Why Web Developers Don’t Need A Mac
As Web developers, we never stop hearing about the Mac. A lot of people love to talk about their Macs, but despite the “elite” status of the Apple computer, is there any need for a Web developer to splash money on one? A few weeks ago, Mark Nutter wrote here on Smashing Magazine in favor of swapping your PC for a Mac, and while some of his reasons are good, there are plenty of reasons to stick with (or switch back to!) Windows.
This article explores the best aspects of the Windows PC and, more importantly, the different apps that Web developers can use to become more efficient in their work. Every piece of software mentioned here is free to use.
Developer Tools
Notepad++ (code editor)
After looking at many text editors, Notepad++ is by far the best I’ve found. On top of the standard features you would expect from a great text editor, you can extend its functionality by installing any of the free plug-ins that suit you.
Some of the things that really make Notepad++ shine:
- FTP Synchronize
Allows you to connect to a server by FTP and edit files in Notepad++. Then when you save the file, it is automatically uploaded back to the server. No more saving files in an editor and then firing up a separate FTP client! Bonus: the FTP sync has “Keep Alive,” which pings the server at regular intervals to stop the connection from being closed. - Document Compare
Open two versions of the same document and the differences between them are automatically highlighted. Great for finding out where a coding change has gone wrong! - Code auto-completion
Auto-completion is a fairly standard feature, but with Notepad++ the code libraries can be downloaded from the website and updated manually. Keeping up to date with changes in the languages is easy then, and you can even write your own library file. - Panel Views
Allows you to see two files at once, side by side. Hugely useful if you have a large monitor and want to make better use of all the space. - Ctrl + D to duplicate a line
It may sound simple but is surprisingly useful. As an example, it took two seconds to write out all the <li></li> tags for this list!
Texter (text expander)
Texter is a free app from Lifehacker. It allows you to type a few characters, then hit Tab and have those characters replaced with a string of text. This is great for a lot of computer tasks (answering email most of all!), but the real advantage for developers is that Texter lets you specify key presses. For example, {HOME} is interpreted as pressing the Home button.
Take the following hot string:
{BACKSPACE}{HOME}<p>{END}</p>When coding, I type the text of my paragraph, then add a space, press “p” and hit tab. Texter automatically puts the <p> at the start of the line and </p> at the end.
That’s just one example. I have about 35 different strings saved for use in coding, so the number of possible uses is huge.
WampServer (Apache, PHP and MySQL)
Installing a Web server on your local PC is great for development because you can test everything easily and instantly. No waiting on Web servers and dodgy Internet connections. WampServer packs an Apache, PHP and MySQl install all into one simple executable file, so your server will be up and running in five minutes tops.
Clipboard Manager
Clipboard Manager is a sidebar widget for Vista. It displays a snippet of the most recent items that you’ve copied. If you click one of the snippets, it is brought to the top of the clipboard, so when you hit Ctrl + V, you’ll paste that instead of what you copied last.
This is extremely useful when you are working on a document or script for re-arranging chunks of the page or copying properties from one object to another. Clipboard Manager cuts down drastically on the amount of time spent re-copying the same snippet again and again.
AutoHotkey (write your own shortcuts)
AutoHotkey allows you to create your own hot keys or remap existing ones. The scripts can be either extremely simple or quite complex. The Quickstart Guide walks you through everything you need to know.
One of the hot keys I use most is simple: pressing Caps Lock + W to close the current window. Anyone who is used to using Ctrl + W to close a tab in FireFox will find this very handy!
; Close Active Window
Capslock & w::
WinClose, A
returnSyncback (automatic back-ups)
Everyone’s hard drive fails eventually. Online tools like Mozy and Dropbox are ideal for backing up critical files that you’re currently working on, but backing up everything on your hard drive to one of these tools just isn’t feasible for most people.
Syncback is a free tool from 2BrightSparks that automatically backs up all your files to an external drive. (A paid version is available as well, but the freeware is more than enough.)
You select which folders to back up, set when you want back-ups to take place and let Syncback do the work. Back-ups can be done manually or automatically, and only files that have changed will be copied, so it is very efficient after the first run. It will even email you a report if any errors occur during the backup, such as certain files not being able to be copied.
Windows Live Writer (blog posting)
Not every developer needs this, but many of us have our own blogs now. Windows Live Writer is a free tool to help you write blog posts.
The main advantage of this is that it accesses your website and re-creates your design in the program. You can then write your post directly onto the website background, so you can see everything about your post’s presentation and fix it easily.
Is that image too big? Or that paragraph too long? Seeing it for yourself is the best way to catch these flaws.
The Best Parts Of The Mac
OS X does some things very nicely. Thankfully, the best bits can all be re-created in Windows free of charge.
The Dock → RocketDock
The Dock is probably the most distinctive Mac feature. The large icons and easy access to them appeal to a lot of people
RocketDock brings the Dock to Windows beautifully. Drag and drop to re-arrange, position on any side of the monitor, minimize windows to the dock and more. The demo video from its website below shows RocketDock in action:
Quicksilver → Launchy
Launching applications from your keyboard is an extremely fast way to work. Mac users use Quicksilver for this, but Windows users can use Launchy. Launchy can be set to index only programs or include files as well. You also choose which directories it indexes. One of the best uses for it is to set up a directory of utility scripts that you can execute from a few quick keystrokes in Launchy.
For example, iTuny is a set of free scripts to control iTunes from Launchy. Now, if I want to skip to the next song, I hit Alt + Space to bring up Launchy and type “inext” to launch the iTunes Next script from iTuny. You can set up scripts for whatever you like, including shutting down and locking your machine.
Leopard Stacks → Stand-Alone Stack
Stacks are a great way to easily access your most commonly used files and programs.
Standalone Stack allows you to create your own stacks in Windows, either in the taskbar or on your desktop. And you can display the files in either a list or a grid, just like in Leopard. For anyone using Rocketdock, you can install the Stacks Docklet from Matonga to get stacks into your dock.
