Developing Web Sites on OS X Faster & Easier

I often get asked what I use to develop web pages and other types of documents on OS X. Sometimes it is from new users, who have switched from a Windows environment who genuinely want advice. Sometimes it is a loaded question from a developer with a Windows bias and outdated information who thinks that developing on OS X is more difficult and clunky compared to Windows (or Linux). In some cases it is (such as if you are trying to develop for a Windows .NET system) because OS X is a Unix derivative, Windows’ naming schemes (such as the path separator and old text encoding) makes it a pain. However, for apache development, most web libraries and applications simply need to be configured and installed for OS X’s flavor of unix to work. Many offer native precompiled apps. At one point setting up a basic Web Server in OS X was a simple matter of dropping files in /{username}/Sites/ and going to System Preferences>Sharing>{selecting} Web Server. However, because Apple now confuses simplicity with ease [1. a subject I comment on from time to time.]— it has followed a trend of removing a lot of the convenience features for starting standard unix services such, from the default install of OS X. Now, things are less straight forward for developers who just want to toss up a quick php server to develop locally, and some people now need help setting this stuff up, and would rather not have to learn the terminal commands. Others, like me, know the terminal all too well, but are tired of having to edit file after file (taking care not to make a single mistake) and restart services when throwing a few switches and typing a few lines in the terminal is so much faster and practically immune to error.

No matter what your angle is, I get asked often enough how to get started or what I use, that I have decided to write it down so I can point people to this article. While not exhaustive (I do not have unlimited funds to try every IDE, or app that increase productivity), this is what I currently use. For the most part I like it, but try to avoid being too biased because I realize everyone has different needs and different preferences on how things should work. So, as usual: YMMV.