With the economy reeling and VC’s spending less and less on startups, developers have had to adapt how they create sites. Because of the world’s economic state, we’ve had to change how we develop.

Some may see this shift as a grim prospect. Change is hard, and change is essential to staying alive in these conditions. However, if you can cut expenses in your development process without cutting quality by using free methods and tools, then you may be able to develop without using any extra money.

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” – H.G. Wells

The first step to becoming a frugal web developer is cutting back on expenses. If you’re looking to buy new software for your project, try and see if there are any freeware or open source alternatives instead. Oftentimes the free versions of software are just as effective as the paid versions. Here are a few free tools that are just as good (some better!) than the paid versions.

Text Editors

If you’re wanting to bypass buying robust text editors like Textmate, BBEdit, or E Text Editor, try some of these free products instead.

Emacs
Emacs is a robust text editor that can edit just about any language with the help of extensions. Many serious programmers exclusively use Emacs or Vim.

Vim
Vim extends the powerful Unix editor Vi, and is much like Emacs in that programmers tend to use Vim, and the Vim site boasts that “many consider it an entire IDE”.

Text Wrangler

Text Wrangler

Text Wrangler is an editor that may not have as many bells and whistles as it’s older brother BBEdit, but it has enough features for any programmer. It can be used as a general purpose text editor, a programming editor, a Unix and server Admin tool, and other things. Mac only.

Notepad++
Notepad++ is a free text editor for Windows users. It provides all of the useful editing features that programmers need, like syntax highlighting, multiple tabs and views, bookmarking, and other features.

Version Control Clients

The main types of version control systems are all free (Subversion and Git), and can be used for free by anyone. They’re a huge help for keeping versions of code, and picking the right version control system is crucial for your project.

Many programmers use the command line to deal with version control, but others sometimes like a user interface with working with things like commits, diff and other critical features of version control. Here are some free clients to use with your favorite type of version control.

SVN

Versions

Versions is a beautiful Mac-only SVN client. The software won the Apple Design Award for 2009.

Subclipse
Subclipse is a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE.

TortoiseSVN
TortoiseSVN is easily one of the best Subversion clients for Windows. It’s implemented as a Windows shell extension, which allows it to behave like a Windows explorer.

Git

git-gui
Git-gui is a graphical interface for Git. It’s cross-platform and works on all popular UNIX systems.

GitX
GitX is a Git GUI built specifically for Mac users.

Meld
Meld is an open source visual diff editing tool that can be used in nearly any version control system (CVS, Subversion, Bazaar-ng and Mercurial).

FTP

There are quite a few open source FTP clients out there that work nearly as well, (and sometimes better), than their paid colleagues. Here are a few of the best.

FileZilla
FileZilla has been around forever, and has consistently been one of the best free FTP programs. Multiplatform.

WinSCP

WinSCP is a solid FTP client for Windows that can also handle SFTP transfers.

Cyberduck
Cyberduck is one the most popular FTP clients on the Mac platform. The client also allows you to transfer files through Amazon S3 and Rackspace’s Cloud Files.

FireFTP
FireFTP is an FTP client for Firefox. The nice thing about FireFTP is that it’s a cross-platform client that is open whenever your browser is open. The popular extension has been downloaded an impressive 11.7 Million times over the past few years.

IDEs

IDE’s are a great way to improve your programming habits, as well speed up your production time. Unfortunately, many IDE’s are only commercial software, and expensive software at that. However, there are some exceptional IDE’s that are free to use across many different platforms. Here are a few of the best.

Aptana
Aptana is one of the more powerful and popular IDEs on the Net. In fact, many would argue that it’s just as good or better than some of the commercial IDEs. (Aptana Studio has been downloaded 4,600,000 at the time of this writing, if you needed social proof.) Aptana supports Ruby, Python, PHP, Rails, Javascript, Java, Desktop Ajax and others. It’s robust, widely-used, and free.

Komodo Edit

Komodo Edit is the little brother of Komodo IDE. While Komodo Edit may not have as many features as the commercial sibling, it’s still a powerful IDE. It even has some integrated extensions to help.

Amaya
Amaya is a cross-platform web editor by the good people at W3C.

Xcode
Xcode is Apple’s powerful IDE that comes free with your Mac’s operating system. It’s just as fully featured as many of the top IDEs, and as a bonus you can create and edit iPhone applications with the IDE.

KompoZer
While it may not be as robust as some other IDEs, Kompozer is built for those who are less developer-savvy. Powered by Mozilla technology, Kompozer is a great little WYSIWYG editor that can create and edit HTML and CSS, and can FTP the code onto a server. Cross platform.

Bluefish
Bluefish is an open source multi-platform IDE that is much more lightweight than other major IDE software. Bluefish supports nearly all languages, and uses FTP, SFTP and WebDAV to upload files and changes.

Database Tools

Database management can be a tricky endeavor. It’s always nice to have tools that can take some of the pain away from wrestling with databases. Here are some free tools that can help.

phpMyAdmin
phpMyAdmin is one of the most popular database tools on the web. It’s written in PHP, and comes as a standard install with many web hosts.