More Control Of Your Machine
Custom Visual Styles
VistaGlazz allows you to control the appearance of your Vista installation. You can create your own custom styles or download them for free. One of the best sources of styles is DeviantArt (which has some OS X styles, though they’re not as polished as the Vista versions!).
Another popular application for theming is WindowBlinds from Stardock, but you need to pay for it. You’ll find plenty of themes for it on DeviantArt as well.
More Hardware Options
Macs come with very few variations in hardware. You have a small selection and just have to choose whichever one is closest to what you need. Because anyone can develop hardware for Windows, the selection is much greater. And because of this competition between manufacturers, companies are forced to offer good value for your money.
That doesn’t just mean better specs for about half the price. Check out this new multi-touch HP laptop, which comes in under the cost of any MacBook. Search around and you will find the perfect machine for your needs.
Huge Range of Devices
On top of the core hardware, you have thousands of peripherals to choose from. For graphics designers, that means a massive selection of tablets. But there are a lot of other devices as well, right down to your mouse. I have a five-button mouse and just hit the extra buttons on either side for small tasks like going backward and forward in a Web browser and Windows Explorer. For developers who have to give regular presentations to clients, this nifty wireless mouse/remote control is ideal.
Conclusion
There are a lot of good things about the Mac, and it’s hard not to get a little excited about them each time you watch one of Apple’s big developer conferences.
What you have to remember is that at the end of the day, the operating system is a means to an end, not the end itself. Whichever system you choose should make your daily work (and play!) easier and more efficient. Windows combined with the great free software and tips I’ve found online allows me to work exactly the way I want. I wouldn’t dream of going back to a default Vista installation with no extras: the customized installation is worth so much more to me than either Windows or OS X on its own.
We would love to hear what aspects of your operating system made you choose it (but not the flaws in the other one that made you not choose it!) and how you use it to work at your best.
(al)
Wayne Hastings
June 11th, 2009 9:08 amOk, so how do I vote down this article? The examples stated are silly and shallow.
John Smith
June 11th, 2009 9:13 amThis article was obviously was written by someone who doesn’t use the mac. Textwrangler is just as good as notepad++, launchy doesn’t even come close to the functionality of quicksilver, there are 3rd party applications for customizing the mac GUI too… magnifique. Rocket dock lags and the presenter mouse you used as an example works great with my macbook… i have one and use it all the time.
I think this post could have used some actual research. Don’t post an unfounded rant like it’s fact…
Samuel
June 11th, 2009 9:20 amWell said, Aaron.
miniMAC
June 11th, 2009 9:22 amFor use the widgets in Windows: kludgets!
cdoggyd
June 11th, 2009 9:25 am@Ken Vuncannon
Spot on! This is just another “lets-generate-lots-of-traffic” article.
Mario Haas
June 11th, 2009 9:29 amWow, all that envy, and then calling the mac “just trendy”, tsts ;)
Gary
June 11th, 2009 9:35 amI do all my web development on post-it notes and the backs of napkins and give them to my secretary to type. She prints out web pages for me to circle links I want her to print so I can read stories like this one. I don’t know what kind of computer she uses.
(P.S. I use a Mac!)
Edward
June 11th, 2009 9:39 amThese Mac vs. Windows posts always get the most activity.
Talk about this topic on your blog and you’ll get some attention. :)
Steve
June 11th, 2009 9:49 amWhat a pathetic little whiney “I know you are but what am I?” response to the previous post about why Macs are great for development. Poor Michael Martin had his feelings hurt.
And not for nothing….peripherals is better on a PC?? You mean I cant use those same exact tablets and mouse or external HD’s on my Mac?? What a lame post altogether.
We dont need to make Smashing Magazine a back and forth Mac vs PC wars.
Octagon
June 11th, 2009 9:57 amI fell for the mac hype last year. Two thousand dollars later I had a machine I never used because it did everything my cheaper PC did but slower. Then there were all the small little problems I would have in day to day life interacting with other platforms, finding applications and fighting the mystery meat UI which is swear to God is meant to make designers minds implode (mac has the best UI, but this is confusing and redundant… owe! my freakin head!) I ended up switching back to my PC and to this day all I use that apple for is to watch movies on my xbox which ironical it does way better then my PC… *sigh*
Either way, any dev that knows what they are doing can work on either platform, it just might make them crazy to have to use one they don’t like, lets drop the pretentious “I’m better because I spent more money on my apple” or “I’m better because I didn’t spend more money on my mutt PC” it just makes us all like A-holes.
Matthew Carriere
June 11th, 2009 10:04 amSeriously, this article says you don’t NEED a mac, but spends the entire time rigging your PC to look and feel like a Mac. Imitation is the best form of flattery I suppose… if you really can’t leave the herd and just buy the machine with the tools you want to use then this will do.
What is being completely overlooked here is the fact that the applications on the Mac are superior to the ‘clones’ presented here. Just because I put a Mercedes symbol on my Pinto doesn’t mean I have the same thing.
Jay
June 11th, 2009 10:06 amMacs never have been the preferred choice for web development.
I’m not really sure that is true.
We are in an era now where design is separated from development. The artwork is more routinely handled by graphic designers, and the coding is handled by someone else. The days of *one* person providing quality graphics and coding appear to be gone, but the Mac is still a great tool to deliver to entire package.
One thing is for sure…whenever I visit a website that looks horrible it is almost always made by a Windows user. No anti-aliasing, blocky graphics, poor font selections, no photo optimization. Bleh.
Andres Jaimes
June 11th, 2009 10:21 amWell, I’m a web developer who loves his mac… :-)
Dave
June 11th, 2009 10:25 amWorst article I have ever read on Smashing Magazine.
Max
June 11th, 2009 10:36 amOmg he’s bashing Macs.
Let’s all pretend it’s a bad article!!
Fcking idiots, the only thing he said is that you don’t NEED to switch to a mac.
And you DON’T.
