29 July 2008
stuff we love: software
Last year we did a round-up of the apps that make it easy to run a design company on the fly, and it’s high time we updated that list. Some things have changed, some have stayed the same, but one thing’s for sure: we’d be lost without these!
Part 1 of 2 (Matt will post his in the next few days).
Jessica’s list of must-have apps: I work exclusively on a Mac (well, two, actually) so these are all Mac-friendly.
- Transmit
- I was pretty meh on the subject of FTP clients until I tried Transmit. Now I don’t know what I did without it.
- Fluid
- See above re: FTP clients and switch for site specific browsers. I finally installed Fluid on a whim and…wow, was I ever wrong. It’s given me a whole new appreciation for my Dock.
- TextMate
- Can’t rave enough about my love of TextMate. Makes coding a breeze.
- Google Docs
- We keep the majority of our paperwork (contracts, contract templates, etc.) on Google Docs. We can share amongst ourselves and access files from anywhere - handy when you’re constantly shuttling between office and home office. Also: it’s not Word!
- Google Apps
- We finally switched our couldbe studios email over to Google Apps, and it’s been great.
- Basecamp
- For all our project management needs.
- Highrise
- Keeps track of our contacts.
- Ma.gnolia
- Social linkage.
- Firefox
- And, of course, what’s Firefox without extensions? I use Firebug, Foxmarks, 1Password and ColorZilla.
- Campaign Monitor
- Not only does Campaign Monitor make it easy to send and track email newsletters, it makes setting up managed accounts for clients a breeze.
- Reinvigorate
- I personally loathe Google Analytics, but none of the other free or low-cost offerings seemed much better. Enter Reinvigorate. They’re in private beta right now, but we were lucky enough to get in. And I do mean lucky: Reinvigorate is a fabulous service, and I can’t imagine switching.
- DropSend
- When we’ve got to email huge files to clients or printers, DropSend is invaluable.
- Blinksale
- Simple and easy to use. We looked at FreshBooks, but given our requirements Blinksale is a better fit.
Check out DeskAway - a simple, yet powerful project collaboration app thats used by a lot of design & creative agencies. Its got the usual project features plus automatic email reminders, project templates, calendar, blog, reporting/analytics etc. Best of all, the free account never expires!