Dear Reader,

I've been using Linux as my Operating System of choice for around ten years. I started with Mandrake (now Mandriva), then moved to Fedora Core which I used for a long, long time. Over the last few years I've been using Ubuntu (which I recommend everyone at least try out) and my new Acer Aspire One laptop (£150 from ASDA) is running a version of Linpus Linux.

I'll save the discussion about why I prefer Linux for another day (it's been done to death elsewhere, anyway).

I'm quite often asked by other website designers how I can design websites without Adobe/Macromedia tools, which prompted me to write this blog post. So today, I'd like to share with you the fantastic Linux software tools that help me to do my job.

  1. FireFox - The most popular web browser on Linux (at least from my website stats). I also have Konquerer and Opera installed for testing purposes.
  2. Inkscape - Fantastic open-source vector graphics application, ideal for designing logos and the like for both print and web.
  3. GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a great for knocking up web graphics quickly and effortlessly.
  4. GFTP - A nice FTP client for uploading files to the web (what else!). I also use Kasablanca.
  5. Gedit - My website design tool of choice - the good old trusted text editor :)
  6. LAMP - Short for Linux, Apache, PHP & MySQL. I have them all installed locally, so that I can run my own development environment even when offline.

That's my primary "web design for linux software list". As I've got another ten minutes to spare, I think I'll extend this list to include my business tools:

  1. GNUCash - Fantastic, free double-entry book-keeping system. Used to keeps my business accounts up to date and spouts out some nice reports at year-end.
  2. Skype - Allows me to be at my phone whenever I'm at my computer (and have an Internet connection).
  3. Google Mail - My email client.
  4. Google Docs - Spreadsheets, documents and my Intranet.
  5. OpenOffice - For when Google Docs isn't enough (like when I need to do a mail merge).
  6. Google Calendar - Yep, my calendar.
  7. OnlineTaskList.com - My online task list, if you didn't already guess!
  8. Shore Dutton Management System - My bespoke CRM and ordering system.

Well, that about wraps it up.

Until next time...