Get fucking over it, you payed shitloads of money for something that is less powerful and efficient
Bart Gysens
June 11th, 2009 10:42 amMac ~ Linux: closer to LAMP = dev using MacOs
Mac ~ Beautiful: closer to ‘design’ = graph using MacOs
PC ~ Bugs: closer to … bugs? = tester using Windows … in a VirtualBox … on a Mac
Sorry been there for almost 15 years now, since 2006 changed to Mac, maybe sometime will switch back but not today
@wadje12
Taylor Satula
June 11th, 2009 10:46 amUmm… Really Because I always thought that Espresso did almost all of that stuff and the others come built in.
I dont care if you want a PC, thats cool but i am still keeping my mac and staying
Kyle
June 11th, 2009 10:49 amMan, those screenshots remind me just how ugly Windows apps are.
I really don’t care what’s “trendy” — the dev tools on Mac, especially for open-source stuff (like Rails, Django, etc) are just plain better.
You definitely don’t *need* a Mac, but they sure are a joy to work with. I’ve yet to meet someone who’s been unhappy with a Mac after switching from Windows.
Chris Esler
June 11th, 2009 10:52 amI grew up on PC’s, and when I was in college tried out a mac (os 5.1), and have been hooked ever since. Initially I think the mac was specifically geared towards designers, and rightly so. It handled design programs more efficiently (at the time). I think PC’s have come a long ways since then, so both platforms are fairly comparable for both print and web development now. Its more of a personal choice. I prefer a mac because I am comfortable with all the shortcuts and commands that make moving around the system much easier. Plus the hardware seems built to last forever – I still have a mac I bought 12 years ago and it still runs perfectly. But I also use a PC to do some work due to my clients preferences. Although I may not be able to work as fast on a PC, its pretty close, and the outcome is relatively the same. It does go back to the premise that you should choose something that fits your needs and what will make you more efficient.
croydonfacelift
June 11th, 2009 10:58 amMac users remind me of Lakers fans–as soon as someone suggest Lebron/Windows might be as good as/better than their object of worship, they respond en masse and out of all proportion to the perceived provocation. And I say this as a lifetime Mac user.
croydonfacelift
June 11th, 2009 11:00 amMac users remind me of Lakers fans–as soon as someone suggest Lebron/Windows might be as good as/better than their object of worship, they respond en masse and out of all proportion to the perceived provocation. And I say this as a lifetime Mac user.
David
June 11th, 2009 11:05 amI have used both. The mac feels as if it were designed with design in mind.
The pc feels like it was designed for mass appeal.
Every designer out there knows they can buy a pc for less and still do the same work. It is not about being cooler or more hip. It is a matter of design. How else can you explain so many designers using the mac over the pc? You think designers think they are cooler for using the mac? Not hardly. Designers appreciate good design. Apple knows this. Everything they do starts with design.
This article focused on cost difference. That is the mistake the pc manufacturers continue to make. Do you think all these people buying macs do not know the price difference? The question should be why is the pc not more design oriented?Why does windows feel so archaic?
I am not cooler because I use a mac. I can’t help the way you feel about being a pc user.
fernando
June 11th, 2009 11:05 amLInux here. Reason: Open Source operating system. I can code all in my customized gedit. i can do vector graphics in Inkscape, retouch and manipulate images in Gimp, have my servers locally, Do some 3d Modelling in Blender, and not to mention my ssh support, powerfull command line, and if i need it, integrated support for python, perl and many other languages. I can just do anything i want.
Chris
June 11th, 2009 11:16 amBy using windows we’re giving Microsoft political capital to let them screw with the W3C with future version of Explorer. This is bad for all designers… PC, Mac and Linux.
netoxico
June 11th, 2009 11:17 amsudo apt-get remove windows
UTAlan
June 11th, 2009 11:19 am<3 Notepad++
norbert
June 11th, 2009 11:23 amIm a web desig-neloper and i use to work with mac, the reasons: TextMate & Coda and the friendly-user environment of the OS X. When need to work in another place i use to work in a laptop with Win Vista and i’m agree, Notepad ++ works so good for me. Great post.
Jonathan Wagener
June 11th, 2009 11:24 amMac is pretty, all the apps look the same there is no ugly custom looks to apps, i like this. yeah i use windows and would like to get a mac, but there is no real “reason” to change.
The Don
June 11th, 2009 11:27 amNobody should be telling anybody what they do and don’t need – and stating it as a fact.
It’s a preference. I was on PCs for years, and as designer I hated it. Switched to Mac and within a week, wondered why it took me so long. My productivity increased dramatically.
It should be about the tool that fits how you operate, not some sort of diatribe about what is universally better.
Tony Dunsworth
June 11th, 2009 11:30 amAlternate programs I use which could receive mention or merit, for the WAMP server, I use Uniform Server 4.2 It’s really nice and mounts a virtual drive with a *nix like file structure and I prefer ObjectDock’s free offering. Stable, nice, and works wonders.
Robert
June 11th, 2009 11:31 amWhat a stupid article, this is exactly why you should not be using ONLY a PC. If you need an article like this to help discover how to develop efficiently, you need to quit your day job. Way to keep the Mac vs PC battle hot, idiots.
V
June 11th, 2009 11:31 amUgh! A Mac IS a PC. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2327233,00.asp
This flame bait is getting annoying.
dylan Hans
June 11th, 2009 11:36 ami know there are a lot of comments but the last one about the mouse is totally false
i have a 11 button mouse .. seriously. and it goes back and forward on a web page new tab has insane scrolling does expose and clears my desktop it is the logitech mx revolution if anyone cared
Ted Bragg
June 11th, 2009 11:43 amUGH. Another Mac vs PC thread –
I use both, and I’ve found the Mac is best suited for video, music, print and motion graphics. But for the web, Windows is tops, PERIOD. Oh, and there’s that ONE little **annoying** thing Mac users have to do without: MSIE. Can’t say your site is ‘ready’ until you test it in that horrible browser.
rick pawela
June 11th, 2009 12:02 pmI make websights in microsofft paint so and microsoft frontpage so PC is only chois 4 mee! I MAKE NISE WEBSIGHT!
tux
June 11th, 2009 12:06 pmi agree with netoxico; anyone of you guys ever seen a penguin do the work for you ?
