If you’re building a website from scratch on an Apple computer, there are a few things you can do to better your building experience. Sure, the Mac store has plenty of room for improvement, but when you know where to look, there are a select handful of Mac applications that can change the way you approach website design—especially if you’re a beginner. Whether you’re starting modestly with a niche news site, a simple travel blog, or a full-fledged e-commerce site, these Mac apps will help you reach your goals quicker.
Fluid
RapidWeaver is the best web design software for Mac. It's free to get started with and it's great for begineers and advanced users. The Best Mac Web Design Software — RapidWeaver — Website Builder. Welcome to EverWeb - A drag and drop website builder for OS X.
allows any website to be transformed into a, well, fluid desktop app. This can be very helpful for website users who find value in your site. Otherwise, it’s not uncommon for your website to get lost in a long list of bookmarked tabs, which may or may not be forgotten. The best part is, using the Mac Fluid app is easier than ever. Once you’ve typed in your credentials, you’ll get a popup that asks you to open the app.
Just like that, you’ve got a desktop app based off of your website within minutes, and the file will appear automatically in the “Applications” section with your logo as the desktop app cover. Once the application has been developed, you can make custom changes to alter the way it functions and make it an even better app.
Just this July, Fluid’s developer announced it would be launching Fluid 2.0. With the new upgrade, users could still access the application for free, but could also pay a one-time $5 for an upgrade that allows them to create custom scripts, allow their apps to enter full-screen mode, and more.
Sparkle
is the Mac app thatwants to make it easier than all the others to build websites. The interface is designed much like Pages or Keynotes, which makes the user feel as if they’re putting together a presentation instead of building a website. But for many users, this is exactly the appeal: to build a user-friendly site in a way that’s most familiar and intuitive.
Once you open the app, you’ll see a wide range of creative tools that are seamlessly organized and easy to use. Drag and drop features like text, video, audio, images, and more. You can even create special effects like “blurred” sliding text with just the click of a button. Other features include the ability to access Google Web fonts without doing too much legwork, integrate with PayPal and Google Analytics.
If you prefer to work on the fly and don’t want to have to struggle to make changes, this could be a good choice. For instance, the most popular web building platform—WordPress—requires that you install a child theme if you want to make some design changes, and that wouldn’t be necessary with apps like Sparkle. Of course, this all depends on your personal preferences. Check out some designs made with the program.
Blocs
If you already some knowledge of programming languages, Blocs is likely a great option for you. Once you’ve purchased the platform, you’ll have access to a huge library of blocks of code that make piecing together a fully-fledged, intuitive site as easy as snapping a few Lego pieces into place. With each snippet of code, Blocs has eliminated much of the guesswork. The foundation is already there, and you can continue building on top of it, customizing as you go.
The program is also just as fast at reacting to your programming choices as you are at making them: for example, if you just added a new page, Blocs will automatically incorporate it into the navigation for you, eliminating a few steps on your behalf. If you prefer to build a site that’s clean and simple, Blocs is a good choice.
Take a look at some of the best websites built with Blocs to give you an idea of what this Mac application is capable of. And if you’ve designed your own Blocs template, you can also submit the design for inclusion.
EverWeb
There’s a reason why so many people trust Mac’s EverWeb application to help them build websites. Like Blocs, it’s helpful if know some HTML and CSS to work with this one, although the appeal of the system is that it’s drag-and-drop. While it may be a little more complex than Blocs, it does offer more customization and freedom. You
can start the web-building process by using one of the many available tried-and-true templates or starting from scratch. Unlike some of the more popular web design platforms, EverWeb allows you to draw your own images, boxes, texts, shapes, and other elements directly onto your page, which opens up doors to design how you please with less restriction.
Additionally, while many other platforms charge to use certain e-commerce capabilities, EverWeb comes with a free pre-built PayPal widget that makes it easy to set up basic online stores. Other widgets include navigation menus, images sliders, and galleries.
Apple computers are known for their simplicity in design and excellence in performance. These are the two basic reasons that entice web designers and developers to use Macs as their work computer.
There are oodles of third party applications out there for web designers and web developers who use Macs. In this article, we share with you the top ten applications that web designers/developers on a Mac will find useful.
Though not all of them are exclusively for Macs, they are all build with Mac users in mind (and not haphazardly ported over for compatibility).
1. Seashore
Seashore is an open source image editor that utilizes the Mac OS X’s Cocoa Framework. It’s a full-fledged image editor that gives Photoshop a run for its money. Seashore provides a ton of features for its end-user including various textures, gradients, and anti-aliasing for its text and brush tools. Along with those great options, it also supports editing over multiple layers and alpha channels. It’s an awesome image editor for Mac users on a budget.
2. Coda
Coda can be the sole reason for switching to a Mac as a web designer; it is an extremely well-done and intuitive application that makes the web development workflow a breeze. It was designed to compartmentalize website-building processes and for team collaboration. Coda isn’t free, but at less than a hundred dollars, you get a lot bang for the buck.
3. TextMate
TextMate is an comprehensive text editor application designed exclusively for the Mac computer; it is the premier example of how text editors should function. A premium application, a MUST have for all web designers.
4. Paparazzi!
Paparazzi! is a basic tool for the Mac OS X which enables the user to take screenshots of entire web pages without any external editing. This tool relies on the Cocoa API and WebKit framework, written in C. A great tool for designers who need to capture entire web pages for design mockup presentation or as web graphics on a site they’re making.
5. Nvu
Nvu is a high-performance WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor built around Gecko (the rendering engine for Mozilla-based browsers). This application runs on Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later which makes web designing a cinch even to beginning-level web builders.
6. Think
Think is an excellent application for making you focus on the task at hand. This application creates an ‘Illumination Panel’ that replaces the Mac OS dock by creating a list of applications that you use to select the application you want to ‘Focus’ on. Bbedit mac serial key. This is an essential application for those that are easily distracted by other things such as Instant Messaging, Twitter, and emails.
7. Aquamacs Emacs
Aquamacs Emacs is an extended version of the original and robust Emacs text editor with an addition of the new Aqua look-and-feel making the application blend right into the Mac OS X user interface. This editor is perfect for people who work with HTML, LaTeX, C/C++, Java, Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP and much more.
8. Xee
Xee is a straightforward application for browsing your images. This app can be considered as a replacement for Preview or any other default image viewer pre-installed on the Mac OS X. It’s sleek, fast, and uses very little system resources. Loads of shortcuts and a nice streamlined user interface add to its list of features.
9. Scribus
Scribus is an open source application for creating high quality page layouts for Mac and Linux users. Scribus has an intensive feature set under its clean and impressive GUI. Some of its publishing features include: CMYK Color, Separations, ICC Color management, and flexible PDF Authoring and Editing.
10. Smultron
Smultron is a gratis text editor which can be considered as a replacement for the default text editor that comes along with the Mac. Smultron is quite versatile and easy to use. It is meant to be used on the Mac OS X Leopard 10.5. The editor can be used as a basic text to a complete HTML & Script editor.
What are your favorite web design application?
Do you have a favorite Mac application that you can’t live without? Do you have experiences with the above list of applications? Please share your thoughts in the comments – we’d love to hear them!