February '15: Top Developer Tools and Services

2015-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Here we are at the last week of February and I haven't done my monthly edition of Top Developer Tools and Services. Shame on me.</p> </span>

I've spent many nights pondering over what I should put on this month's list and what I should omit for another month. I have just this moment decided to limit this edition to browser extensions.</p>

Although I am an Opera/Chrome user I hardly feel it's fair to leave out Firefox users so I will try to post alternatives just for you guys as well.</p>

If I had to pick five extensions I couldn't live without, five extensions to be stuck on an island with, they would be these listed below.</p>

LastPass</h2>
LastPass is my life saver for managing passwords.</p>
There are so many websites that require authentication now. To think just one small website that doesn't adhere to modern password hashing practices could lead to you losing your email accounts, spamming your friends on social media and fraudulent purchases seems completely unfair. </p>
For this reason LastPass absolutely has to be on my list.</p>

Chrome</a></li>
Firefox</a></li> </ul>
µBlock/µMatrix</h2>
µBlock is a lightweight ad blocker that works really well. I'm really glad this extension came along as I always get confused as to which variation of AdBlock I'm supposed to be using. They all seem to let various ads through anyway.</p>
µBlock is for people that want an ad blocker that just works and µMatrix allows more refined control.</p>

µBlock - Chrome</a></li>
µMatrix - Chrome</a></li>
µBlock - Firefox</a></li> </ul>
StayFocusd</h2>
This little extension pushes me to work on my own projects outside of work - or at least stop me from browsing Reddit all night on my computer. </p>
Jokes aside, I really do see an increase in my productivity in my personal projects thanks to this extension.</p>

Chrome</a></li>
Firefox - LeechBlock</a></li> </ul>
JsonView / Var_dumpling</h2>
I group these together as they do pretty much the same thing for different languages. JSON viewer for seeing nicely highlighted JSON and var_dumpling for for formatting PHP `var_dump</code>s.</p>`
Chrome- JSONView</a></li> Chrome - var_dumpling</a></li> Firefox - JSONView</a></li> Firefox - var_dumpling</a></li> </ul> Postman</h2> I've mentioned this extension in several articles already and I seriously love it. If you create, maintain or consume API's you need this extension in your life.</p> Unfortunately, this extension doesn't work with Opera (my current browser) but I love it that much that I will open Chrome just to use it.</p> Chrome</a></li> Firefox - RESTClient</a></li> Opera - RestMan</a></li> </ul> Bonus: Opera extension for Chrome</h2> Opera 12 was possibly the best browser of it's time. This browser had functionality that Chrome couldn't dream of and Firefox had half baked extensions for. Then Opera 15 was announced and I was essentially forced to switch to Chrome due to the lack of features.</p> Don't get me wrong - I actually really like Chrome now. It has some incredible developer tools. But I've always keeped my eye on Opera's development. Recently I decided to make the switch back to Opera (At the time of writing they are now on Opera 27) and quite frankly I couldn't have done it without Download Chrome Extension</a>.</p> This extension lets you download Chrome extensions from the Chrome store just like you were on Chrome itself! I have only had one issue and that's with Postman App which I now open Chrome to use when I need to.</p>

January ’15: Top Developer Tools and Services

2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Now that I'm increasing the amount of blogs that I write I want to start giving credit to stuff that I use every day.</p>

These aren't always going to be programming or web related. Many of them are to do with organisation and learning. I may even throw in some fun stuff, too!</p>

Mailcatcher</a></h2>
First off the bat: Mailcatcher. A Ruby gem for testing emails on your local machine. It works by catching the emails sent through a local SMTP server and comes with a simple-but-awesome GUI for previewing your emails.</p>
As a bonus it already comes installed with PuPHPet</a> which I use to set up my PHP stacks.</p>
If you don’t use PHP or PuPHPet it’s still a breeze to install. So if you’re a developer that makes applications with emails I really recommend you give it a shot.</p> </span>

Gollum</a></h2>
Gollum is a wiki system built on top of Git. It’s incredibly minimalistic and requires you to know markdown but as a programmer it’s literally all I need.</p>
I set up sections for all the languages and tools I learn. Subsections for areas that require a lot of notes and sometimes subsections just for specific versions of languages/frameworks.</p>
Personally I find writing down what I learn really helps reinforce what I’ve learned. As a bonus, when I come to start using the tool with a project I now have documentation written in a way I can understand perfectly all on my local machine.</p>
Asana</a></h2>
When I came to start using this I was looking for a tool to manage tasks at my job. I’ve used other solutions like Trello and Spiceworks but left feeling unsatisfied. I really enjoy Asana’s user interface and in combination with Toggl I have all my requirements met.</p>
Toggl</a></h2>
Toggl by itself is a pretty good timer app but quite frankly I would not bother with it if the Chrome Toggl extension, Toggl Button</a> didn’t exist.</p>
Toggl button injects Toggl timers in to various websites including Asana and Github. </p>
The timer functionality is the only issue I have with Asana so this extension makes me incredibly happy. I just wish they would make extensions for other browsers so that everyone can appreciate it! </p>
Balsamiq</a> ($79)</h2>
Whenever I'm creating a new web application I create mock ups of how I want the interface to be structured. Balsamiq is my go to tool for this purpose.</p>
A much younger version of myself would think it’s a complete waste of time. I’d much rather get stuck in to the code and get the app completed as soon as possible.</p>
Present me knows better. The time it takes to make a few scribbles in Balsamiq is negligible and comes with three major added bonuses:</p>

It allows me to plan the flow of the application’s GUI</li>
It allows me to think about how I’m going to structure the code once I start it.</li>
It flags up potential speed bumps. More often than not I’ll think of an issue or two that would have never occurred to me until I had hit them. This let’s me plan my way around them and is a huge time saver.</li> </ol>
That’s all for this month</h2>
I’ve gotta pace myself y’know? There are so many languages, tools and services that I use that it’s really unfair to highlight the above five but I’m doing it anyway!</p>
I’ll post some more in February. I may even dig in to my favourite programming languages!</p>

- Resources

February '15: Top Developer Tools and Services

StayFocusd</h2> This little extension pushes me to work on my own projects outside of work - or at least stop me from browsing Reddit all night on my computer. </p> Jokes aside, I really do see an increase in my productivity in my personal projects thanks to this extension.</p>

JsonView / Var_dumpling</h2> I group these together as they do pretty much the same thing for different languages. JSON viewer for seeing nicely highlighted JSON and var_dumpling for for formatting PHP var_dump</code>s.</p>

January ’15: Top Developer Tools and Services