20+ Required Windows Apps: Web Designer’s Choice
In April, Jeffrey Way provided us with a list of the “20 Mac Apps You’ll Use Every Day.” Not one to be biased, if you prefer Windows, this article rounds up the best programs available for boosting your productivity as a web designer.
1. Skybound Stylizer
While I prefer to use Firebug, I’m finding this “out of the box” CSS editor to be really helpful. Skybound Stylizer has been out for a while, but the latest version, 4.0, is now out with a lot of incredible features to help you in the development process. One of the core features is that it supports Google Chrome, Firefox 2 – 3.6, and Internet Explorer 6 – 8.
Stylizer is an exotic visual CSS editor that keeps you in the drivers seat while delivering enormous productivity gains.
2. Notepad++
Notepad++ is by far my favorite text editor for Windows. It’s fast, flexible and offers a variety of plugins. If you want to increase your productivity with this editor, be sure to install the ZenCoding plugin. You can download the plugin here.
Notepad++ is a text editor and source code editor for Windows, one main advantage of Notepad++ over the built-in Windows text editor, Notepad, is tabbed editing, to easily work with multiple open files.
Alternative
3. IETester
IETester is the most stable and useful IE test tool available for Windows. With tabbing navigation, a source code viewer, and the debug bar, it’ll help you through the process of “happy” IE debugging.
IETester is a free WebBrowser that allows you to have the rendering and javascript engines of IE9 preview, IE8, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Windows 7, Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process.
Alternative
4. Filezilla
Filezilla is the most popular and free FTP for Windows, and, of course, is my favorite FTP client for this platform. It’s lightweight and easy to use.
FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive graphical user interface.
Alternative
5. Dropbox
Dropbox is a multi-platform sync system, which is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. You can use it as a backup folder to transfer files to your friends and family. It’s amazingly intuitive and fast.
Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.
6. Jing
Jing is a great tool to share images or videos in the Windows platform. It’s free, but you can order the Pro version with even more features.
Use Jing to capture anything you see on your computer screen and share it instantly… as an image or short movie.
7. XAMPP
For PHP/MySQL development, Xampp automatically installs MySQL, Apache and PHP in your PC.
XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.
Alternative
8. FoxitReader
FoxitReader is the primary PDF reader in my PC; it’s very fast, and supports tabs to read my PDF files.
Foxit Reader is a multilingual PDF reader. Both the basic and full version readers can be downloaded for free. Foxit Reader is notable for its short load time and small filesize, and has been compared favorably to Adobe Reader.
9. doPDF
Print-as-PDF isn’t installed by default on Windows. That makes this tool particular handy when you need to quickly send a document.
doPDF installs itself as a virtual PDF printer driver so after a successful installation will appear in your Printers and Faxes list. To convert to PDF, you just have to print the document to doPDF, the free pdf converter.
10. Breevy – Text Expander for Windows
Breevy is one of the most responsive, intuitive text expander applications for Windows. Whether you’re a web developer, blogger or {your-occupation-here}, you’ll find this one very useful. It’s not free, but will save you hours upon hours of typing! It’s worth the cost.
Breevy is a text expander and AutoText program for Windows that helps you type faster and more accurately by allowing you to abbreviate long words and phrases — saving you time and money.
Free Alternative
11. Everything
Everything is a search program. As LifeHacker said, “It does what you really want when you hit Search in Windows.”
“Everything” is an administrative tool that locates files and folders by filename instantly for Windows, 20,000 files will take about 1 second to index. 1,000,000 files will take about 1 minute.
12. Miro
Miro lets you play nearly every single video format in the world; but it’s not just a video player: you can even subscribe to podcasts, video channels, etc. It’s my video player of choice. And yes! It’s free!
Miro is the only internet TV you’ll need—it’s an application that brings together thousands of shows from all over the web. There’s TONS of great content, lots of it in HD, and fresh shows are added all the time. You can watch and organize video feeds when you’re offline or traveling, find TV programs on sites like Hulu, and download from sites like YouTube. Miro downloads in HD, whenever it’s available!
Alternative
13. KeePass
KeePass is a nice and lightweight password manager for Windows. The amazing thing about it is that you can sync the database with Dropbox – But what if I own a Mac as well? Okay, just install KeePassX. There are numerous cross-platform password managers available (even one more in this round-up), but KeePass is simple and effective enough to get the job done.
KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file.
