For those just getting started in Drupal development peering into another developers tool-box-of-tricks may reveal a work flow not previously considered, and software never heard of. Frankly I'm pretty run-of-the-mill but I do have my favourites apps I just can't break free of.
**Primary OS**
* Windows XP
**IDE**
* [Eclipse PDT](http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/), [Xdebug](http://www.xdebug.org/)
**Graphics**
* [Fireworks](http://www.adobe.com/se/products/fireworks/)
* [Photoshop](http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/)
* [Inkscape](http://www.inkscape.org/)
* [Flash](http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/)
**Browsers**
* Firefox 2 & 3 (Gecko)
* [IETester](http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage) (IE's 5 to 8)
* Chrome (Webkit)
* Opera (with [Dragonfly](http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introduction-to-opera-dragonfly/))
**Firefox Addons**
* [Firebug](http://getfirebug.com/)
* [Web Developer toolbar](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60)
* [Codeburner](http://tools.sitepoint.com/codeburner/)
* [YSlow](http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/)
* [Colorzilla](http://www.colorzilla.com/firefox/) (colour picker)
* [Fireshot](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5648) (screen grabber)
**Accessibility**
* [NonVisual Desktop Access](http://www.nvda-project.org/) (open source screen reader)
* [WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool](http://wave.webaim.org/)
* [WAVE Toolbar 1.0](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6720) (Firefox addon)
* [Web Accessibility Toolbar for Opera](http://www.wat-c.org/tools/index.html)
* [Firefox Accessibility Extension](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5809) (Firefox addon)
* [Firevox](http://firevox.clcworld.net/) (Firefox screen reader)
* [Fangs](http://www.standards-schmandards.com/projects/fangs/) (Firefox screen reader emulator)
* [Juicy Studio Accessibility Toolbar](https://addons.mozilla.org/sv-SE/firefox/addon/9108) (Firefox toolbar for WAI-ARIA)
* Is it just me or do I seem to use a lot of accessibility tools?
**WAMP**
* [Wampserver](http://www.wampserver.com/)
**Other tools**
* [XRAY](http://www.westciv.com/xray/)
* [Dreamweaver](http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/)
* [Tortoise CVS](http://www.tortoisecvs.org/)
* [OpenOffice](http://www.openoffice.org/)
* [Dropbox](https://www.getdropbox.com/)
* [E Text Editor](http://www.e-texteditor.com/) (Textmate for Windows)
I used to develop almost exclusively on Macs and was a long time user (15 years +), however I switched to Windows about 12 months ago. WinXP has actually proven very stable and allows me to do everything I need to. However, I am considering a change to Linux so this toolbox may start to look a little different in the coming months.
Comments
Nice one! This is some
Nice one! This is some additional software: Quanta Plus – good and lightweight Eclipse alternative; Bazaar – better than CVS even for personal use.
Maybe the Bazaar is generally
Maybe the Bazaar is generally better than CVS, but drupal.org is using CVS for core and for contributed modules and themes. So, most of the drupal developers, probably will use some CVS client (and Tortoise is good choice for windows users).
Color Picker
I switched to Ubuntu Linux (personal) and OS X (work) for all my development work, but the one piece of software I miss most when doing design work is ColorPic (http://iconico.com/colorpic/). It's a standalone color picker, so it's reach goes outside the browser. It allows you to save pallets and tweak colors. Really the perfect tool for that job. (And no, I'm not at all affiliated with the ColorPic people. Just don't ever see anyone mentioning the tool, and it's tops!)
Great list of tools, BTW. I see lots of overlap in what I use. :)