Thread

For those looking for a Phtoshop killer - try Pixelmator. It is actually in closed beta, but you can check out the site and watch the video. I am in the beta, and I can say that the product is amazing, and only costs $59.

Have you used Acorn?  If so, can you compare the two?

Pixelmator is squarely aimed at being a Photoshop alternative where Acorn is aimed at people for whom Photoshop is overkill. Does that make sense?

In other words, there are probably 100s of times when I open Photoshop to do something small, like make a minor edit, or resize a screencap… something where a $600 tool is overkill. That’s where Acorn really shines. But its not a Photoshop replacement… aka when using Photoshop for value appropriate work such as detailed print work or serious image editing, Acorn is not meant to be an alternative in such situations whereas Pixelmator is. Whether Pixelmator is a good alternative in those situations, I don’t know. My meager image editing skills aren’t enough to really test that.

I downloaded and played around with Pixelmator.  If you’ve ever read some of my posts on these boards, you’d know how eager I am for a true Photoshop alternative.  While I’m on the sidelines cheering Pixelmator to maturity, it just isn’t even close yet.  I’ve been using Photoshop since version 2.0 and it’s not even to that point… maybe I’m exaggerating because that was so long ago, but I sure hope Pixelmator gains momentum and support so we can see it be a true competitor.  It’s gonna be a long time though:(

actually but i am tending to use “Aptana” more and more

Nice find keithz. Downloaded it today and I am well impressed.

Can anyone provide a comparison of how Topstyle Pro (on the PC) and Coda/CSS Edit measure up against each other?

I have been using Top Style Pro for years and having tested Coda for a week recently I thought it was very good but not up to Top Style. That’s a bold thing for me to say as I have been a Mac fanatic since 1988.
The difference for me is that I use the integrated CSE HTML Validator to validate my code and between TS and CSE validation beats Codas hands down. If that not important to you though Coda would be very good.

I had a few problems with the character sets on ftping up from the Mac - something I have had with Transmit itself before so that the files get uploaded as the wrong file type and it all goes to pot. I am sure with a bit of learning and tweaking this can be resolved though. All in all both great products that do the job extremely well.

My other secret weapon of choice is Chris Pederick’s Web Developer Firefox extension - available for both Mac and PC - this is an absolute must have.

Late in replying to this, but here’s what’s in my Web dev toolbox:

TextMate
Transmit
Firefox w/ Firebug, Web Developer extensions
Photoshop CS3
Parallels (to check how badly IE6 mangles stuff)