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HTML

Posted by Mat Williams
Mat Williams
121 Points

Beginner tools?

Hi guys.

I am new to treehouse. I have good design skills but want to develop my front-end skills. Just getting started with HTML and CSS.

Just wondering what tools and software you would recommend?

I am thinking a combination of Photoshop, Illustrator, Coda 2 alongside apps like Slicy and Hammer is a good start?

Any advice would be appreciated : )

Mat

14 Answers

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

To add to what John Locke said I think you really only need 4 apps to start designing for the web:

  • Text Editor (e.g. Coda 2)
  • Mockup Software (e.g. UXPin or Moqups)
  • Image Editor (e.g. Photoshop)
  • FTP Client (e.g. Cyberduck or FileZilla)

Mat Williams - If you've already got Coda 2 & Photoshop you are set for those 2. And coda probably has an FTP plugin you can use. Also if you are really comfortable with Photoshop you can use it to do wireframes/mocks instead of something like made for mockups in particular like UXPin.

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Here's my list of small web-based tools I've found useful when learning web design http://learntribe.com/jamesbarnett/web_design_tools

Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
34,077 Points
Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
34,077 Points

Moqups: Mockups Photoshop: Design Illustrator: Assets Fireworks: Optimize images for Web Bootstrap: Framework grid Layout, CSS and more Sublime Text 2: HTML and CSS coding Google Chrome Developer Toolbar

John Locke
John Locke
15,479 Points
John Locke
John Locke
15,479 Points

All you really need to start is a text editor (Sublime Text 2, Notepad++ are good) and an image editor (Photoshop, Pixelmator, Sketch). James has a pretty well-compiled list, so check that out as well.

danielcroft
danielcroft
7,438 Points
danielcroft
danielcroft
7,438 Points

I really cant recommend Sublime text 2 enough its dark theme makes long hours of coding easier on the eyes,

Mat Williams
Mat Williams
121 Points
Mat Williams
Mat Williams
121 Points

James Barnett thanks that is all really useful but thanks everyone.

Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
34,077 Points
Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
Gustavo Jose Morales Carpio
34,077 Points

I don't recommend CyberDuck as FTP Software, because have a 0b bug. I recommend you to use Transmit from the same creators of Coda (Panic Software)

Mat Williams
Mat Williams
121 Points
Mat Williams
Mat Williams
121 Points

Ok thanks guys. What about a host? Media Temple?

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Media Temple certainly has some of the best support in the business, so I recommend them for client work.

For portfolio/side projects, A Small Orange is a great choice.

Treehouse has a partnership with VPS hosting provider Linode.

Mike Legacy
PLUS
Mike Legacy
Courses Plus Student 3,548 Points
Mike Legacy
Mike Legacy
Courses Plus Student 3,548 Points

Media temple is just expensive. I use it and have the bottom tier plan and still pay $50 a month.

I run my own server though and use run multiple sites/domains on it so it works for me.

If you are just hosting 1 or 2 sites, hostgator would work fine. I don't know that media temple offers a shared hosting solution, just dedicated or dedicated virtual (DV) servers.

Mike Legacy
PLUS
Mike Legacy
Courses Plus Student 3,548 Points
Mike Legacy
Mike Legacy
Courses Plus Student 3,548 Points

Ahh scratch that, they did start offering single-site hosting, but it's $20 a month, unless you want to use that VIRB crap site-builder thing they are offering. Eff that noise if you ask me.

$20 is a lot for hosting, though. Difference between the $20 solution (where you can still host up to 100 sites and the $50 dedicated virtual servers is that you don't get ROOT access to the server with the $20 version I wouldn't think.

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

I recommend against using Host Gator as I've personally heard too many horror stories about their support.

Mike Legacy
PLUS
Mike Legacy
Courses Plus Student 3,548 Points
Mike Legacy
Mike Legacy
Courses Plus Student 3,548 Points

Yeah, it was just an example, I mostly meant ANY SHARED HOSTING service.

I havent hosted with hostgator since like 2006-07 so I don't really remember their service/support quality.

danielcroft
danielcroft
7,438 Points
danielcroft
danielcroft
7,438 Points

I use hostgator looking Media Temple it looks alright i there are 100's of good hosts out there. Blue host is what i have seen mentioned on a couple of the videos on here, so i assume that's what they recommend it is really up to you depending how much space bandwidth etc that you need.