Everything Else

The bloggers toolbox

Mark, of Weblog Tools Collection, posted his list of indispensable blogging tools in What’s in My Blogging Toolkit?.

Here’s my list of primary tools for blogging:

  • WordPress – Code is Poetry because it doesn’t get in the way of content. I started with Blogger and dabbled with Movable Type and both are ok depending on where you are. I wanted something that was robust, scalable, and worked with me. WordPress does it.
  • Automattic Tools – The sidebar widgets plugin and Akismet. Don’t use WordPress without them.
  • Firefox – I use it on the Macs and on my Windows machines. I’ve used it on Linux. It works, it is smooth and nothing in the interface is a jumble of jargonized fluff. Tabs galore, news, E-mail, WP Admin, Poland, and consistent spell checking in one.
  • IE – because I have to use it to use phpMyAdmin. The version provided my my host (Yahoo!) doesn’t seem to play well with Firefox. Tonight I upgraded phpMyAdmin myself (from 2.6.3-pl1 to 2.10.0.2) because I got really annoyed after writing this.
  • phpMyAdmin – for all the back-end database stuff.
  • Google for everything – I use GMail for all my E-mail needs (including the GMail for mobile applications Java app). I have a countless number of E-mail addresses all feeding into one place. I use Calendar, Translate, Analytics, a personalized Google homepage, and all of Google’s varied search functionality.
  • Netvibes – All my RSS, newsfeeds, bookmarks, blog searches, and assorted other knickknacks all in one place.
  • MS Office Picture Manager – for simple image compression and resizing as well as a few image adjustment tools that work well for me.
  • Weblog Tools Collection – where else would I find great info on new plugins and themes. Really, Mark provides a great rundown of the latest in an quick, easy to digest format.
  • Wikipedia – controversy aside over a few hacked articles, it provides lots of good info if you are unclear on something.
  • Firebug – checking out what I’ve messed up.
  • Powered by Faith – that’s what the blog is supposed to be about. While my faith is certainly imperfect and I don’t always live up to the ideals of my faith, I still need to proclaim its saving power and rely upon it for glimpses into the sublime.