. not all free, but some very reasonable. The absolute best thing about being on a mac for web dev is CSSedit it is amazing and worth 10 times its price imo.

There is also Coda which is good too, but I don't use it in my workflow at the moment. Textmate is another brilliant app, and then you can add dreamweaver to the list, and thats about the jist of what I use

Goodshape

I use Coda when I'm on the Mac. Not free but not too expensive either ($79), and a lovely all-in-one package for web development.


Other people seem to swear by TextMate but I never could figure out why. It's not free either ($50) and while it's a good text editor, you'll need to spend time on customisation and finding and installing plugins to get the most out of it.


Unfortunately I've found the free and open source options to be pretty thin on the ground where OS-X is concerned.

The Mighty Ken

I use Coda myself as well. It's good and not too expensive. I think you can get a decent deal if you buy Coda and Transmit (really decent FTP software) together.

nikimere

I've used Smultron as a text editor, its pretty good, and free too
FileZilla also has a Mac client.. again it's free.

pontovic

Smultron is a good text editor. Works quite well, but if you are doing some dev definitely check out eclipse. It's what I use for my PHP work and there is a flavour of it called PDT created by the guys at Zend. Its geared toward PHP web developers and comes complete with a debugger too, although I still need a bit of time to fully figure that one out.

Can I recommend you get Inkscape, an open source Adobe Illustrator. Altghough it is no match for Illusrtator, it's still handy for doing really simple small icons and it's quite easy to pick up. Also don't forget multiple IE's for mac.

garymc.

I'd recommend Textmate and Expandrive. I also use Coda, Transmit and CSSEdit. None of these are free though. They range from around €20 to €50.

I've only briefly used Smultron so can't comment much on that. There's another opensource editor called Taco HTML Edit that may be worth a look. Cyberduck may be a decent opensource alternative to Transmit. It seems to be pretty full-featured though I haven't used it.

If you can afford the €40 euro for textmate it really is worth the investment if you spend a lot of time coding in a text editor. It's incredibly versatile.

garymc.

Also, Virtualbox is a good free alternative to VMWare Fusion or Parallels for running Windows (or Linux/OpenSolaris etc) as a virtual machine on your mac. Handy for testing sites on IE. I don't trust that multiple IE's for Mac app.

randombar

Is VMware worth the 50 notes so or what? Might start a thread the top ten things for a mac newbie or something?

EKRIUQ

GaryCocs wrote: »

Is VMware worth the 50 notes so or what? Might start a thread the top ten things for a mac newbie or something?

Start it with top ten reasons why people should switch to a MAC.

Is it this hard to find programmes for a MAC?, and are opensource programmes available widely for a mac.

Is it possible to upgrade/repair a mac and the cost be less than a new PC?

Why do they bring new operating systems so often is it just to make money or does it make a difference.

Can windows run fine on a MAC.

I've been looking at Mac's but see more negatives then positives to switch and I'm not a gamer!

NullZer0

Goodshape wrote: »

Other people seem to swear by TextMate but I never could figure out why. It's not free either ($50) and while it's a good text editor, you'll need to spend time on customisation and finding and installing plugins to get the most out of it.

I just sold my Mac. FIRST PERSON TO PM ME CAN HAVE MY TEXTMATE LICENSE!

heggie

Namesco wrote: »

Is it this hard to find programmes for a MAC?, and are opensource programmes available widely for a mac.

No, and yes.

Namesco wrote: »

Is it possible to upgrade/repair a mac and the cost be less than a new PC?

Im not sure what you mean, if you repair/upgrade an old pc it could cost more than it's worth. Apple use standard hardware, you can upgrage a HDD & RAM as easily as you can with any pc of the same form factor. Keep in mind imacs are more like laptops.


Why do they bring new operating systems so often is it just to make money or does it make a difference.
[/QUOTE]
They certainly are different and always have significant upgrades/features. Unlike windows, there are few teething problems with new mac os's. But - you're free not to upgrade if you want. OSX is a lot cheaper than vista, and 100 times better to use imo.

Namesco wrote: »

Can windows run fine on a MAC.

On an intel based mac yes, through parallels or some other vm, or boot straight into it using bootcamp.

