Question for Mac users

[Mortimer]

I am about to get a brand new Mac, switching from PCs for the first time. I wanted people who are already on Mac to tell me what good softwares are available on this system for webmasters (ftp, telnet, ssh, text editor, etc.).
Obviously, I already know the softwares from Adobe and Apple, but I am looking for good publishers apart from those two.

Let me know which softwares you use, and how you like them. This will help me get the best tools without having to try dozens of sub-par softwares

Thanks for your help!

[ronaldo]

What's a Mac?

[Rex]

text editor...i think i used something call itext

check out www.panic.com for the good stuff

[fischi]

I am about to get a brand new Mac, switching from PCs for the first time. I wanted people who are already on Mac to tell me what good softwares are available on this system for webmasters (ftp, telnet, ssh, text editor, etc.).

First advice, get at least 1GB of RAM in it.
SSH(and all the other unixlike commandline utilities) is built in.

For FTP there is transmit.
I mainly use a command line client (lftp via fink) or Dreamweavers built in 'Sync' function.

I use Vim as a text editor, but that is surely not an editor for everyone
A popular editor for Mac OS is BBEdit

Software listings for the Mac:
http://versiontracker.com/
http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps/
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

[Azlord]

BBEdit

Transmit rules!

[Donny]

I like fetch WAY better than transmit. I have both on my Macs.

[Azlord]

Really?? What do you like better about Fetch? I stopped using it a while back, maybe I missed something?

[Big Roi]

Are you 'good enough?'

MAC OS X *is* UNIX, so you get all those server tools built-in like SSH and telnet. S/w like Fetch for ftp and Dreamweaver for site management are mature.

I run a paysiste www.scifierotic.com and haven't found I am missing anything crucial, yet.

Macs display colors differently than PCs, so if you are doing image editing you need to know this. And of course every browser on the planet displays pages differently.

SWISH is PC only. Its the only thing I've wanted so far and couldn't get.

Yeah there are about a zillion more s/w products for PCs, but half of those are games. Pretty much everything you *need* is available for MAC, because that is what the smart people use.

MACs are faster and more reliable. Don't get viruses. Network better. Handle file managment windows better. Easier to back up. And...they make you cum 30% harder. -)

PCs are built on the concept of 'good enough.' And for 95% percent of the world, they are.

[Mortimer]

Ok, guess I should have thought that ssh and telnet were built into it since it's based on unix I guess there even is an easy way to keep some "bookmarks" instead of always typing the network you want to connect to, right? I'll have to look into that.

I am not doing any design work, so color management is not a big problem for me, and for games, I am satisfied with World of Warcraft, which is on Mac anyways I am mostly working on php stuff, so the 2 most important tools for me are the text editor and the ftp program. I see people mentioned BBEdit, and I saw that program on tucows, but it is 199$ and wasn't sure if it was worth buying it or if there was something better out there. But if it is the best program for the job, it is not a big expense anyway... Anyways, keep your suggestions coming, and if you know of a program that really helps you in your daily job and that I might not have thunk about, let me know as well;)

Thanks again!

[XSV]

You can still get a copy of BBedit Lite for free from the Barebones site even though they discontinued support for it. They also recommend another free text editor on this page:

http://www.barebones.com/products/bblite/index.shtml

[fischi]

Ok, guess I should have thought that ssh and telnet were built into it since it's based on unix I guess there even is an easy way to keep some "bookmarks" instead of always typing the network you want to connect to, right? I'll have to look into that.

I solved that by putting aliases in my .profile, like 'alias ssh_servername="ssh user@host"', so i have to type the password only. There are better ways to do that, i know.

I am mostly working on php stuff

PHP is built in to, you just have to enable it in /private/etc/httpd/httpd.conf

[betsy]

i use the terminal window for my ftp and ssh needs cuz i'm 31337 like that! ;)

[Rex]

BBedit...that's what I used! Anyway I am saving for another mac...my old b&w just aint cutting it anymore

[Mortimer]

I solved that by putting aliases in my .profile, like 'alias ssh_servername="ssh user@host"', so i have to type the password only. There are better ways to do that, i know.

I guess there is a way to have a separate icon for each of your server with the use of actionscripts or something... this way you only click the icon and it opens up an ssh connection to the server of your choice and prompts you for your password... I'll have to look into actionscripts and what they can do for me

[wimpy]

quickeys is awesome.
Transmit
dreamweaver
Firefox has the google toolbar with PR
photoshop
word, excel

[fireorange]

I'd rather use a PC with FreeBSD & GNOME to use a desktop machine rather than touch a Mac.

[Rich]

I use a program called FTP thingy, simple and quick like I like it. For text I just use the build in textedit, but I don't do any programming. There's a VNC viewer for Mac to connect to remote windows servers. Azureus for file sharing.

Also Safari is the best browser I've ever used, hands down. Virtual PC is great if you need some programs that only come on Windows, but last time I checked it didn't come for Mac's with dual processors which is what I have.

I haven't needed any windows programs yet, personally. I thought it would be a pain in the ass but switching to Mac was the best thing I've ever done. I can't wait for the G5 powerbooks, I'm still on a PC laptop.