14. Sobees
Sobee is one of those applications you’ll always love. It allows you to get the most out of your social sites. You can choose multiple layouts to display your social data, as it offers LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace support — even a New York Trending News widget. Be sure to check this one out!
Enjoy the convenience of tracking all your different social networks and news from a single place and share, like or tweet what’s on your mind easily.
15. Aptana
Aptana is, in my humble opinion, one of the best Integrated Development Enviroments (IDE) for Windows. It has great HTML, CSS, and JavaScript intellisense, JavaScript debugging tools, built-in support for JavaScript libraries, a DOM outline viewer, file transfer & synchronization, live previewing (Safari and Firefox), and much more.
Aptana Studio is the industry leading web development environment that combines powerful authoring tools for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, along with thousands of additional plugins created by the community.
(Available for Linux and Mac)
16. Picasa
Picasa is a must have if you want to organize and share your photos on the internet. It’s light-weight, free, and just works!
Picasa is free photo editing software from Google that makes your pictures look great. Sharing your best photos with friends and family is as easy as pressing a button!
(Available for Linux and Mac)
17. Google Talk
If you’re one of the GMail lovers (like me), then Gtalk is the perfect Gmail notifier for you. And of course, you can chat with your buddies as well!
Google Talk (GTalk) is a free-of-charge Windows web-based application for instant messaging and voice over internet protocol (VOIP), offered by Google Inc.
18. Adobe Photoshop CS5
Adobe Photoshop CS5 is, for obvious reasons, the greatest tool available for graphics / web design available in the industry. Photoshop is open on all of my computers… at all times.
Adobe Photoshop CS5 software is the ultimate solution for advanced digital imaging, delivering all the editing and compositing capabilities of Photoshop CS4, plus breakthrough tools that let you create and edit 3D and motion-based content.
19. Pidgin
Pidgin is a simple instant messenger. I use it to chat with my friends and family, similar to Adium for the Mac. AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and Facebook are supported.
Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.
20. InstallPad
Although I don’t use InstallPad every day, it’s still a great tool, and is worthy of being listed here. It helps you to install all of your favorite Windows applications at once.
InstallPad takes a list of your favorite programs and will download and install the ones you pick. It doesn’t need to ask any questions, so you can go do more important things. InstallPad can resume downloads you’ve canceled, and can even try and find the latest version of your program online.
Alternative
21. 1Password PC (Beta)
The hugely popular Mac password manager, 1Password, is currently in Beta mode for Windows! Whether you need to store hundreds of website passwords, or track your software licenses, 1Password will do the trick!
“1Password for Windows has been a dream of ours for a long time and we’re thrilled to open beta testing to everyone!”
Free Alternative
22. Bubbles
Mac users have access to a nifty app, called Fluid, which allows them to turn any website (Mint.com, Producteev.com, etc) into a desktop app. It’s very helpful. PC offers its own version of this service, via an app, called Bubbles.
“Bubbles is an application platform, based on Browser technologies. It detaches Web Applications from the classic Browser and offers them with the familiar accessibility, capabilities and always-on nature of Desktop applications.”
Conclusion
These are the applications I use nearly every day on my PC. Did I miss any? Don’t agree with me? What do you recommend?
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Im suprised I only have a few of them, xampp, ietester and photoshop.
Out of all of these, I really only use Notepad++. The only other application I use is the AppEngine SDK, and then the browsershots service. Sure that doesn’t solve the javascript problem, but I shy away from Javascript where possible. I still use Photoshop CS4 still since I have no reason to upgrade.
Great list, most of these I use myself, but I plan to check out the rest of them.
Also a great alternative to Jing is ScreenSnapr over at http://www.screensnapr.com/
i agree with you… i dont use some of the, but… i surely recommend most to all… instead of pidgin i prefer digsby…it adds the twitter and facebook accounts too… although im not so pleased with the facebook part of it…
Great List! I have already using most of them, now I will install the rest. :)
no netbeans?
I find IETester’s render is sometime inaccurate.
I use IE Collection instead: http://finalbuilds.edskes.net/iecollection.htm
Yea, IE Tester not always accurate.
Be sure to check http://browserlab.adobe.com
It is sad, that it cannot install IE7 under Windows 7 x64
I have it installed and running just fine with Win7 64bit. I didn’t do anything special that I remember to get it running.
Wow, great idea, thanks! I have been using a creaky old IE6 standalone that is very long in the tooth.