Namesco wrote: »

I've been looking at Mac's but see more negatives then positives to switch and I'm not a gamer!

Not sure what negatives you see?

Goodshape

Namesco wrote: »

are opensource programmes available widely for a mac.

They are widely available but I think it's fair to say that they're not as widely available or as well developed and supported as you might find on Windows machine. And certainly not as much as you would find on Linux, but that might go without saying.

On the other hand, there is an abundance of high quality and exceptionally designed software at very reasonable prices for the Mac (like the ones mentioned above).

Why do they bring new operating systems so often is it just to make money or does it make a difference.

There certainly are more incremental updates to OS-X than there are with Windows -- but these updates are cheaper, generally non-essential, much more polished and refined, and offer some real improvements in contrast to the Windows idea of seemingly needless changes to basic functionality just for the sake of it. I don't think you'll ever be expected to change the fundamentals of how you use your computer just because you've updated to the latest version of OS-X... such as is the case with the jump from XP to Vista, for example.

OS-X is a nice operating system. It's nice to work with, it's nice to play with, and these days there really is no shortage of the software you need to get things done. I think from a Windows user perspective (I'm primarily Linux myself... can't stand Windows), having a decent operating system is the Mac's biggest appeal.

I've been looking at Mac's but see more negatives then positives to switch and I'm not a gamer!

What negatives, out of interest?

EKRIUQ

Goodshape wrote: »

What negatives, out of interest?

Thanks for the info and, I'm not trying to dis MAC's its just that I've always used PC's except for about 17 years ago before windows.(And it was better than DOS)

1) Macs generally cost more than a PC.

2) They are less customizable than a PC in terms that you can't really build a MAC you have to buy them.Along with that if a part burns out, you're not replacing it on a MAC.

3) I have expensive desktop software that will only work on a PC and I like to also use on my lap top and my other computers. Also all my current software is (Abobe, Macromedia etc are all PC software) And the cost of switching to a Mac is just more than the cost of the machine is all the software that goes with it.

If I wanted to run PC programs on a MAC and I have to install Windows on it to get them, what was the point of buying the MAC in the first place? And I've grown to use vista and all its advantages now.

Thanks

Goodshape

Then it sounds like you're more suited to a Windows PC tbh

No harm in that. Mac's are very 'cool' at the moment (I'm sure you can't deny, if you're after aesthetics, they look class), but I think five years ago they weren't a viable option at all. Now they are.

Doesn't mean they're the be all and end all. It's just another option.

If you're happy with Windows, or Linux, then there's probably no pressing need to switch to OS-X / Mac.

colm_c

For the customisation, the only Macs you can customise would be the Mac Pros (tower machines), but you do have limited hardware although they support up to 32GB of RAM right out of the box and it can all be used in your apps.

In fact there are some Pro apps only available on the Mac - Final Cut Pro and Aperature.

In terms of the Adobe/Macromedia stuff, if you switch to a Mac you won't have to fork out for a license as the software on the CD is installable on Macs, so you just have to transfer the license.

If you use a Mac for a few days you'll get more of an insight as to why people switch.

For any webdevs looking to switch, a copy of VMWare and XP is a must -- otherwise you'll need a PC for browser and compatibility testing.

randombar

Don't suppose anyone wants to sell me a coda licence?

Eoin

A friend of mine is a Graphic designer, and has a dual boot on his Mac. He says he ended up using XP for nearly most tasks, apart from the applications that could only run on Mac OS.

forbairt

eoin_s wrote: »

A friend of mine is a Graphic designer, and has a dual boot on his Mac. He says he ended up using XP for nearly most tasks, apart from the applications that could only run on Mac OS.

I'm working as a bit of everything ... (graphic design / web design / developer / seo nutjob and so on) and I have to say since I made the switch I've just fallen completely in love with the Mac. Hell I've even given it a pet name :P

I'm extremely surprised your friend uses XP ... It took me a week or two to get up to speed and I'd guess I'm comfortable with *nix based os's ... I've had one or two issues but nothing that took that long to figure out.

getting the extra 2gbs of RAM for the machine as well made a huge difference so that I can comfortable have a hell of a lot open as well as an XP VM for testing