Web Design and Web Development Help

If you don’t want to have to restart your computer to run Windows, there are a couple of good third-party applications that let you work in both OSs. You have probably heard of “Parallels.” This program creates a file that runs the Windows OS, right along with the Mac OS. The two run simultaneously. You can flip from one OS to the other like a book. You can copy and paste back and forth between programs running concurrently in the two different OS’s. Your other option, and my personal favorite, is called VMware Fusion. This is another third-party application that is just incredible. It allows you to run your windows programs directly from your Mac dock. You just run through the dock and select that option. Then the program springs up and you can easily run the software you need straight from your dock. No muss, no fuss! However, the caveat to this is that when you run in the Windows pasture, you are going to step in the same dung that all PCs get mired in. You are going to be susceptible to viruses and that horrible NTFS is going to slow you down. Your system may begin to get spyware and malware and crash, just like a PC. That means you may have to defrag and format and all that crap that we thought we were going to avoid with a Mac. These problems won’t affect your Mac side, but they will sure get to your Windows files. In light of this, you want to try to get away from Windows and all the horror that comes with it. You can run a program called “CrossOver” for Mac. This program is truly the brightest thing out there. CrossOver emulates Windows in that it takes any windows application, and magically turns that ap into an executable Mac program. You don’t have to infect your Mac with Windows. Using CrossOver you can stay away from Windows completely.

Another great thing for my sister, is that Mac really has superb support. If, heaven forbid, I don’t answer my cell phone; she can call Apple. If she gets the AppleCare Protection Plan, she could call Apple with all her questions and problems for the next three years. I could have a life again! She would get world class support, based right here in the USA . If my sister bought a Mac, it would be a win-win situation for the both of us.

These are just a few of the reasons why I recommend a Mac to my friends and family. But there are even more reasons to recommend a Mac to a Web designer. First of all, I find that Mac is much faster than my PC. I’ve got to have a system that flies along as fast as my hyperactive mind. I hate waiting, and I find that my Mac glides along at breakneck speed. Again, that’s because components are all engineered by Apple to work together.

Another thing I noticed is that my Mac is able to run several different applications and not get bogged down. I can have Flash up and running, and also have Photoshop and Fireworks there ready to go. To illustrate this, I can tell you that my PC has a 512 graphics card, 4 gigs of RAM, and a 4 GHz processor. With my PC, I could run Flash, Firefox, and Illustrator together at the same time. But if I needed to open up Photoshop or any other program, I would have to shut down an application to make room. These programs are all pretty big resource hogs and they maxed out my PC quite fast. But with my Mac, I routinely have 19 or 20 different programs up and running. I like to keep my mail program and IM open, as well as Safari, Flash, Firefox, Illustrator, Quicktime, Transmit, Coda , SK Edit, BB Edit, Fireworks, Photoshop, and usually iTunes . Of course, I have to have a browser with Webforumz open, too! You may not believe me, but I can run all those programs simultaneously, no sweat, on my Mac. When I switched to Mac it was like entering a time warp and being transported to the future. And, I am loving every minute of it.

Macs come with Apache installed. All you have to do is turn it on. Once activated, this allows you to test your code locally without having to upload it to a web server. This saves a lot of time. You can test your HTML and PHP/MySQL locally without having to download it and make edits, then upload it to test it, then repeating the process over and over and over. You can use Apache in combination with a program called “Transmit.” Transmit allows you to to synchronize your local files with your remote server. This means that you will always have the latest version of your code on your server, as well as in your local files.

As mentioned, Transmit is a great program. Mac has several of those great “can’t live without” programs for designer geeks. Another is Coda. Coda has great color syntaxing. This helps me a lot as I am slightly dyslexic and sometimes have trouble seeing coding problems. Coda lets me keep track of all my websites, and makes accessing them for edits a breeze. It also lets me view my sites in different browsers. When you get a Mac, deciding what programs you need can be a little daunting. I’m going to link to my favorite ones so you can study up on this yourself.

I hope that you will give more thought to a Mac. It has been a great choice for me. For some reason I wasn’t able to sell my sister. She came home on Black Friday with another PC. Gee, I wish she was a paying customer! I foresee many visits to her place in my future. But you geeks who are more savvy than she, may want to take the plunge. Once you go Mac, you’ll never look back!

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