Tools we use to maintain BIG Images’ web site

A friend of mine inquired via email: “What program did you use to design BIG Images’ website?” As I typed out my reply I realized that BIG Images is not the “normal” large format print company. I mean to say we do not just buy the Adobe CS suite because its what everyone else has; we aren’t satisfied with a solution just because it works. We experiment constantly. The workflows we develop, for example to build and maintain our web site, are very unique in our industry.

Our entire web site is home grown and maintained by BIG Images. We are major supporters of the Macintosh shareware community, as well as the free & open-source software community. Often these solutions are:

1. an order-of-magnitude less expensive than their more established competitors
2. are more reliable
3. exhibit faster and more personable customer service

Here is some of the software we use on a weekly/monthly basis to create and maintain our web site:

Web Development Tools

• RapidWeaver
  
  • $49.00
  • BIG Images’ entire site has been built and maintained with RapidWeaver for the past 2½ years
  • One of the beautiful aspects of RapidWeaver is the VERY active community at their forums. Often I can ask a question and have an answer within the day.
  • RapidWeaver has alot of plugins ($5.00 - $20.00 each) that enhance its functionality, and I have used most of them throughout the site. You can find a list of the plugins here.
  • YourHead software is one of the premier plugin developers. Their products are awesome.
• TextMate
  
  • $63.00
  • Ideal for custom html/php/javascript coding.
  • Incredibly customizable, so it adjusts to your coding style.
• CSSEdit
  
  • $29.95
  • For writing and editing css there is no better tool.
  • Instant live-previews make experimentation a snap.
  • This is also a great tool for reverse-engineering other sites to see how they created their effects.

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Tags: tips, technology, jon beebe, web design, software, design