Yeah, IECollection beats the pants off IETester ;)
Well, it looks like a pretty random list of applications, and most of them definitely are not “required” – they have at least comparable or superior alternatives. Besides, about 50% is not specific to web development, but of more general use.
It’s not specific for web development, this apps will help you to increase you productivity. For example Foxit Reader is the most easy-to-use and fast PDF reader IMHO. That’s why the title states “Web Designer’s Choice” ;)
You should look at the title a little more closely then. He is just saying that they are 20+ required windows apps, from his perspective as a web designer…. At least half of them are very useful, if not required, for web design/general windows use.
Some have comparable alternatives, some have superior alternatives, but overall this a great list and the apps here are almost all free or very cheap. If you want to spend $100s then sure you can probably get slightly better apps. But for most people this list is very good.
I agree with Marcin… Many of these are for general purpose :) But to be fair, I use
Filezilla,
Notepad ++ is a great text editor for windows but I prefer netbeans.
IETester is great for testing IE6 mode :D <_<
Never used Dropbox but heard a lot about it.. so will try that out.
Jing is really cool but I have been using Camstudio because of the limitations (free) of Jing… oh btw your link for Jing is messed up :P
WAMP instead of XAMP
and VLC baby! I think its the best video player out there (at least for windows.. don't have much Mac experience )
But nonetheless, a useful post for people who don't know about 50% of the apps listed here :)
I use pretty much the same as you.
Filezilla
Notepad++ (as my quick editor, WeBuilder 2010 as my main one)
IETester
XAMPP
VLC
Foxitreader (very good PDF reader)
Keepass (absolutely awesome especially when used with dropbox)
Dropbox (check it out, very useful for easy syncing)
Picasa
Forgot to mention. I use Faststone Capture for screenshots/screen recording. Very nice and inexpensive application.
http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm
Most of the links are messed up
When I was setting up a local testing environment for the first time, WAMP was way easier than XAMPP, in my experience. I’m mainly a visual designer and not much when it comes to the back end.
I also love Picasa. I don’t tend to use the full program very much, but their image viewer for the desktop is better by far than the default windows one.
So, how much did these guys pay you to list their applications :)
Na, it is a useful list, but a pretty random one, I’d of expected something at least related to web development, this is net.tutsplus after all.
Anyway, thanks for the list, and uh, look forward to more *cough* advertising posts *cough*, I mean tutorials, sorry.
:)
Ive found DropBox to be a key app for me and clients. Especially when you have to send files between designers. Good list, and a few I need to try out. Thanks for the PC love.
Very good! thanks for this information.
Cleber.
How about Lightscreen?
How about Lightscreen OSS screenshot taker and nitroPDF is best free PDF tool?
If I idnt see Notepad++ or Aptana I would have raged – then again thats coming from a web developers aspect, in which case putty should have been there :D
But on the whole its a good list, heard and used quiet a few.
Absolutely awesome list, thank so much. I use a lot of these already but there are definitely some new one’s here. I am really excited about Stylizer but, the trial download only allows you to test it out with Chrome and on Windows 7 it has gone into the ‘Not Responding’ phase a lot in the short while I ran it.
Has anyone else used Stylizer? Thanks again, Schalk
BTW: The link to FoxitReader links to http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/20-required-windows-apps-web-designers-choice/www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/ which generates a 404. Obviously it needs to link to http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/
Ok, so here’s my list, with a focus on web development, not instant messaging, watching videos, etc.
#Text editors / IDEs:
I tend to switch a bit between various apps, depending on my mood and needs. It’s a mix of free and commercial software:
- Netbeans
- Komodo Edit
- UltraEdit
- PHPEd
- ExamDiff Pro – useful when doing updates, etc. – very efficient comparison of files or folders
#File management / FTP:
- Directory Opus most of the time
- FileZilla sometimes
#Database design / management
- MySQLWorkbench – mostly to design database structure
- HeidiSQL – for quick edits directly in the dabase
#Server management:
- Putty
#Development servers:
- XAMPP
- Ubuntu virtualized via VirtualBox
#Design / mockups
- Balsamiq – when I quickly need to design some functionality to hand it over to a web designer
- MindMeister (online service) to create visual maps of functionality for new projects
#Flash
- SwishMax2 – when I ocassionally need to design a small Flash element
#Miscellaneous
- Charles – to monitor http traffic, especially while doing ajax development
- ZenCoding addon for various editors listed above
- VirtualBox, already mentioned, with old Win XP / IE 6.0 for testing purposes
- Launchy – not strictly for web dev, but I find it absolutely indispensable to quickly navigate between programs.
