The 10ish Tools I Install on Every New Mac I Get

Published on Sep 14, 2023, filed under development. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

Piggybacking on the idea from Christian, this is the software I typically install on new Mac machines:

1. WebStorm (paid)—my favorite IDE which at some point replaced the for all (my) practical purposes identical IntelliJ IDEA
2. a few browsers (free)
3. GIMP (free)—my preferred image editing software ever since Photoshop went for a subscription model; acquired taste
4. ImageOptim (free)—convenient image compression tool; usually excluding SVGs and opting for aggressive optimization for all other formats (for automated lossless compression, I use Image Guard)
5. Transmit (paid)—still favorite SFTP client, using it for my shared-hosting providers (ALL-INKL, DreamHost)
6. Oh My Zsh (free)—useful shell configuration tooling
7. Node/npm (free)—wonder who in our field wouldn’t need to install it
8. Homebrew (free)—useful and necessary for some tooling
9. Xcode (free)—not actively sought (and not quite liked), but usually needed (right at the beginning even, for Git?)
10. BBEdit (paid)—my favorite text editor which I have constantly open on all machines, and with which I manage intake and draft documents
11. LibreOffice (free)—backup office suite for the few cases I need to work with local document files
12. Proton VPN (paid)—the VPN I trust most (conveniently included in my plan with Proton)
13. Little Snitch (paid)—main tool to monitor and tailor network activity
14. BlockBlock (free)—non-critical system installation monitoring (not sure I make effective use of it though)

(Given for how long I’ve been using most of this software, I believe this list to age better than my Android favorites—cf. Top 15 from 2009 and Top 10 from 2017.)

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Interpret charitably but be critical—and share feedback and advice that makes my work better.)