I am a proud Mac owner.
I had used PCs for my entire life before switching late last year. After two decades of Microsoft Windows (and a bit of DOS) I made the switch. It is fair to say that I haven’t looked back.
However, it is not the purpose of this article to hate on Windows and praise Apple. Far from it — I have nothing against PCs. What I would like to do is take you through the Mac applications that I use on a daily basis as part of my WordPress blogging. I welcome Mac owners to make their own suggestions in the comments section, and I’d also love to see PC users compare notes too!
Alright, let’s get to it.
Chrome + Extensions
Let’s start with a simple one.
I love Chrome. I would like to love Safari, but in my opinion, it just doesn’t stack up. Chrome is quick, easy to use, and syncs with everything and anything.
But what I really love about Chrome is the extensions available via their web store — most notably:
That’s right — ManageWP has its own little Google Chrome app, for easy access to your account from your browser’s homepage!
There are a truly astonishing number of extensions to choose from, and browsing through them can be quite addictive — you have been warned.
Fluid
The tagline says it all — “Turn Your Favorite Web Apps into Real Mac Apps”. You can use Fluid to create standalone apps for websites like Gmail, Facebook, Google Calendar, and so on.
Here’s my Gmail account running in Fluid:
It’s perfect for any web app that you use regularly and want access to at the click of a button. For instance, I like to always have my emails open, and it makes more sense to have it as a standalone app than a browser tab.
Fluid can suffer from the occasional crash, but the issue is not great enough to stop me from using it.
Preview
That’s right — Preview — the basic image editing app that comes bundled with Macs as standard.
This is the first of three image editing tools I use — it offers the quickest way I have found to resize and crop images with ease:
It also has a bunch of basic editing tools, but to be honest, I’ve never really touched them. If I want to to start adding boxes and arrows to screenshots for use in a blog post, I’ll move onto the second image editing app that I use…
Skitch
I have been a huge fan of Skitch ever since I started using it. Its colorful and casual exterior belies its functionality.
I use Skitch to take screenshots and add arrows and boxes, just like this:
A new version of Skitch was released recently, and I must say that I have not immediately fallen in love with it. In fact, I am considering switching back to the old version (if that is possible). Having said that, Skitch is still a great tool to have in your box.
GIMP
If you don’t have the budget to purchase a fully-fledged graphic design application like Photoshop, GIMP is the next best thing (not to mention completely free).
I’m not going to lie to you — I use GIMP to achieve just one effect — the blurring of elements in screenshots that I do not want to show, as you saw in the Gmail screenshot earlier on:
However, GIMP is capable of much more. The fact that I am woefully talentless when it comes to the world of graphic design renders a lot of its more advanced features redundant to me.
Evernote
I don’t know what I’d do without Evernote. It contains everything from blog strategy notes, to blog post ideas, to business ideas, to my shopping list. All of the data is cloud based, so I can access it from my Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
If you haven’t tried Evernote yet, I strongly recommend that you do. It’s awesomeness may not be immediately apparent (it wasn’t to me), but over time, you will grow to love it.
Spotlight
This might not quite be considered an app, but I consider it indispensable nonetheless.
Spotlight is accessed either via its icon in the taskbar, or via the Command + Spacebar shortcut:
You can then search for just about anything. You can use it to open up regularly accessed files and apps, or you can get a bit clever, and use it as a calculator:
Or a dictionary:
It’s awesome, and saves me a whole heap of time. Spotlight is capable of so much more, but I mainly use it for the above purposes.
What Else Is There?
There you have it folks — the Mac apps I regularly use to make my daily blogging that bit easier.
But what about you? What apps and tricks do you use? It doesn’t matter if you’re a Mac or a PC user — show us what you’ve got!
Creative Commons image courtesy of arquera
Ike Norris Jr.
Wow, I’ve been a Mac user since I was a little kid and your article still taught me a few things. I never knew I could look up a word or type in an equation into Spotlight!
That’ll sure make for a handy time-saver.
Tom Ewer
I use it all the time — Spotlight is awesome 🙂
Rich Plakas
Flycut has changed my life! Well no not really, but it has changed the cut & paste portion of it!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flycut-clipboard-manager/id442160987?mt=12
Harsh Agrawal
I’m still looking for best Mac writer app.. I was so accustomed with WLW when I was using Windows but there is no real close alternative for the same on MAc… Any suggestion Tom??
Im using Skitch for image …Tried Snag it…and loved it..but again paying huge for it doesnt make sense when skitch does the job perfectly well..
Though I purchased Camtasia for videos and it’s great….Best so far……
Charnita Fance
Hey Harsh,
I am a Mac user too (as well as Windows); I use MarsEdit on my Mac. There really isn’t anything on the Mac that even comes closes to WLW, but MarsEdit is pretty decent and has its pros. There’s even a free 30-day trial so that you can try before you buy.
For screenshots I love Snagit, but the Mac version is very limited, so I tend to go back and forth between that and Voila. I just don’t like Skitch, so I use those for now.
~Charnita
Julie
Have you looked at Scrivener for writing?
Ben Hodder
I think Evernote is a paid app for iOS and Mac, personally I just use the built in Notes.app especially as it’s bundled with Mountain Lion 🙂
bettina
Evernote is a freemium model, means unless it gets really big you won’t pay. I have yet to find the ceiling, am nowhere near close to it.
Notes cannot even begin to do half of what evernote can but it all boils down to preference 🙂
I always say whatever works best to get the job done.
prositeplease
Can anyone recommend running Managewp as a standalone app? Perhaps with fluid or other?
Tom Ewer
It’s not something I’ve done, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t work. Only one way to find out! 🙂
Bettina
Love them all too.
When you’re ready for a screenshot software for grown ups 😉 try Snagit. Not free but THE best.
Skitch is cool but Snagit definitely trumps.
Using mindnote pro for mindmaps, addicted 🙂
Asana to manage tasks and projects across the team.
And often write a post in Penzu.
Tom Ewer
I’ll have to check out Snagit — thanks 🙂
James
if you use and manage a lot of content (likely if you are using managewp) check out devonthink pro office, devonagent pro and other apps from them… not for pc and the best organizational apps for mountains of content i have ever found
Tom Ewer
Thanks James 🙂
Kristian Primdal
Insted of the spotligt, I can really recommend Alfred App.
Verdi
Almost forgot one of the most used apps when I start e new site/project: iThoughts HD. There’s nothing like mindmapping the complete structure of your website, before beginning to keep things structured.
Chris Hufnagel
I have found Evernote to be one of the best things since sliced bread (or the invention of the Internet whichever you find more impressive). With an iPhone and iPad app I always have a place to jot down an idea or a note for my website. Significantly better than using paper, as after a few days I sometimes could not decipher my own writing!
Verdi
Most of the above + …
Graphics: Pixelmator (cheap and very good, it actually replaced Adobe Photoshop which I used since the big bang)
Coda: Code editor + FTP
FileZilla: FTP (for when you need stronger stuff 🙂
Also, I have a request (if I may): Please consider doing an article exactly like this, but for iOS Apps. I still have not found the perfect editor for blogging from my iPad.
Tom Ewer
Hey Verdi,
Pixelmator is a new one on me — I’ll have to check that out.
Coda is a shoe-in, I just don’t do much coding 😉
And yep, Filezilla is a definite!
Great request — leave it with me!
Cheers,
Tom
Justin
These have nothing to do with WordPress.
Tom Ewer
I use every single one, every single day, to help me with my WordPress blogging. So, for me at least, they absolutely do.