- Firebug / Web Development Toolbar for Firefox – I guess everyone here has it
- Evernote – to collect snippets of code, tutorials, etc.
- Regex Buddy – I find it helpful to develop and test regular expressions efficiently
Good list, I use about half of those already, there’s a couple of which I’m going to check out now though.
Notepad++ – Great app – I just downloaded Sublime Text today to try out and loving it big time!
Aptana – Rocks!
Skybound – Gonna check that out, looks good.
Breevy – Def checking that out right after this comment… :)
goPDF – I use pdfFactory and FinePrinter – both brilliant as virtual printer and pdf maker – v.cheap too.
Seen a couple of people refer to Putty – nobody put a link up – who makes it? I wanna check that too.
Thanks for showing me these applications I always like to add something new to my computer.
Good list… I would have one app added to these lists, absolutely essential : Ditto (copy/paste to the infinite, and beyond !)
+1 Marcin for Launchy… I don’t know how to launch an app otherwise anymore :)
Nice list of apps. Some I haven’t considered before. However, I can’t see dumping $80 on a CSS editing program (Skybound Stylizer) when firebug seems to do a majority of what it does and its free.
My IDE of choice right now is PHP Storm and that is cheaper than Skybound Stylizer and does a heck of a lot more.
I’m sorry but VLC is much better than Miro.. less to download. Miro is great for the podcasting, social features, but if you are a simple person, like me, VLC is all you need.
+1 vote for e-TextEditor. After using Notepad++ for a looong time, I made the switch to just e-TextEditor and have never looked back. Both are great, but I find e-TextEditor to be a lot more like TextMate (which I’m a huge fan of) which might be why I prefer it.
+1 for e-TextEditor . :).
I recommend Lightshot for sharing images
Lightshot is more easy to use when it comes to this kind of stuff.
http://lightshot.skillbrains.com/
Nice List. I’m familiar with 4 apps here, but some of them i don’t knew.
going to download right now.
Thanks :)
This list is actually quite good and I was surprised to see many I haven’t heard before – great job, thanks!
Notepad++, XAMP, the Adobe Suit, IETester, Dropbox and WinSCP(Filezilla alternative) are installed :) i will check out the text expanders! i love the way “jeffrey way” is using them in his screencasts! I will check the installpad also! thanks for that!
Hi,
as an alternative to textere I use autohotkey. More features, more stable.
KR
Stefan
Great read I would like to add Pixie by Nattyware which I’ve used ever since I started building sites – always on top color picker
Great list. I am using windows since i am began to talk :) . I had no idea about some of great apps. I will try them right now. Thanks
This is a good list, but no one ever lists jEdit for a text editor. It is by far the best one i have found. It has tonnes of plugins and can be customized to your liking.
It’s also worth noting that Pidgin supports GoogleTalk as well.
What about a list for Linux users ?
1.Check out STDU Viewer (http://www.stdutility.com/stduviewer.html): fast free viewer for both PDF’s and DjVu. I prefer it over the Foxit Reader.
2. Evernote! (http://www.evernote.com) Pretty good for collecting docs, code snippets and everything. Also I use screen capturing feature all the time (you can even draw on a selected screen area): quick screenshot for a bug or something, then drag & drop to Dropbox folder — and it’s shared, just copypaste the link!
P.S. And by the way, free combination of VirtualBox and Ubuntu (or Linux Mint which is basically the same) can save you a lot of money and frustration. Unix is times better for developers – no discussion here.
(Sorry for the double post!)
So I’ve got a few of these apps I really want to give a go, but I wanted to offer my input on Bubbles. I would really not recommend it. It slowed down my system to no end and really didn’t add anything for me. I would suggest you only use it if you REALLY have a good use that speeds up your workflow, otherwise you’ll be frustrated with its huge overhead.
And Notepad++ has been the most faithul app ever (besides its slightly annoying langs.xml bug)!
Often I use the program Toad for MySQL Freeware
http://www.quest.com/toad-for-mysql/
It’s sad that NetTuts became just another blog about “web development”.
Marcin made a good remark few days ago (when the last premium tutorial was published):
“…It is somewhat useful, but still, it leaves an impression of a piece written in a hurry, just to fill the premium section with any content whatsoever, justifying the monthly fee.”
