My Daily Drivers
Well everyone seems to do it so why not? Plus it’s a pretty easy and quick post to write to get content into this blog
So here we go as of April 2025 what I am using in the way of tools to do my job. Some of the following may be of no interest at all, but others like choice of email provider or what I use to edit photos may be of use, so here goes.
Firstly the hardware. My main machine is an Apple M2 MacBook Air (in navy blue), I replaced my Macbook Pro earlier in 2023, and while supposedly a lower range model, the Apple M2 chip is as least as fast and a lot more portable, to the extent that I rarely use my iPad and would certainly not replace it. The Air is docked to a 32" 4K monitor giving me portability when needed and a good amount of screen space to work in, and watch movies when at my desk!
My code editor of choice. Sublime Text, I have tried many over the years but keep coming back to this one, it's blazingly fast, runs on Mac, Unix and Windows and is extendable through plugins which give me all I need on a daily basis. If I have more niche needs any time such as AI code helpers I keep a copy of Microsoft's' VSCode editor as well.
Also for code I have all sites while developing running under version control (like probably every developer)which means I can experiment, make changes or try out new ideas and roll back at any time if things go wrong. I use the industry standard here (GIT) which I manage through Sublime Merge, the companion app to our text editor. Just as an aside I also use this to system to write and store blogs, so it is just not for code.
Photo editing, for may years I used Adobe Photoshop, which was so standard it became a verb, to "Photoshop" an image, basically the same way that Hoover did with vacuuming. However a few years ago I switched to Pixelmator pro, a Mac only app as Adobes pricing model switched to a (rather expensive) annual subscription. Pixelmator pro is not as powerful, however it handles all I need, is fast and very easy to use when coming from Photoshop. Updates and improvements are frequent and again it's fast to load and process images.
Internet Browser, I am currently using Arc, a relative newcomer to the market, but with some interesting takes on the browser experience. It runs on both Mac and iPhone. It takes some setting up as it uses the concept of sidebars, create as many as you need, keep favourites in there and switch as needed. For example I have a "support" sidebar which has all the links I need for that role, links to domain name management, CMS access etc etc. I have another for development which has links to resources I use all the time. So far I can not recommend it highly enough. When developing sites I use Firefox browser as the debugging tools are top of the range and does not have the privacy issues of Google Chrome.
There are really three other tools I use daily, e-mail and task management/note taking. For email I use Fastmail and have done for many years. It supports custom domains and while it is a paid service it has none of the privacy concerns of "free" services such as gmail or hotmail. On my Mac I access mail through Mailmate, not the prettiest mail client but the most powerful with insane search and filtering rules allowing you file and find mail very quickly. Again something I have used for a good few years. On the phone I use Preside, again not pretty but the nearest thing to Mailmate available on iOS.
Task and Project Management. I have tried them all (nearly). However I keep coming back to Things which hits that sweet spot between power and over doing it. Multi award winner for its UI it is software I rely on daily. Notes (at least ones I want to keep), again I have tried a good few, but for now landing on Bear again that sweet spot for me between simplicity and power, Markdown based, I use it for code snippets, appointment notes etc.
An honourable mention must go to Raycast, at its simplest an application launcher, but much more more, and really something Apple should have built into its OS. I use this multiple times a day, quick notes, opening apps, managing windows placement, checking calendars and to do lists, searching via traditional search engines and the relatively new AI features which I need to get more into.
I hope this post may help someone out there, if it does or you need any more details please contact me, I am always happy to try and help.