Nick
June 11th, 2009 12:23 pmSyncback is probably the most used by me on this list. I like to team it up with JungleDisk’s network drive feature to back it all up to Amazon’s S3 service. Snycback doesn’t know the difference and dealing with ‘physical’ locations is a lot more convenient than F T P.
Jason
June 11th, 2009 12:35 pmOS X is just a superior product and we use it because it is easier to use and has Unix under the hood so you an still use many of those great Open source products that aren’t available on Windows. I you really need a Windows based app you can just use Parallels or Boot Camp. Plus, with boot camp most of my games work as good or better on the Mac hardware.
Andrew
June 11th, 2009 12:37 pmOne thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the font trouble you run into between macs and PC’s. Most designers I work with use macs for design and when I was using a PC i’d have to go find the PC version of the fonts they used, and there was usually some difference in the cut compared to the mac one, etc. Now I get the PSD’s and any fonts I need from the designer and I can edit away on the PSD.
textmate, transmit, coda +++
Ro
June 11th, 2009 12:47 pmEasily the worst article I’ve ever seen on this site. I’ve been developing sites for 10 years and made the move to mac after Vista came out and started locking up my CSS files. (And then magically deleting them.) Well played for the traffic you’ll generate but honestly, at the cost of a reputation. Stupid.
pab
June 11th, 2009 12:49 pmIs that an April fool?
Come on.. this can’t be serious.
Just to be able to run Mac OSx AND any other OS (via VMware) on the same box, Mac is definitely better than a pc (especially a pc running Vista).
travis
June 11th, 2009 12:52 pmWINDOWS IS HORRIBLE, you will get viruses and it will crash on you in 2 years at the most.
Jeremy Gordinier
June 11th, 2009 12:57 pmIf your using mac just for the terminal you should try out Windows Powershell http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/powershell/download.mspx
chris
June 11th, 2009 12:59 pmI am much more productive in dreamweaver and photoshop on PC.
Mac doesnt allow mouse scrolling of layer styles in pc and doesnt allow dragging files from finder into dreamweaver files window.
I love my mac for leisure but love my pc for work.
Good luck to all.
grrrt
June 11th, 2009 1:02 pmThis article and half of the comments sound like an astroturf-roots effort to radiate some windows love. “Mac users are so stuck in using what they are given”? C’mon, pull the other one. You can customise your Mac as much as you want, no worries there.
In the end it’s a preference thing. Using Windows? Fine, whatever floats your boat. Using a Mac? Sure thing if that tickles your fancy. Using Solaris, one of the BSDs or any flavour of Linux? Good on you!
You’ll all find ways of doing what you want on any of those platforms. As you’re working on your computer and adapt it to your needs, you automatically adapt your workflow to whatever you’re using. No wonder you feel most productive on the platform you’re used to.
I’d like to close my comment with saying that I’ve hardly ever used Windows – not interested and no need for it. I grew up with an Apple ][ and I’ve used Macs and various flavours of Unix (Solaris, *BSD, a handful of Linux distros) for most of my life. As long as I can keep on using that without religious wars breaking out around me, I’m happy.
Yn
June 11th, 2009 1:05 pmI use Windows, OSX, and Ubuntu. I’ve never had major problems with the software aspects of any of the 3 major systems. As far as I’m concerned, I can pretty much do equivalent things in all 3 OSes.
A lot of the OSX features have been available in KDE (the desktop environment I choose to use for Ubuntu) for ages. e.g. Spaces were “desktops” in KDE for years before Leopard came out. Katapult was the launchy/spotlight/quicksilver equivalent. I’m a fan of the minimalistic look, so I never bothered much with docks in any OS, but if you want a dock, by golly you can make one in linux. Linux is versatile.
As for web dev, well, maybe you won’t find Photoshop for Linux, but setting up apache, mysql, php, python, java, perl, etc, etc is incredibly easy, especially if you like the command line. For editors, you’ve got Kate, VIM, Emacs, and a ton of other free, open source editors. Using something like Ubuntu is incredibly easy now for everyone. I plugged in a wireless ergonomic mouse/keyboard set without installing drivers and voila, it worked, first try.
As for browser testing, Chrome, Safari, and Konqueror (KDE browser) are based on the same webkit code, so what works in one usually works in another. Firefox works. For IE, you’ll have to use a VM. For OSX… maybe one day, if they allow virtualized versions of their OS on non-proprietary hardware (or if you trust your sources, install someone else’s mods)
For all the people harping on the “You’re just trying to mimic a OSX environment:” if you really want to go back and point the finger at who copied who, well, where would the GUI as you know it be if Xerox PARC hadn’t allowed Apple to take a look and emulate the Alto?
Jim
June 11th, 2009 1:07 pmI will buy a apple if they do one or two things.
Build a 500 dollar system that a 500 dollar windows system has..that would be a home built system…for 500 bucks i can have a monster system.
I am sorry but the mac tax is complete bullshit. Why am i going to buy parts at a marked up price just to keep a companies look…I am sorry i am not into fashion…i want a computer that works and a computer i can upgrade and customize.
And I understand why apple does this…they are lazy..they do not want to program drivers for other manufacturers, they do not want to bother with drivers at all so they make something like a xbox and a PS3 a locked system….that way their OS will be stable…the second reason they do this is they dont have to worry about the lincence issues that windows has.
And the only other way i would buy a mac is if they become a os company like windows…but till steve jobs leaves the company i doubt that will ever happen.
I and for all those people that hack OS X to work with thier computers i commend you…but here is the thing…I feel i dont need to hack a os even to INSTALL on my computer.
So till apple opens up to us modders to the customizers….I will treat apple like they have treated me…like they dont exist…
and as for the virus free mac….I will smile the day you guys realize the only reason macs dont have viruses is because 90% of users use a windows machine. Ever look at the hacker test macs have always been the first ones to be hacked…
I dont like the company apple becuase they think they can control the way we think, the way use our computers. They are becoming more and more like the IBM company of old.
and one more thing…and this really bugs me….
