I get ask a lot on what kind of tools I am using on a daily basis, and why. I created a list of all my favorite tools which keep me productive and help me reach the goals I want to achieve.
My favorite tools
- Canva
- Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
- GitHub
- Notion
- Dev To
- Axe Dev Tools
- Figma
- Frontend Masters
- MacBook Air
- Spotify
Canva
Canva has a huge amount of great images, graphics, templates, and so on to find ideas and inspiration to create your own styles.
They recently added a punch of new features like creating presentations, recording yourself and show the video of yourself and the presentation at the same time, post scheduling when connected with your Social Media accounts like LinkedIn, Instagram, and much more.
Canva is actually the first (and until now only) tool I am paying for since I cannot live without any more after 2 years of usage.
VS Code
VS Code is my go to editor when it comes to frontend. With many great extensions I feel comfortable using it for all my projects without facing any problems. I like the DX (developer experience) it is providing.
GitHub
Not only do I use GitHub to store my code, I even use it as my portfolio which I share when applying for jobs 🙃
Notion
I literally have everything stored on notion: blog ideas, business ideas, yearly goals, monthly goals, and even smaller to do lists connected to each other, University classes, job applications, code snippets, and much more.
Notion is providing different kinds of templates, which makes it a lot easier to store and sort everything.
Dev To
I am going through dev.to every morning, reading the latest blog posts with the tags I am interested in. Dev.to helped me grow when I started to learn how to code and become a content writer myself. All articles I have ever written are on dev.to. 💟
Axe Dev Tools
Axe dev tools makes it easy for me to check websites on obvious accessibility issues fast and provides good information on how to solve these issues.
This helps me understand common problems and their solutions better. Because going solely through w3c documentation is 🤯.
Figma
Figma was the first design tool which made it possible that even I can create some sort of UI design which I am proud of. I used it to create thumbnails in the beginning and now I have to work with it every day at work, creating design systems and prototypes. Great DX, easy to understand, fun to work with.
Frontend Masters
I often watch videos at Frontend Masters, and I love the way they teach. Even every one of them has their own style they are always making it possible for me to understand. I am very greatful for that!
Even though I still have a student subscription, FEM will be the second app which I am going to pay for because of its great content provided.
MacBook Air
Since I have a MacBook Air 13“, my productivity increased a lot. I can share content from my iPhone to MacBook by simply copy + paste.
I like MacOS, and since a have to work with a Lenovo Thinkpad on Windows at work, I be able to compare them first hand and know that finally switching to Apple was the right choice.
Spotify
Who else is listening to music while coding? 🙋🏻♀️
I like that Spotify provides an easy way to save your favorite music, create playlists and much more.
But I still have to switch to Youtube and some point which is kind of annoying. When it comes to certain film music (film, animation, anime), the content is not that good. Hopefully, it will get better 🙏.
The great tech community on Twitter is helping me a lot to improve myself since I started my coding journey.
I am thankful for every single person who is helping me when I need help, and supporting me which is super motivating and keeps me going. Thank you 😇
What are the tools that you find most useful?
Top comments (27)
I quit Spotify because of privacy concerns and the fact that they don't have half the music I want.
I have a Thinkpad running linux pretty much so I don't have to use the Mac UI and keyboard - I connect to it via ssh/tmux and a browser :)
Yeah, that‘s super annoying when you pay for a music app and the don‘t even have the music you want to listen to.
I have the same problem with Prime music. My partner has prime, and I'm in the "household" (yes, I know what I said about privacy!) but while that gives me access to things like Prime Video, somehow the thing that's excluded is music.
I used to be a fan (ish) of Google Play Music because you could upload 50000 tracks of your own collection, but they shut it down.
Another bad thing about Spotify is that I have a raspberry pi connected to my sound system and Spotify sees it as a device to stream to, except it won't stream local tracks.
Based on someone else's recommendation I've been using MoOde on the pi, with my music collection shared via samba. That works quite well but it's not as slick a UI as Spotify :(
Amazon changed the offerings for Prime users and now you get Music Unlimited with your Prime membership! (this was just like a week or so ago)
I don't see that. My partner is the one with the Prime account, and I'm part of the "household". I get prime video, but not prime music, and I've just checked. It's still not there!
which app are you using for music in replacement of spotify?
I use Dopamine to play my own files, most of which came from Bandcamp or my own CD rips.
What privacy concerns are you talking about? I like to stay as much private as I can, but never heard of major risks from Spotify
I think in the older days you needed a Facebook account to use Spotify. Even if you don't any more, I suspect that there's a lot being funnelled that way.
Same
Hi Julia, Thanks for writing about your list of go-to resources. I like most of them and agree they are beneficial for the work we do. I began using Pandora, free version, a long time ago and really like it. I use it to listen to music on the drive to/from work.
Thanks for sharing, Randy.
Haha about the music, I oftenly use the chill out music live in youtube
I have my entire life in Notion as well 😀
Hehe 😏
Nice list! In GitHub, I enjoy Explore tab. I've also used Slack, where I have a few workspaces related to my interest
What about stack overflow ? since you add Macbook air I thought this post will help me but it's so basic but thank you any way :)
What would you have expect bc I am using a MacBook? 😅
Stack overflow, not really. Rarely covers the issues I am facing when coding.
Airtable/Trello, Slack, LinkedIn, a good old fashioned notebook & pen, and smart speaker to stream BBC Radio 1 Relax all day :D
Thanks for sharing, Ruanna.
thanks for sharing these, Julia.
some were new to me and i will deffo check them out to see if they will be of use to me too.
I like your content.
Thanks for you comment, Jake.
Hey @julia
Canva is mine favourite, that I used for presentation and infographic creations.
Mostly for creating difference between two products.
Vs Code
Microsoft Edge
GitHub
Stack Overflow
Dev.to
Daily.dev
DI.FM
Macbook Pro 16 2019
Gmail
Slack
Jira
Nice, thanks for sharing.
Axe dev tools was unheard by me, maybe because i am currently not too much into web dev. But it looks like a fantastic tool for futute. Thanks for sharing these tools
Thanks for your comment, Chirag.