Uses

Mostly for my own documentation, but here's a list of tools I use that make my life easier. Feel free to borrow any ideas.

Development

• Vim As a keyboard junkie, Vim suits my needs very well. After dipping my toes in with "Vim-Mode" in other editors, I finally made the jump years ago and haven't looked back.

• iTerm2 My preferred terminal emulator.

• Nord Theme Love that deep blue. 🧊 Also available for tons of platforms as a nice bonus.

• JetBrains Mono font Recent addition, but into it so far. Bonus points for being free and open source.

• my dotfiles I try to keep anything else configurable in my dotfiles.

Writing

• Ulysses I do all of my prose writing in Ulysses. I have groups set up to track progress of different pieces. Writing in Markdown is a must for me, and its comment feature is a game-changer for me. That along with writing goals and reliable sync between devices make it an ideal solution for writing.

• Byword For quick one-off documents, I may reach for Byword. Markdown support included.

Hosting

• Digital Ocean New to the platform, but their Droplet system makes getting started much easier (or just possible in the first place). (Note: referral link)

• Netlify For static sites (like this one), Netlify is great. Rock solid deployment process, and they do a lot for the community as well.

• Heroku For a project with a back-end where I don't want to worry about server infrastructure Heroku is perfect.

• Porkbun Good prices and service, combined with an adorable name and mascot.

Productivity

• Firefox Switch back to Firefox after a decade-long hiatus, and happy to see it's still on par with other major browsers. The built-in privacy features (combined with Mozilla's commitment to an open web) definitely make it worth giving Firefox another look.

• Things The best to-do app I've used, hands down. Beautiful design and tons of attention has been given to each feature.

• Raycast I've used Alfred for over a decade, but have just begun trying out Raycast. The ease of adding extensions is a huge plus for me. Still evaluating if this will be a permanent switch.

• 1Password Been using this password manager forever. If not this one, please find one you like.

• Mimestream Was using Mailplane for years, but that is no longer being updated. Mimestream is in beta now but so far seems like the best native Mac app for Gmail.

• Fantastical An excellent calendar application.

• Rectangle Pro I had tried Spectacle in the past, but almost every keyboard shortcut conflicted. Rectangle Pro builds on top of it to add really clever snapping mechanism (though I miss the original Hookshot branding).

• Backblaze Off-site backup is a necessity, and Backblaze has saved me a number of times. (Note: referral link)

• Dash A handy resource to quickly look up development documentation.

• SelfControl Easily block the websites that are ingrained in your muscle memory.

Browser Extensions

• Vimium Keeps my hands on the keyboard while in my browser. Strong recommend if you already use Vim, or even if you don't.

• 1Password Easily autofill your logins in the browser.

• uBlock Origin Best ad blocker in the biz.

• Bypass Paywalls Convenient for when you come across a blocked piece on a random site.

• Wappalyzer Curiosity gets the best of me while browsing, and this lets me keep my finger on the pulse of what technologies other people are using to build web applications.

• Terms of Service; Didn’t Read You know you don't read privacy policies, so it's nice to get alerted if there are any red flags as you browse.

• Facebook Container A Firefox exclusive, which I could argue is reason enough to switch. Isolates your browsing so that Facebook can't creepily follow you around the net.

• Video Speed Controller Convenient video controls that work on any site.