Last week I finally caved and bought a bigger hard drive for my laptop. I opted for the top of the line, 320 gigabyte Western Digital drive - at $109, I couldn’t refuse (it’s amazing how cheap these things are nowadays). Instead of doing the classic mac os migration, I decided that a fresh start with a clean os install would be the best avenue. It would allow me to really optimize my computer, utilizing all I’ve learned in the last year about optimizing a development environment.
I figured I’d document the apps, libraries, and utilities that I install, partly for self-reference, and hopefully for informing others of some of the essentials for professional web development (on a mac). I aim to be very specific about what I install, and oddly minimalistic considering all the space I’ve gained.
So, lets start with the main apps. There are a few must-haves, including the super powerful text-editor TextMate, s/ftp dream Transmit, hacker must-have Quicksilver, and who could forget the only svn gui worth mentioning, Versions. Last but not least, the essential web browser, Firefox and it’s various plugins (such as Firebug and the web developer toolbar). On the big expensive software side, it’s never a bad idea to have Adobe CS3 at your side.
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It used to be that I would look at people waiting in line for a [toy|gadget|gizmo] and secretly make fun of them - what, don’t they have anything better to do with their time than sink into the cliche of commercialism?
That was, of course, until I found myself waking up at 5am to go wait in a 3 hour long iPhone line.
I’m not sure if people know how big of a deal that is for me. First, I love sleep. Second, I am so horrible at waking up early that you couldn’t pay me to usually. However, I was so excited about the thought of getting an iPhone that not only did I have no problem waking up, but I had problems falling asleep the night before (even though I was deathly tired).
So why is this? What is it about the iPhone that motivates people enough to stand in line for hours on end in the hot summer sun? Just what kind of magic has Steve Jobs and co released?
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This isn’t anything necessarily new, just something I noticed today as I went to upload some songs to my muxtape playlist. Apple’s file upload box goes all fancy when you pick the iTunes folder, and lets you pick and choose files using your playlists for shortcuts.
This totally beats the pants off what I was expecting - which was a long, tedious traverse through artist and album folders. Beats the pants off it, I tell ya! And it’s not just for music - all of the media types that Apple supports (such as photos and movies) have special interfaces as wel.
Well done, Apple. You’re the master of the ‘wow’ in the details.
(EDIT: My Muxtape is now mostly complete and can be listened to at zahnster.muxtape.com. Still to be uploaded - Radiohead (Jigsaw Falling Into Place), Elefant (Brasil), and Office (Possibilities)).
This blog belongs to Jade Rauenzahn, a 23-year-old web developer living in Hell's Kitchen, NYC.