A MAC IS A PC YOU MORONS!!!!
when you compare a mac please compare it with windows, dont dare say PC it makes no sense … a PC is the hardware behind the software… that can run Linux, Windows, or Mac if you hack it, or any other operating system
i am done off my soap box.
Nik
June 11th, 2009 1:08 pmAdam Holt (June 11th, 2009, 1:01 am)
For me it’s all about the command line, i went back to windows for a few days last week, i wanted to tear my eyeballs out using windows command prompt.
PowerShell 2 eats other shells for breakfast. You can pipe objects around ferchrissakes.
Fred (June 11th, 2009, 3:18 am)
At least the web developers on Macs can try out their code on multiple OSes (Win/Linux/Mac) and **ALL** browsers before pushing it out there. Douchey developers just use one platform
and hope for the best. This is not an IE-centric world any more.
How arrogant of you. What makes you think that just because I develop in Windows I don’t test on Mac? Why do fanboys love generalizing so much?
David (June 11th, 2009, 4:59 am)
Most people who are arguing against Mac more than likely never spent time working on one.
(snip)
I suggest you PC Fanboys borrow a Mac from a friend and give it a shot. Once you realize how efficient working on a Mac can make you, you’ll want to buy one immediately.
Really?
Got a 24″ iMac at home, as well as my old iMac G3 and a (heheh) Mac Classic II that still works. We use the iMac mainly as a media centre and for Photoshop/Illustrator. And I do all of my development at work on a Windows machine. Next argument please :)
Celticowboy (June 11th, 2009, 5:47 am)
The real reason I prefer Macs is total interoperativity. You can cut/copy and paste from EVERY app and utility to EVERY other.
Huh? The only platform I’ve ever used where you can’t copy and paste between apps is the iPhone, and they’ve fixed that now.
Christopher Bishop (June 11th, 2009, 6:06 am)
Really the only thing PC’s have is Internet Explorer and ASP.Net (which can’t even install on a linux server so why bother) and SilverLight (again can’t install on Linux servers).
Nice ignorance you have there. There are any number of ways to run ASP.Net apps on Linux (Mono, Grasshopper etc). Silverlight is client side. You don’t run it on the server.
Dave (June 11th, 2009, 6:29 am)
You can bitch away about Macs all you like but ask yourself how many passionate PC users do you know who love their OS.
Why would I love my OS? I want it to stay the hell out of my way so I can use my apps!
Ben (June 11th, 2009, 7:04 am)
Neither OP nor any commenter has ever been paid to do web development, that much is clear.
(snip)
If you’re a .net developer… God help you.
Nice logical fallacy you have there! I make very good money from doing web development, enough that I can pay several other people to do it as well. My clients are always very happy with our work, and being very active in the web development community, I know that my peers think I do good work too. BUT WAIT I DEVELOP ON WINDOWS. Using ASP.NET MVC. God help me!
Real web developers need to make sure their sites work with multiple operating environments anyway. One must test on multiple browsers on both Windows and OS X. If you can do that with just your $500 XP box, I salute you…
You know, I do test on multiple browsers/platforms, but I have to say, being a competent web developer, testing is almost superfluous… the sites and web apps that we develop look and work (not pixel perfect, if you think you should be doing pixel perfect design then you don’t understand the web) great across every single browser and platform except IE. If it works well in Firefox 3 on my Windows machine I’ll put money down that 99.99% of the time it will work well in any standards compliant browser on any platform – that is, everything except for IE 6, and do a lesser degree IE 7, and even those we find ourselves able to fix pretty damn fast these days.
Unless you have a particular need to give your money and your life to become a Microsoft developer, why would you make obstacles for yourself by developing sites on Windows? It makes no sense.
The C# language on top of the .NET framework, and the ASP.NET MVC framework for web apps, are seriously miles ahead of anything else right now for productivity and power. You don’t have to take my word for it, you don’t know me, but I’m a software development enthusiast, I’ve developed in multiple languages on multiple platforms for years. In my spare time I learn new languages for fun, been playing with Erlang lately :) I like C# the most so far because the syntax is reasonable and familiar and it’s a multiparadigm language. .NET is just a great framework, really, it’s what Java should have been; indeed, a lot of the new Java features in the last few years seem to be implementing .NET functionality. ASP.NET MVC is really nice as well, very modular and extensible. If you’ve used Ruby on Rails you’ll understand what I’m talking about, Microsoft definitely ripped off a lot of ideas from that, which is a good thing if you ask me.
I like Mac. I also like Windows. I prefer Windows for development. That doesn’t make me ignorant, or stupid, or misguided. Just like there is nothing at all wrong with choosing to use a Mac instead.
Why are you fanboys so insecure?
Yn
June 11th, 2009 1:16 pmI forgot to add that you can still do graphics. Gimp, Gimpshop, Krita, etc.
http://www.osalt.com is one of many good resources for open source alternatives to commercial software for all operating systems. (I’m a grad students, so I can’t really afford rent, bills, and paying for unnecessary software.)
Garr
June 11th, 2009 1:18 pmElitism is what you call it. I love my Mac. I support a windows environment and have done so for close to 12 years. Each OS has its pluses and minuses. The first thing I notice is an approach to deliver its product. MS throws a OS out there and then you have what we call MS Patch Tuesday we have to patch all of our PC’s. Macs we don’t have that issue. Secondly, I added software to a PC and have to reboot any time you patch it. Also, when add certain hardware. Hardware vendors have to write their own drivers for windows and there are no thoughts to size or code cleanliness. On a mac plug it in and it works. Want more advanced features install vendors drivers. It works better. I never have had a blue screen of death on a mac. I can go on and write a huge pro con verbiage of their differences. However, I will put it simply: Ignorance is bliss. Please sincerely continue to buy MS products, without you I would not have a job. As for me and my Mac user group of people that do see the light we collaborate and learn how to make our lives simpler. No monthly patches no replacing our hardware every three years. I will talk to you when you get your next error message.
