Recommended Software

Recommended Software

Key

$ = 1–49 USD
$$ = 50–99 USD
$$$ = 100–200 USD
$$$$ = more than 200 USD

Plain text editor

BBEdit
macOS • Free! ($$ for additional features)

Notepad++
Windows • Free! (& open source)

Kate
Linux, Windows, & macOS • Free! (& open source)

Text editor for coding

Visual Studio Code
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free! (& open source)

Textastic
iOS (iPad only) • $

WYSIWYG HTML editor (not recommended)

Macromedia Dreamweaver
macOS & Windows • $–$$$

Blue Griffon
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free! (& open source)

HTML formatter

HTML Tidy
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free! (& open source)

XML editor

XMLmind XML Editor (Standard Edition)
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free!

Graphics creation & manipulation

Adobe Photoshop
macOS & Windows • $–$$$$

Pixelmator Pro
macOS & iOS • $

Paint.NET
Windows • Free!

GIMP 
Linux, Windows, & macOS • Free! (& open source)

Photopea
Web-based • Free!

Measure pixels on screen

xScope
macOS * $

Screen Ruler
Windows • Free!

ScreenRuler (KDE) or kruler (KDE)
Linux • Free! (& open source)

Color picker

Sip
macOS • $

PowerToys (look for Color Picker)
Windows • Free!

Pick
Linux • Free! (& open source)

Conversion

Permute
Images, videos, & audio
macOS • $15

Adapter
Images, videos, & audio
macOS & Windows • Free!

Handbrake
Videos
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free! (& open source!)

Freemake Video Converter
Windows • Free!

Offline documentation

Dash
macOS • $

Zeal
Windows, Linux, & macOS • Free! (& open source)

File transfer

Do not use FileZilla, as it is a UI nightmare.

ForkLift (manage local files too!)
macOS • $

Transmit
macOS • $

WinSCP
Windows • Free! (& open source)

Cyberduck
macOS & Windows • Free! (& open source)

Konqueror & GNOME Files
Free! (& open source) • Free! (& open source)

FE File Explorer
iOS (iPhone & iPad) & Android • $

Terminal Emulator

iTerm2
macOS • Free! (& open source)
Apple’s Terminal app is fine, but iTerm is better.

Windows Terminal
Windows • Free! (& open source)

Prompt
iOS • $

Web browser

I do not recommend Google Chrome, as it is a privacy nightmare. Instead, I recommend Brave, which is exactly like Chrome except it’s incredibly private & secure.

Brave
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free! (& open source)

Mozilla Firefox
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free! (& open source)

Konqueror
Linux • Free! (& open source)

Email

Spark
macOS, iOS, & Android • Free!

Mozilla Thunderbird
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free (& open source!)

Office suite

I cannot recommend Google Workspace (formerly Google Docs & G Suite) for privacy reasons.

Apple Pages, Numbers, & Keynote
macOS, iOS, & online • Free!

LibreOffice
macOS, Windows, & Linux • Free! (& open source)

WebSanity Top Secret