I would love to know what tools keep my fellow developers productive. Moreover, this can serve as a comprehensive list of tools/services developers use for better productivity. So, please share your secrets! :D
For Chrome, Javascript Errors Notifier, Cookies and Cookie Inspector (two different extensions... I like Cookies better, but there's a weird bug in it that annoys me), Advanced REST Client.
vi for my text editor
Aptana Studio 3 IDE for PHP development (sadly, this is a defunct product... it had a lot of promise, and is still pretty good, but doesn't deal with modern PHP versions, but I like it... so there.)
OneNote to cover lots of miscellaneous things (sys admin notes, documentation for processes, clients who are use our SFTP and their related info, etc.)
Mattermost hosted in-house for chat with my team members (only the enterprise version of Slack is HIPAA-compliant, and for the little bit we would use it, not worth it)
Good ol' pen and paper for my to-do list. Nothing else works quite as well, as quick and as flexible (for me... I'm a simple man.)
jsonlint.com for JSON validation (finding that pesky odd character can be a pain sometimes!!!)
Edit: Forgot one important one: snippingtool - a little Window utility that lets me clip an area of the screen for a screenshot.
Apart from testing in actual browsers, and occasional use of the document inspector on OTHER people's code, I try NOT to over-rely on tools or even use extra ones in the first place. When I do it's almost ALWAYS to deal with some mess someone else built as for me, most such stuff just gets in the damned way.
There is FAR too much reliance on tools and not enough on what's between people's ears these days; made all the sadder by the fact that so many tools... well, what was it Dan Schulz (RIP) said on the topic?
The only thing about Dreamweaver that can be considered professional grade tools are the people promoting its use!
... a sad but true state of affairs. Far, FAR too often these days you'll hear "this tool made it easier" or "this framework made it simpler" when the only real fact to be found is that the person saying it didn't know enough about the underlying languages or technologies to even know if what they just said was true, much less even be working on the task at hand!
STOP over-relying on pointless tools and get your damned brain working on the problem! Even better, try to develop good habits that you can fall back on when mental stress or the task overwhelms you.
I'll stack experience, brainpower, and good ingrained habits over any automated tool any day of the week. Much like how idols are for the addle-minded, most 'tools' are for fools -- at least when talking anything more than the most basic needed to do the job.
ALL the browsers you can possibly test in, properly configured testing server, flat text editor that allows multiple separate windows per open file, DONE!
OK, I’m not sure Hashnode gives me enough space to to create a list of all my tools, but here you go, in no particular order, both in work and private:
The list could really go on for a while. Ask me in particular, and I will make a better one.
Well here is a list I use every day or at least regularly:
Chrome/Firefox extentions:
Tools:
That's it for now, I will add things I forgot when they get up to my mind :)
Michaël
💯 I'm glad somebody asked this question because I enjoy finding little productivity hacks. My whole list will be MacOS based:
Quadro:
I cannot imagine a day developing without using these tools, just imagine all the time you are winning! 😉