Nick
June 11th, 2009 1:18 pmI have used multiple OS’s in my career as a web developer. I currently will not use anything but a MAC. I have fallen in love with CODA.
CODA has built in ftp/sftp, terminal, ide interface, live file editing (anyone who has access to your file can edit it on your mac live while on their mac).
Zend cant even do that. I dont have to worry about crashes or viruses. I know there are some viruses out there, but mac is unix based, so Im not too worried.
All in all this article isnt about why the PC is better than MAC for development. It is how to turn your PC into a MAC-like development environment.
So your next article please focus on the tools used in development and not HOW TO MAKE YOUR PC LOOK LIKE THIS….
Kyle
June 11th, 2009 1:28 pm@Jim
When you’re comparing the cost of pure hardware, Windows will beat Mac every time. But it’s not just about hardware, now is it ;)
IMO, Mac offers an incredibly richer user experience than Windows. I can work a lot more efficiently, and I find working in OSX much less frustrating than Windows.
The fact that I can work better and faster on a Mac makes it worth the extra money. It’s a simple cost-benefit case for me.
Erin
June 11th, 2009 1:35 pmI am on a PC at my new job. 2 things I miss most are Expose and Photobooth!
Igor
June 11th, 2009 1:36 pmGeat post. I’ve worked on a Mac for over 2 years and I too don’t see what all the fuss is about. However, I understand the people that like mac and prefer them, its a personal preference.
One thing that was never mentioned and I can not live without on my PC is “Switcher”. It’s a free program that adds Expose type functionality to Vista.
Jim
June 11th, 2009 1:45 pm@Kyle
A user experiance that is cost prohibited I am sorry but the average user can not spend 1000+ dollars into a substandard PC…and that’s what it is really…the entry mac is a substandard pc…now when you get into the 1,300 you get a decent PC.
But for a windows system the decent pc range is 600 dollars … while the substandard pc range is 300-400 dollars
So I can make windows more user friendly…and a dell runs out of the box smoothly…easy…as well as a HP, Compaq…or other system builder.
but the only reason you can work faster is because a Mac OS is streamlined and designed to work with a specific set of hardware locking you into to that…you cant change it…you can hardly upgrade it…you have to get MAC parts with the mac price attached
a mac os is elegant pretty and simple…like a fancy Lexus (thats just a toyota under the hood), but it has the features and elegance.
give me my toyota that runs and gets the job done at half the price
ehMon
June 11th, 2009 1:53 pmThis article should be titled, ‘Why you don’t need a spoon to spread butter”.
It insinuates this absurd notion that there is a common understanding that web development must happen on a mac. This idea or notion is just, wow, I’m having a time trying to wrap my head around it.
Sure a spoon can spread butter. I’m sure some people choose to use a spoon to spread butter. I didn’t think enough people used a spoon though to warrant an article why a knife (or some other spreading utensil) could be used instead.
Now I know that apple has made its impact on society when I read articles like this. This is a completely new way of thinking that I will have to get used to.
Looking forward to the “Japanese cars use the same gas as German cars” article ;)
Floris Fiedeldij Dop
June 11th, 2009 1:55 pmNice article; keep fooling yourself. <3 Mac, no frustrations, no data loss if just 1 program crashes, no bull with dialogs, and proper affordable nice designed software to keep those frustrations away and workflow smooth and interface usable. The fonts being easy on the eye really helps.
I am glad I switched in 2005 to 100% Mac OSX
Wayne
June 11th, 2009 2:06 pmWhen I saw this on the homepage I thought it was a late April fools joke, or maybe the website got hacked. I clicked on the article expecting to see the joke, but it looks like a real article. I don’t get it.
It would be interesting to see your normal page stats of Mac vs Linux vs Windows.
Leonard
June 11th, 2009 2:09 pmMac, PC….. does it really matter? Do you really need an article to sell one over the other? Shame on you fan boys on both sides of the fence, its the mac fanboys that make mac users look bad, and pc fanboys that make pc users look like fools. (replace bad/fools as you wish).
Stop feeding the Mac/PC Douche/Bloater stereotypes, your making us all look bad!
yogsototh
June 11th, 2009 2:11 pmJust one word: CODA
Adam
June 11th, 2009 2:17 pmCoda > Windows.*
jc
June 11th, 2009 2:17 pmnice trolling!
A Dude
June 11th, 2009 2:28 pmYou can not be serious… The best parts of a mac to web developers is stacks?!? How about built in ruby, perl, python, a free development environment, an easy to use http server, a full unix subsystem, and all this for free… You seriously need to hit the books man, I mean yes, you can develop on windows, no doubt about that, but jesus, learn some shit.
Cole
June 11th, 2009 2:28 pmI’m a Mac guy all the way. I grew up on a PC, developing sites and I find a Mac much more intuitive and easier to use. CODA is the best editor in the world, I have used almost every editor available to PC and nothing any where near that software. Plus, ALL mac’s have a built in Apache server that just needs to be turned on. Place MySQL on there and you have a work local dev… You can also use the popular MAMP server (Mac, Apache, MySQL, PHP) why bother adding all these software to your system when their included in your system from time of purchase?
I still constantly use a PC for development at my work and dev from home on my Mac, and so far, Mac is way better to use when it comes to staring at lines of code all day…
Andrew
June 11th, 2009 2:34 pmJust the title alone is laughable…as are most the reasons. I decide to post my thoughts so this wouldn’t have been a complete waste of my time….
Mark Sanborn
June 11th, 2009 2:38 pmIt is like you guys are arguing over which is faster a Nissan Altima or a Toyota Corola, when the pros drive Ferarri (Linux). :P
jcommaret
June 11th, 2009 2:40 pmI’m a iPhone web developer, and so i really enjoy to have a mac so far ;)
Don’t treat me as a computer newbie !!!
