Okay, so you’re new to the web industry and you want to get your teeth into the nitty gritty of web design. Do you go the full whack and buy a copy of Creative Suite from Adobe, or do you hunt around a bit more until you find something better suited and/or less expensive? Well if you’re reading this then I’d be willing to bet money that you’re going for the latter choice (don’t quote me on that)!

The good news for you is that there is some great software out there capable of getting the job done just as fast and just as well as the mainstream packages, the majority of them outlined here being more cost effective than their popular counterparts. One exception here is Adobe Photoshop. I use this software religiously and I think it’s fair to say that it’s pretty much second nature to any designer, hence it being in my list!

So here they in order of my personal preference; the software packages that may change or sculpt your working practices for life!

1. Coda - One-Window Web Development

This nifty piece of software by Panic is my favourite. It is essentially an all-in-one (very) easy to use web development environment. It includes some nifty features such as ‘Subversion’, a great source control tool enabling you to easily work within a team, an impressive find and replace function, and a great intuitive interface. What’s more, the full version is only $99 - a very affordable price and a great choice in today’s economic times.

So, download the 15 day trial and see what you think!

2. ForkLift - File Manager and FTP/SFTP Client

If you own a mac and you build websites, there is simply no option but to get this software. It makes ‘FTPing’ and even local file management a breeze. Upon installation it is very clear that the folks over at Binary Nights created this application with Mac users in mind. It blends into OSX like it was made by Apple themselves and performs pretty much like a native application would too! Highly recommended.

MAMP - Local Apache & MySQL Server

Good news: there is absolutely no need to mess around with trying to activate your Mac’s ‘built in’ web server. Just download MAMP, run it, and you have a local web server enabling you to develop powerful dynamic PHP and MySQL websites offline. It’s very simple to use; only a couple of preferences lurk behind the interface, and it’s free so there is absolutely no excuse. If you do decide to ‘go pro’ then you get the added benefit of being able to configure an unlimited number of virtual hosts, full DynDNS support, and the ability to dispatch emails through your PHP scripts.

Navicat - MySQL, Oracle, & PostgreSQL Admin Tool

Lets face it - phpMyAdmin is not the most exciting way to administer your database. Whilst I don’t deny that it is a useful tool, I personally prefer having a local application installed on my machine to interface with. It’s very easy to use and obviously works well with MAMP! Take a deeper look at all the features of Navicat.

Adobe Photoshop

Yep - I told you it was in my list! Photoshop is still the one piece of software that I use the most and I’d be crippled without it! I design all my layouts in Photoshop before slicing it all and ‘CSSing’ my templates. With the release of Creative Suite 4, Adobe have introduced some great new features. You can check them out here.

Combine all 5 of these great applications and you truely do have a recipe for web design success!