Apps I use 2023

December 6, 2023

Taking a cue from Chris Coyier

• Workstation: Shift – This app allows me to have multiple Gmail accounts open as well as Slack, Asana, and Everhour. I use to use two different browsers for email and then had multiple browser windows open for all the work apps I needed. Shift gives me a nice interface where I can combine all of these into one place.
• Email Server: Google
• Notes: Evernote (personal) and Notion (work). I am too invested in Evernote to switch to Notion and there were things I could not do in Notion that I like in Evernote.
• Calendar: Google Calendar
• Time tracking: Toggl Track
• Code editor: VS Code
• Browser: Firefox (desktop), Chrome (mobile)
• CMS: WordPress
• Git: GitHub Desktop
• Access Design Mockups: Figma
• Code Snippets Library: SnippetsLab
• Photo editor: Affinity Photo and Photoshop (I am using Photoshop less and less these days)
• Chat: Slack and Discord
• Meetings/Video calls: Zoom and Huddles in Slack
• Password management: Bitwarden
• Music: Spotify
• Local Web development: Local
• Inspiration library: Eagle
• FTP Client: Transmit
• SVG creation/editor: Affinity Designer
• RSS: feedly
• Read it later/bookmarks: Pocket
• Image optimization: Squoosh
• SVG optimization: SVGOMG
• Social: Mastodon, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (less and less these days)
• Track book reading: Goodreads
• Contacts: Google Contacts
• Word processing: Google Docs
• Screenshots and Videos: CleanShot X
• Accessibility testing: Lighthouse and axe DevTools browser extension
• Backup: Time Machine and SmartBackup. I finally started using Time Machine this year. I am not sure why it took me so long to get on board. It would have been incredibly helpful two years ago when my computer crashed. It would have made life much easier to be able to restore from Time Machine on my new computer.

This post is part of my attempt to post something every day for a month. I was inspired by Michelle Barker, who recently participated in National Blog Posting Month.