And you can easilly replace all the sorftwre listed below by :
-Smultron or textedit or Xcode ( textmate still the best, but it’s not free)
-Mamp
-Filezilla
Anyway, the article was nice !!!
phil amon
June 11th, 2009 2:43 pmCmon – who really cares – a good PC or mac is the same price once you’ve stuffed all the bog standard software on it you need just to exist in a pro environment. Adobe Cs4 is £1000+ pales in comparison when you consider the price of a machine.
Two Socks - Graphic design and print
June 11th, 2009 3:08 pmI liked the article thanks!
Dingo
June 11th, 2009 3:18 pmHere’s a few more words in a sea of voices! Being a Windows user who switched to Mac about six months ago I’ve only just come to realise why switching was a good idea. Yesterday we had a 5 o’clock deadline and deliverables due every hour. Our computers were working overtime juggling Photoshop, Illustrator, Transmit, Firefox, Mail and IE6 (running through X11). On Windows I know we’d have to reboot two or three times to recover the speed we’d lose from memory leaks. Where as on the Mac we were able to power through and get the job out by the deadline. So for us, it comes down to stability and reliability. If you can’t afford to be messing around with the day to day problems of general computing, you should look at a Mac.
Also, I noticed that you didn’t discuss an FTP client in that list. I haven’t been able to find anything on Windows as good as Transmit. I have tried Filezilla, CoreFTP, ACE FTP, Smart FTP and Cute FTP but none of these were anywhere near as powerful.
Jamie
June 11th, 2009 3:20 pmGreat post!
Is there any way to do the mac folder styling, like changing the colour of the folder and folder text with a quick right click. I find that really useful on the macs, be great to have that functionallity on my pc.
jason
June 11th, 2009 3:32 pmsigh … shouldn’t the title be “why you need a pc?” meh!
Zapix
June 11th, 2009 3:39 pmI’ve developed on PC for 5 years, 3 months ago switch to mac never want to go back to PC.
I still use PC For browser testing only.
Brian Reich
June 11th, 2009 3:45 pmWhy don’t Developers Need a Mac? Because NetBeans is written in Java :)
Nuno Amaral
June 11th, 2009 3:56 pmVery cool RocketDock
Donovan
June 11th, 2009 4:04 pmPlease send me the address of the person who wrote this article so I can mail him a gun so he can shoot himself, retard.
tyler
June 11th, 2009 4:05 pmI love the people saying that people developing on Windows only test in IE. I use Firefox all day, every day on my Windows box, and Apple Update has been yelling at me for months now to let it install Safari for me. That said, at work we use RHEL5 with Eclipse, Apache Tomcat, etc. to do our development, and it is amazing. We have Windows machines to rdesktop into to test in IE, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything that works right in Firefox but not in Safari, other than the usual javascript differences. Eclipse is a great IDE, and it is available for any OS with Java, so availability of a good editor is a bit of a non-issue. Look at the options before you blindly follow one side or the other.
As a side note, my Windows machine at home has been powered on continuously since I bought it over a year ago, other than shut downs to move it and the occasional restart to install software of course. I haven’t seen a single blue screen since my old laptop’s hard drive basically cracked in half right through the boot sector. Well, other than the ones brought on by my roommate’s laptop’s faulty RAM last year.
tack
June 11th, 2009 4:35 pmYou need only 3 things develop websites. Dev apps (a text editor, a web browser and an image editing program), a web server and a testing environment (cross platform/browser). Not that hard. Thing is, a mac can do all of these at once. Photoshop, apache and VM’s running for windows and linux so you can test on all 3 platforms. On a windows box you would need a second computer to test for mac. On linux you’d have to jump through some hoops to get Adobe on there and you’d still need a separate machine to test for mac. You can develop for the web on any computer… it’s just cheaper to do it on a mac because you only need one machine.
oglab
June 11th, 2009 4:40 pmdamn… is this the longest comment page on smashmag?
what a controversial issue, yet another PC vs Mac battle.
sero
June 11th, 2009 4:40 pmwell, is there any need for a Web developer to splash money on windows or mac??
there is a better solution, it’s potentially best in all ways, productivity, eficience, speed, etc. also it offers five times more customization posibilities and software gamma. yes, his name is
LINUX!!!
Billee D.
June 11th, 2009 5:07 pmI’ve been on both sides of this debate ever since it started way back when. The bottom line is that serious web developers who need the UNIX/Linux underpinnings for things like Ruby/Rails typically prefer Macs (or Linux, usually Ubuntu). Windows command line utilities just aren’t quite there like a UNIX-based machine.
I have always been a Mac user at heart and I currently use a Mac, but before my current Mac I had a pretty powerful Dell PC. It was always a painful experience for me for more reasons than I can ever give. Given the choice between Windows or Mac for web development I would always go with a Mac. It costs more for a reason. Just my 2px…
ronrik
June 11th, 2009 5:56 pmno PC user can ever love Vista, c’mon! they’re just saying that to spite Mac users.
case in point:
1: if PC users love windows so much, why are they always trying to dress them up as Macs?
2: How can anyone love a thing as Vista? it’s a poor clone of OS X that came too late in the party. Windows 3d flip? Linux users has been playing with compiz/beryl/fusion a full year before 3d flip came along. and it’s still nothing near 3d effects of compiz fusion.
Mac12B
June 11th, 2009 6:07 pmSteve Jobs is not God, and his products are not grown on trees and picked by loving workers who let them ripen on cotton sheets by the window sill. If you need further evidence that Macs are not vastly different from Windows-based PCs, remember that all Macs now use Intel CPUs─the same CPUs you find in Windows PCs. With Boot Camp, Macs can even run Windows. I wonder if the folks who do this refer to their Macs as PCs.
pcmag
Flaming the fire…
Mike Kaplinskiy
June 11th, 2009 6:15 pmSorry, I’m not willing to write a piece about linux, but I’d just like to share my experience/setup:
– Kubuntu (I’m on the latest alpha, but Jaunty will work fine)
– System wide keyboard shortcuts (you don’t need AHK, just go to
– Native protocol support (and I mean pretty much anything: sftp, ftp, scp, whatever). Note this is only in KDE apps (which Kate is one of). For other things there is sshfs.
system settings, input actions and tell it what to do)
– Text Editor (Kate)
– Code auto completion (rather eh, just searches for things you’ve typed but it works)
– Can add ctrl+d duplicate (google)
– Tab autocomplete – needless to say this comes from linux and your terminal supports it
– Terminals: if you google around you can do things you have never dreamed of on windows.
