By
Basecamp
www.basecamp.com
Basecamp is an online project management system that allows you to collaborate with colleagues, assign tasks and track progress with ease. The system provides to-do lists, discussion areas, an asset repository and shared calendar. Part of a suite of applications offered by 37Signals including Highrise, Backpack and Campfire, which together provide a complete suite of management tools.
HTML5 Boilerplate
www.html5boilerplate.com
HTML5 boilerplate provides a basic structural framework into which an HTML5 website or webapp can be deployed. The system is set up to be compatible with all major browsers, including older versions of Internet Explorer, while still allowing use of the modern HTML5 tags such as < article>, < aside> and < header>. The system also features mobile device optimisation, allowing for rapid deployment across different platforms including the modern breed of smartphones and tablets.
Other useful features include deliberate support for progressive enhancement, limited cross-dependencies (allowing you to remove whole sections of code without worrying about breaking other parts of the system) and it even provides a boilerplate .htaccess file to set up best-practice gzipping and caching on your server.
WeTransfer
www.wetransfer.com
WeTransfer is one of a host of free services that allow you to easily send a file that’s too big for regular email. What makes this particular service stand out is the excellent 2GB file limit, and the ability to send multiple files simultaneously without having to register for an account, making it an ideal way to get your larger files around the web.
Evernote
www.evernote.com
Evernote allows you to create a virtual scrapbook of webpages, photos, text and audio that you come across while browsing and access them on any of your devices including your desktop computers, phone and tablet. The database allows you to create keywords and tags to quickly categorise and search for items in your notebook, and even uses OCR to digitise text in photos and images.
DropBox
www.dropbox.com
Dropbox is a free service that allows you to store files on the web (in the cloud) and automatically synchronise them between your different computers and devices. It works on Android, iPhone and iPad, as well as your desktop computer, and supports collaboration through sharing of folders with your contacts.
reCaptcha
www.recaptcha.net
reCaptcha is a free service that helps prevent spam by presenting a pair of words scanned from books, newspapers and radio show scripts that are being digitised. The system works by matching known words with unknown words, allowing users to prove they’re not spam bots, and the Google-sponsored digitising project to get free translation at the same time.
CakePHP
www.cakephp.org
Prototype PHP-based web applications rapidly using boilerplate code and scaffolding. CakePHP is MIT licenced, and comes with a lot of the common plumbing already taken care of including authentication, database access, caching and security. CakePHP has a loyal following so support is good too.
bit.ly API
dev.bitly.com
The bit.ly API allows to you programmatically create shortened links in the same way that twitter does when you paste a link into its website. You can also track and monitor usage with some analytics support. It’s a pretty simple service, but incredibly useful in the modern era of character-limited social media communication.
Adobe Air
www.adobe.com/air
Adobe AIR allows you to deploy native applications across different operating systems while using standard web development tools such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Flash. Apps can be compiled into the AIR format, which is then installed directly to the host operating system via the web, making it ideal for developing desktop widgets.
jQuery
www.jquery.com
jQuery arrived at the same time as the explosion in front-end client-side rich user interface development, and helped to herald the arrival of HTML5 into everyday conversation as a result of its ubiquity. Before jQuery, creating cross-browser user interactions was tricky to achieve and often extremely time-consuming. jQuery solved this by abstracting the browser differences through a series of common methods, allowing developers and designers to spend time worrying about how to provide the best user experience rather than worrying about the nuts and bolts of supporting different DOM models and JavaScript engines. It also brought the idea of chaining commands together to the masses, making for dramatically more succinct code!
Today, jQuery can be found on more websites than any other JavaScript library, and it has an almost unlimited number of tutorials, plug-ins and extensions available to further enhance the core functionality.
JS Bin
jsbin.com
A live-rendered code sharing and testing tool, recently updated.
JS Hotline
javascript.pockethotline.com
A completely free telephone hotline to help struggling JavaScript developers
Zen Coding
code.google.com/p/zen-coding
A plug-in for text editors for high-speed coding.
Git
git-scm.com
A free distributed version control system for projects
DocHub
dochub.io/
Instant access to documentation for CSS, HTML, JavaScript and more
HTML5 – Edition for Web Developers
developers.whatwg.org
The HTML5 spec, rewritten specifically for developers
CSS3 Generator
css3generator.com
A tool that generates code for tonnes of CSS3 features
Animate.css
daneden.me/animate
A library of ready-to-use CSS3 animations
Microjs
microjs.com
Search engine that works for single-purpose JavaScript frameworks
CSS3 Click Chart
css3clickchart.com
Code, links, and examples for loads of CSS3 features
CodePen
codepen.io
A code sharing tool with extensive library and preprocessor support
VideoSWS
praegnanz.de/html5video
A feature comparison of about two dozen HTML5 video players
Skeleton
www.getskeleton.com
A boilerplate for responsive, mobile-friendly development of sites
Responsive Images Chart
bit.ly/QMjKCy
A chart with feature breakdown for many responsive image solutions
LABjs
labjs.com
Script loader to enhance page performance and reduce resource blocking
RequireJS
requirejs.org
Script and module loader designed to improve speed and code
jQuery Mobile
jquerymobile.com
Touch-optimised web framework
Ajaxload
www.ajaxload.info
A tool for generating Ajax loading animated GIFs
Web Developer Toolbar
www.chrispederick.com/work/web-developer
The popular developer tools for Firefox and Chrome
Parallax.js
stolksdorf.github.com/Parallaxjs
A JavaScript framework for creating parallax scrolling
Google Webmaster Tools
www.google.com/webmasters/tools
Webmaster tools for optimising websites for search
Layer Styles
www.layerstyles.org
A Photoshop-like layer styles interface that produces CSS code
WPtouch Pro
www.bravenewcode.com/product/wptouch-pro
WordPress plug-in that instantly adds a mobile version of site
Patternizer
patternizer.com
An online CSS3 stripe generator tool
Kendo UI
www.kendoui.com
A framework to help build HTML5 apps
Coffescript
coffeescript.org
Lightweight language that compiles into JavaScript
Codesniffer
pear.php.net/package/PHP_CodeSniffer
This tool checks PHP code to a defined standard
Moodboard Lite
itunes.apple.com/us/app/moodboard-lite/id369796813?mt=8
iPad app for creating mood and inspiration boards
Codosaurus
itunes.apple.com/us/app/codosaurus/id382500932?mt=8
FTP Client which allows you to edit your code directly on the server
Coda
www.panic.com/coda
The popular Mac-based text editor from Panic
Divvy
www.mizage.com/divvy
A screen workspace management tool
Fitvids
www.fitvidsjs.com
A jQuery plug-in for fluid-width embedded videos
HTML-Ipsum
www.html-ipsum.com
Quick and easy Lorem Ipsum placeholder text in various HTML contexts
Sublime Text 2
www.sublimetext.com
The feature-rich text editor for web app developers
Markdown
daringfireball.net/projects/markdown
Automatically expand marked-up text to full HTML using markdown
Video.js
www.videojs.com
Video player with the same API for HTML5 and Flash
AnythingSlider
www.css-tricks.com/examples/AnythingSlider
A multi-purpose content slider jQuery plug-in
BuySellAds
www.buysellads.com
An ad network that’s popular among web designers
Notepad++
www.notepad-plus-plus.org
The popular and powerful text editor
BBEdit
barebones.com
Browser/Inspector Combo
