Resources

Tools for developers and clients

Programs/Apps/Tools I use

Here’s a list of selected programs/apps/tools I use on a regular basis.

Adobe Illustrator

Inspiration (mind-mapping, diagramming)

Irfanview (Image browsing/editing/processing; Windows) [FREE]

• Could not do without this. Have used it forever. Unbelievable that it’s free.

Notepad++ (coding and everyday notekeeping) [FREE]

• Goodbye Notepad; goodbye WordPad; take a rest, Word.

PhpStorm (IDE)

Snagit (screen captures, screen recording)

Sony Vegas Movie Studio (video editing; Windows)

TreeSize Free (file management) [FREE]

Trello (todo lists, project management) [FREE]

• Another cannot-do-without app. In it all day long. Clients know this. My blog posts about Trello.

VS Code (coding) [FREE]

Colors

The Web can display 16,777,216 colors, about 256 of which are variations of gray. So, instead of asking me to “make something gray” or to make something “a shade lighter”, please use any of these fabulous tools to find (and give me the color codes for) exactly what you want. These Web sites also allow you to create color schemes.

Coolors.co for Color Schemes

Beware of rabbit hole!

This is a fantastic online resource for creating color schemes — and more. You can…

• start from the Coolors home page
• generate a palette from scratch
• explore (and copy) trending palettes (e.g., search for “military” or “Christmas”, or click on tags)
• grab colors from your photos to create palettes
• calculate contract ratio of text and background colors
• recolor SVG artwork

Adobe Color for Color Schemes

This Adobe site is similar to Coolors.co, but the color-scheme generator is a bit more technical and perhaps more geared to graphics professionals. Using the Adobe color wheel, you can easily explore specific colors and find the exact one you want.

HTML Color Codes dot Com

Start with color picker and then select harmonies.

Web Fonts

Google Fonts

Jump here and start exploring. Google fonts integrate wonderfully for WordPress Web sites.

Once upon a time, the Google Fonts Web site include a feature that suggested font pairings (i.e., which fonts go with other fonts). If that feature still exists, I can’t find it. In its absence, I suggest you try a Web search like this. If you find good resources, please let me know.

Icons

The Noun Project

Font Awesome

Royalty Free Images

Pixabay (free)

Unsplash (free)

Pexels (free)