I would say the same for almost all recent articles. There were only a few interesting, such as one about LESS, but the others are seriously a garbage.
The comments give me impression that only a few real developers read this at all – maybe open the blog once in a while, but that’s it. The rest of the people are self-taught spaghetti coders which leave comments like: “Wow, thanks for the tutorial”, “Time for me to learn [keyword]“, “I will check it out” etc. It just freaks me out. They write comments just to leave the link to their generic websites or to feel as a part of the “IT development” community.
Here’s an example of weak article – first application on the list is an $80 fancy application for CSS editing.
Second one – simple text editor
Third one – IE tester
….
No comments on this.
There are hundreds of generic blogs with the same content on the web, don’t be another one in the line.
Most people will come back and check for news if you again start writing some series, like you did with CI from scratch (which was pretty good).
Just my two cents.
Ivan,
good points dude especially to the 2 comments “The comments give me impression that only a few real developers read this at all”…and to this line “There are hundreds of generic blogs with the same content on the web, don’t be another one in the line.” Sorry dude its already there.
Just as constructive criticism to NETTUTS…… i wouldnt pay for membership man, i mean what for?
Your remarks deserved credit where its due.. But on the other hand i have learnt great stuff here yet i feel many of the articles have dropped to basic blog posts for about 12months now, post like… the 20 best apps, and 10 rare HTML tags you won’t know? But yes every decent developer actually does know sorry(i think that post is actually done about 3 times with different headings). and dont even get me started on the top 10 ways to increase your website speed or what ever that was…..
There’s my constructive 0.25c worth,
Cheers
Good list, I use pretty much all of them
Firebug
Notepad++
IE-Tester
FireFTP
ZScreen (for screenshots)
Pidgin
Ninite (to install programs when I reformat)
VLC (for video)
Dropbox
Good list of software.
Excellent list, I use most of these but a few are new, will check them out, thanks!
UltraEdit is my favorite text editor, can’t believe it didn’t make the list…
nice round up.
notepad++ with some theme configuring is pretty slick.
filezilla has been the best free FTP client I’ve found by far.
and i really wish Aptana was less … intimidating? Its got so soooo much packed into one app it feels like you need to read some 100 page training book to even get started. Tried working with it before since it had nice python support and wound up tossing it.
Thanks for including IETester.
I was wondering about that one, having read about it elsewhere. So between your coverage and the comments, I feel comfy enough to wade in and download.
Great list. I use PHP Designer along side Aptana, simply because PHP Designer is so codeigniter friendly
I took the opportunity to download drop box, Everything and Picasa and the Zen0coding plugin for Notepad++
I would love to have Skybound Stylizer but the cost is a tad high for me. It looks like the ultimate CSS helper
@Brad
I totally agree with you! I tested Aptana and liked it so much – in Version 1.5 the Code completion for codeigniter worked perfect, but since Version 2 nothing worked. PHP Designer instead is the perfect IDE!
This is gr8..9..10..
I have a request. plz another article of same topic but for Ubuntu linux
Thanks
PicPick – on-screen ruler, protractor and advanced screen capture
Linq Pad – Test bed for Linq, C#, VB
Trillian instead of GTalk — multiple IM client
Pidgin does everything gTalk does: chat via XMPP and mail notifications, plus tons more. I used to use gTalk, but after I found Pidgin, with its ability to also use other protocols (Gadu Gadu and Facebook in my case), set the status to invisible, I switched to it and never looked back.
I switched from XAMP to the Microsoft Web Plattform (WPI). I didn’t benchmark it but it feels a little faster. Just click the PHP and Wincache checkboxes in the installer and you’re ready to go.
Alternatives for Aptana might be Netbeans or Vs.PHP which integrates PHP into Microsofts Visual Studio.
Hi
Someone forgot to mention the free alternative to photoshop: gimp
cheers
:))
Personally, I’d recommend Paint.NET over GIMP. It’s a matter of preference, obviously, but as a Photoshop fan, I find GIMP difficult to handle. Paint.NET seems to be more useable for me. Oh, and it’s also an open source project :).
Nice list, I use Jedit and Pspad are free software. ;)
Who cares if not all of them are directly related to web productivity, we don’t just open N++ and start coding, we search files, store pictures and have multiple passwords, this makes you more organised therefore it’s a plus for you and your web-related work spending less time on some trivial tasks…
Thanks for the list.