Uses.
• October 31, 2022
961 words • 5 min read • ––– views
Tools and products that I use everyday.
Tools come and go. But some things just stick. In the list below I grouped all the tools that I use for work and at home. If you have questions about anything on this list, feel free to message me.
Productivity
Spotlight on steroids. I use Alfred at least 20 times per day to open apps, access my clipboard, and start small workflows (e.g refresh my Wi-Fi). I happily paid for the Powerpack and recommend Alfred to everyone who works on a mac.
Dynalist lets you outline everything that crosses your mind. Think bullet-points where you can go as deep as you want and any bullet-point can be seen as an individual page. I use it as my note-taking app, occasional journal and for writing.
I was always afraid to use too much data when I worked on my hotspot. Not anymore. With Tripmode I can easily manage which apps have internet access and see how much I used in one session.
Rescuetime runs in the background on my Mac and Android and tracks my screen time. I'm often too afraid to look into the statistics. The calendar integration is great for a quick overview.
LastPass is the biggest time saver. I use it both personally and at work to manage passwords, and store confidential data. (e.g social identification number). I would be completely lost without this app.
Design
SIP is a beautiful color picker. I only use the colour picker feature, but the rest of the app is pretty nice too. My custom shortcut is ⌥ + SHIFT + -
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Framer lets you design and code in one project. This means that prototypes can use real data, be interactive and much more detailed. I find this extremely appealing and try to use Framer whenever I can. The only drawback at the moment is the missing web version.
Figma is the standard for collaborative design. It's intuitive to use, has a plugin ecosystem and the performance is unmatched. I use it when I need to work with other designers or developers in one file.
I share a monthly Adobe Cloud subscription with my girlfriend. The only apps I use are Lightroom, Photoshop and Illustrator. I think that most of the Adobe apps are clunky, too powerful and I tend to get frustrated working with them.
Canva is a simple but feature-rich web app for quick designs. There is a massive template library for every format you can think about. This makes it possible to quickly design something that just looks good. I use Canva for social media posts, print design and random things.
Development
VS code became very popular when I started to code at the end of 2018. And that for a reason. The app is quick as a flash and offers many extensions by the community. I do all my coding in VS Code and have nothing to complain about.
I'm no expert when it comes to hosting and back-end topics. That's why I love Netlify. It just works and helps me to get back into what I feel comfortable with. I'm on the free tier and use Netlify for hosting my static projects. I also have a nice pair of socks by Netlify.
I bought my first domain with Namecheap and never made the switch. There is probably a better domain registrar out there, but I never took the courage to switch. If you think I need to make the jump, please write to me.
All of my code lives on GitHub. You can see the code for this website here. If you don't understand what's going on, feel free to write to me. I would be happy to help.
I use iTerm as my terminal client in combination with zsh. I honestly have no clue why I need this other than that I have nice themes here.
ImageOptim is a hidden gem. The small app can easily bulk compress 100 images at once and often reduce file-size by half. I use it in combination with Preview to cut, scale and compress all of my images for web usage.
Tech
Peak Design is one of the brands which I would jump into the fire with. I hesitated at first to buy the backpack, but it was worth every penny. I'm running around with this backpack every day and use it for work, travel, groceries, and photography.
My on-the-go workstation and backpack companion. I spend the majority of my time with this device and love the convenience it gives me. Pricy, but worth the investment.
I have a special connection to this camera since I bought it at the beginning of university. It's small, clicky and always impresses me with the image quality. I constantly switch between two prime lenses (23mm F2 & 50mm F2).
Apple Magic Mouse 2 that I snatched on eBay for 30€. Works like a charm on any surface. The only complain that I have is that it needs batteries. I often forget to pack an extra pack when I'm on the road.
This is the smallest and most lightweight laptop stand that I found. Always attached to the side of my backpack and fast to set up.
This keyboard fits perfectly into the top department of my backpack. That alone is very satisfying. In combination with my laptop-stand, mouse and backpack I have a very flexible workstation.
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