Show Me Your Dock Series! Part 29
Michael Wilson is a 23 year old web designer based in Bournemouth, in the UK.
Michael runs a design inspiration blog and has a passion for learning new things, whether that be CSS techniques, jQuery, WordPress or UX practices.
Michael has also been involved in numerous UX research studies and is currently in the process of building his online portfolio, which will launch on January 1st 2010.
I asked Michael if he would give us the lowdown on the applications he relies upon as a designer and blogger on a daily basis.
The Intro…
The main two processes I complete on my mac are surfing the web and designing/building websites. This is why my dock is overrun with browsers and the Adobe suite. Taking a photo of my mac has also made me realize that I never use Photo Booth, iCal and vary rarely use Word and a few others so maybe I’ll have a clean up after this.
The Dock…
- Finder – I very rarely actually click on this in my dock. I tend to use Spotlight to find things as it’s so good at it.
- Dashboard – This is another I don’t use often, mainly for the calculator when I do.
- Postbox – Last year I was having problems with Mail and I’m really glad I did now because Postbox is the best email application I have ever used. It’s worth every penny.
- iCal – I never use this, I’ve never really needed a calendar in my life.
- Safari – I used Safari as my main browser for a year or so but one day decided to move over to Firefox because of the array of great plug-ins for it. I still use Safari for testing though and this is the browser I have set up for my girlfriend when she wants to use my mac.
- Firefox – My default browser, mainly because of firebug and xmarks. The plug-ins make firefox the best in my opinion.
- Chrome – All the hype surrounding Chrome made me try it out. I’m sticking to Firefox for now but I always keep my options open.
- Opera – When Opera 10 came out I thought I’d give it a whirl, i mainly use it for testing.
- Billings – Billings is a great invoicing application that makes keeping track of work a synch.
- iTunes – I use iTunes to keep up to date with my podcasts, which keep me informed while on my way into work.
- Spotify – Spotify has got me back into music again, love it.
- iPhoto – I keep my photos arranged into events with iPhoto, it’s so simple, it rarely stays open for long.
- Photo Booth – I only use this if I need a quick photo for a passport of some photo ID.
- Coda – Recently starting using Coda again and I’m really loving it this time. I think it may now be my coding option from now on.
- Adobe Bridge – I’ve never used bridge on my mac, I use it at work all the time so I guess it’s on my home computer out of habit.
- Adobe Photoshop – I use Photoshop everyday, I couldn’t live without it.
- Adobe Illustrator – I use illustrator to create any vectors I may need in my web designs.
- Adobe Flash – I don’t use Flash, I only have it in my dock because it’s part of the set.
- Adobe Dreamweaver – A lot of people have a big problem with Dreamweaver for some reason. Up until recently I used it for all of my coding and I really like it.
- Adobe InDesign – Like Flash this is rarely used, I just like showing I have them.
- Adobe After Effects – I really want to learn more After Effects but my head just doesn’t seem to get video.
- Word – I don’t do too much in Word but it’s there for the rare occasions I do need it.
- Cyberduck – Cyberduck is the most beautifully simple FTP client there is, I love it. Must admit though that since using Coda I haven’t used Cyberduck.
- Adium – I used to talk on messenger quite a lot and Adium was my favourite method of doing so. However, I use twitter now instead of messenger.
- LittleSnapper – Anytime I see a design element I like I snap it and tag it in my LittleSnapper library. It realy is a great starting point for any project now.
- Destroy Twitter – Destroy Twitter is my Twitter client of choice because it is so lightweight and does everything I could want it to. I have all of the growl notifications off though otherwise I’d never get any work done!
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A huge thanks to Michael for taking time out to take part in the Dock Series.
If you would like to be featured in the Dock Series simply:
- Download the Dock Series Template.
- Email it along with the necessary images to: hi [at] gracesmith.co.uk.
Check out the other creatives in the series.
With more amazing creatives lined up, make sure to check back every Tuesday for the latest Dock Series installment.
Grace Smith is owner of the small but perfectly formed web design studio Postscript5, in Northern Ireland. To keep up to date with the latest designalicious content, then please consider subscribing.