– Launchy: By default Alt+F2, but you can change it (built in)
– Clipboard: Klipper
– Sync: KitchenSync. Never tried, but I know it’s possible.
Check it out if you’re tired of sftp madness like I was.
Liane Blanco
June 11th, 2009 6:25 pmMaybe I don’t need it, but I love using my iMac. It is beautiful – ’nuff said.
Okibi
June 11th, 2009 6:30 pmWow you Mac’iacs see the rad mist and can’t see beyond it. We had the very first mac when it was released, this was replaced by a LC and then a powermac etc. I was a member of my local mac user group, my graphic design training was all done on a mac and during the 1990′s of web design .. mac dropped the ball in a very big way. Ever since then windows has been my primary platform and I can’t see any economic sense in swapping back to mac, the similarities are too close. If they’re so similar why not use a mac and get less viruses? Because mac users make up about 4% of the internet population, i’d rather work and test in the same platform the majority of the audience will be using. There’s plenty of apps to make windows look like a mac or a mac to look like windows. There’s comparable software on both. Build a bridge.
Ryan Lund
June 11th, 2009 6:41 pmOne word:
Linux
Nuff said
tigerNT
June 11th, 2009 6:48 pmOn PC you have more apps to use than on a Mac. If you are a gamer, PC is a better choice. Mac is relatively simple and smooth to use so I can focus on design instead of the daily maintaince of the machine. I like things easy and simple, PC has way too much things I dont need. For me, most of the time, it is not about getting the features I need, it is to get rid of the programs I don’t use and the alers, windows i DON’T want so my desktop is less clustered. My suggestion would be get a PC as a workstation and get a MacBook Pro as the laptop. Now you have both :)
Pillocks
June 11th, 2009 7:00 pmIt’s no wonder that ease of use is foremost on Mac users’ minds; judging by this comment thread they have enough trouble with simple things like spelling and grammar.
Steve Adams
June 11th, 2009 7:19 pmI use a mac because I prefer how it looks in my home – I’ve spent years on both platforms and they are incredibly equal in my opinion when it comes to web design. I do love Coda on Leopard, but you can do the same work on a pc. There’s no contest between the two.
wrerm
June 11th, 2009 7:41 pmI switched a while back and I’m loving it. I use the following:
Editor – Coda
Local Server – MAMP
IE Browser Test – Litmus / ie4osx / BrowserShot
Here in Jamaica, WI a good amount of developers use Linux…
F. Andy Seidl
June 11th, 2009 8:24 pmSilly premise. Any serious web developer should have both.
Erika
June 11th, 2009 8:35 pmMac workflow seems to be faster. I was a PC user since birth. I switched a year ago…You can really tell the difference of which is faster. OS X is way faster compared to a Windows PC equipped with the same hardware. And now here’s Snow Leopard, coming soon on September, it’s gonna be blazing fast.
I used Dreamweaver CS3 and Webuilder on a PC. On a Mac I use Dreamweaver CS4, Coda and recently…Espresso. the Mac apps standout. No additional software required.
I love the Mac OS X shortcuts. Expose and Dashboard.
Pete
June 11th, 2009 8:45 pmYou know, you’re right. You don’t need a Mac. Of course not. But web developers are busy, and we like to get things done. Windows isn’t really the operating system of people who don’t like bullshit.
And if you’re a web developer, and you need all your software to be free, kill yourself, because you probably don’t know what you’re doing. If you know professional web development, you should be able to afford your software.
And no, GIMP is NOT Photoshop. Get your head out of your ass.
Pete
June 11th, 2009 9:31 pmFrankly – who cares!
Use what you prefer – I prefer a Mac.
Gogu
June 11th, 2009 9:58 pmSo you guys are actually saying that you prefer a PC because you can install 5 or 6 programs and you don’t like macs because you only require one program to do the same job ? Reaaaaaal nice :D
Amatatomba
June 11th, 2009 10:01 pmAll the people fighting over what’s better, Mac or PC, are ridiculous. Unless you personally have stock in either company, let it go. It’s incredibly pathetic that this whole argument still continues. Frankly I don’t care either way, I like both and I’m open minded enough to consider both Mac and PC when buying a new computer instead of yelling on and on about how cool Macs make you or whatever PC users yell. Macs aren’t perfect, neither are PCs. Buy whatever you want and let other people buy what they want and hold their own opinions. No need to be Nazis about something as stupid as an OS.
Bimbala
June 11th, 2009 10:29 pmThis article sucks a lot ! Arguments are so bad.
Big thumbs down !
Kayla
June 11th, 2009 10:44 pmFinally, somebody has said it. I personally can’t stand Macs for my own use because of the stuff I do while on my computer– my process takes so much longer. When I came into school for Computer Science, I had numerous professors tell us to, indeed, not get Macs because their overall less compatible with software we’d have to work with/test, and more difficult to code in. For those who already had them, I saw their constant struggle through my classes. I realize too, though, that half of those problems don’t exist for coding for the web.
In the end, neither is better than the other; It simply depends on preference. I really don’t understand all the hype with designers/developers needing Macs, it’s really just a ‘cool’ factor in my opinion. I’d rather not spend a few hundred extra dollars to get a computer that looks/acts cooler than my PC. Not macking macs, I just really don’t think their any better in comparison.
This was a great overview…and rebuttal for the PC!
Chad
June 11th, 2009 10:45 pmWhat are these “macs” and “pc” things people are jibber jabbering about?