Inspired by uses.tech.
Full Stack
- Laravel is my PHP framework of choice for building feature-rich web applications.
- Jigsaw is an awesome static site generator using Laravel's Blade templating system and Laravel's Mix. This website is built using it.
- Homebrew is a software package manager for macOS and installs a lot of useful command line utilities not bundled with the operating system.
- npm is a package manager and CLI for Node.js packages, which is a Javascript runtime. I use npm in almost every project to pull in the latest builds of some fantastic open-source frameworks and libraries.
- Composer is basically the PHP equivalent of npm.
- Tailwind is the best CSS framework hands down. JIT mode is fantastic at only compiling the classes used in markup rather than purging the entire framework.
- GitHub is an online software repository website built using Git, a version control system. I push all major projects I am working on here to share and keep track of. Most of my repositories are private for now, however I am looking to upload a bunch of fun things I've been working on, mostly iOS apps.
- Netlify is an online platform which offers cloud hosting and serverless backend services for static websites. It takes a GitHub repository and can execute build commands in realtime to build a website. One of my favourite features is how easy it is to empower a vanilla form to accept submissions without any server-side code or JavaScript.
- SwiftUI is Apple's new declarative UI framework for creating user interfaces across all their platforms using Swift. So much easier than the old UIKit ways.
Software
- Adobe Illustrator is what I use for graphic design, branding and mocking-up user interfaces. I also use XD for simple mockups and prototyping, Photoshop for image editing & InDesign for print work. Creative Cloud ties all these programs in nicely.
- Terminal is the default command line system included in macOS. I think it's great.
- Visual Studio Code is a fantastic source-code editor built using web technologies created by Microsoft. It has heaps of community created themes and packages.
- Safari is my go-to web browser. I love its integration with macOS and Apple's other platforms. For testing though, I do keep an updated copy of Chrome and Firefox around.
- FileZilla is an open source FTP client for macOS, Windows and Linux.
- Fork is an excellent Git client for macOS and Windows.
- Xcode is Apple's all-in-one IDE for user interface design, coding, testing, and debugging.
Audio/Video
- Final Cut Pro X is Apple's professional level video editing software. Like iMovie on steroids and much more optimised than Premiere Pro.
- After Effects is the undisputed industry standard VFX program that I first started dabbling with motion graphics on. Recently started experimenting with Apple's answer – Motion.
- Logic Pro X is Apple's professional level DAW (digital audio workstation). Like Garageband on steroids.
- Gold Blue Yeti Nano USB Microphone is a classic USB microphone which I use to record voiceovers and do voice/video calls with.
- Komplete Audio 2 Interface giving me the ability to plug in a guitar or XLR microphone to my Mac, as well as output to studio monitors.
- AVE Fusion 4 Studio Monitors providing great, low-cost sound to amplify my Mac's (admittedly, already great) speakers.
Workspace
- 2021 16" MacBook Pro (M1 Pro 10/16, 32GB, 1TB).
- 12.9" iPad Pro + Apple Pencil form a great duo for reading and watching media on the go, as well as viewing sheet music with ForScore.
- 2x Dell U2720Q 4K monitors which provide me with colour accurate P3 viewing and charge my laptop at full speed (up to 90W for the 16"), also acting as a neat USB-A and USB-C dock.
- Logitech MX Master 3. This is an awesome ergonomic mouse with macOS support and horizontal scrolling.
- Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad & Magic Trackpad 2 form another great duo for using my machine in clamshell mode. Now having TouchID is a bonus – and Trackpad on the left, mouse on the right, of course.
- Thunderbolt 4 Blaze Docking Station to allow me to live my single-cable dream.
Extras
- Rectangle is a window management app for macOS which I couldn't live without. Another great open-source GitHub find. I install this on every Mac I use.
- SF Symbols 3 is an app for viewing and exporting SF Symbols: a collection of over 3,200 symbols which integrate with the default font on Apple's platforms.
- Monitor Control is a nifty app to control an external display as if it were an Apple Display (adjusting volume and brightness).
- VLC is an open-source media viewing application which can open virtually anything (when QuickTime falls short).
- TablePlus is a GUI tool for databases. Much better than using the terminal for complex tasks.
- Proxyman is a great macOS application I use to test out APIs and HTML requests/responses.