HeidiSQL
HeidiSQL is a MySQL database tool written for Windows and Linux. Easily create, and edit databases, database tables, and other data inside of MySQL databases.

Open Office Base
BASE is a desktop database management tool by OpenOffice. BASE allows you to edit multiple types of databases, and integrates seamlessly with the OpenOffice.org suites.

Sequel Pro

Sequel Pro is a MySQL database manager for Mac. Written entirely in Cocoa, it takes the pain out of modifying and creating MySQL databases.

MySQL Workbench
MySQL Workbench is a cross-platform visual database design tool, created by the creators of MySQL.

SQL Buddy
SQL Buddy is a web-based MySQL editor, much like phpMyAdmin. It’s a small, simple and open source solution for managing MySQL online.

Video Editing

As the world increasingly embraces web video, developers need video editors and tools to create stunning video to promote or sell products. Here are some of the best free video editors out there.

Virtual Dub
Virtual Dub is an open source video editing tool for Windows, geared towards processing AVI files (but can also handle sets of BMP images).

Avidemux

avidemux is an open source, cross-platform video editor. The editor supports many different file formats, and has a simple UI that nearly anyone can understand. Perfect for beginners.

Cinelerra
Cinelerra is an incredibly robust piece of UNIX software that allows you to capture, compose and edit video and audio. As the Cinelerra homepage says, “It’s a movie studio in a box”.

Local Environments

It’s nice to be able to develop on your own computer, as opposed to a slower remote server. Instead of installing PHP, MySQL and Apache separately on your computer, (which can be a daunting task in itself), try using one of these free environments.

MAMP

MAMP (Macintosh, Apple, MySQL and PHP) is a local environment for Mac. The program quickly installs Apache, MySQL and PHP on your Mac.

WAMP
WAMP is the same as MAMP (installs Apache, MySQL and PHP), except for Windows.

XAMPP
XAMPP is a multi-platform distribution that also includes Perl.

Focus Apps

Here are a few apps that can help with the ADD and that we’ve all developed, thanks to our twitchy online habits.

Think

Think is a free application that blocks everything on your desktop except for what you’re working on. You can adjust things like brightness levels and others Mac only.

Isolator
Isolator is another Mac-only application that brings the single application that you’re working on into the foreground and hides everything else.

Jedi Concentrate
Jedi Concentrate is the Windows equivalent to Isolator and Think. The application dims all other applications once “concentrate” mode has been activated.

Dropcloth
Dropcloth allows you to blank out other applications, as well as adjust the opacity of the background. Windows only.

Support

Instead of hiring some support, sometimes it makes more sense to just fix the problem yourself. Aside from individual project’s forums and support, here are some forums and sites that are excellent for asking general programming questions.

StackOverflow

StackOverflow is the newest in the group of sites that allow you to ask any development question. The community is set up a little bit differently than a forum, where top-rated responses are shown first. Also, the StackOverflow community is very active, with questions answered quickly (and usually with multiple responses).

Webmaster World
Webmaster World has long been the go-to site for general development questions. The Webmaster World forums are some of the oldest and most-trafficked, and the help is superb.

DevShed
The DevShed Forums are also very popular and also have a lot of user activity.

SitePoint Forums
The SitePoint forums are also excellent, but typically offer more general development questions.

Communication

As more teams are becoming de-centralized and global, great communication tools are a must. Here are some free and open source tools that can come in handy.

Skype
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Skype offers offers free chatting, talk and video. It’s the de facto communication standard outside of IM.

Adium
Adium is a free instant messaging client for Mac that can connect to AIM, GTalk, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo and others.

Trillian
The Windows IM client Trillian is an exceptional piece of software. Aside from it’s Windows version, it also has a web interface that syncs your contacts. You can connect to multiple chat accounts (like Adium), and if that weren’t enough, an iPhone and Mac chat application are coming soon.

Pidgin
Pidgin is a cross-platform version of Trillian, with the ability to connect to multiple chat platforms (even IRC), and can easily be extended with plugins and skins.

Meebo
Meebo is a web-based chat application that can connect to multiple chat accounts. The really cool thing about Meebo is that it has rooms where multiple people can join in a conversation, without having to download any software.

Thunderbird
Looking for a Outlook replacement for email? Look no further than the open source Thunderbird. Aside from being open source, the software comes with extensions that add extra functionality on top of the initial offering. It’ powered by Mozilla and is cross-platform.

Free Hosting: Google App Engine

There are lots of free web hosts out there, you can utilize the Google App Engine platform to host your applications for free, up to around 2 Million pageviews a month. This, I would imagine, would cover the hosting for 99% of the apps made by the people who read this site. (No offense meant by this statement, it’s just a stinkin’ huge amount of free bandwidth!)

Photo Editors

Photo editors are another expensive component to design. Fortunately, there are some pretty incredible open source photo editors out there. Photoshop isn’t your only option.

Gimp

Gimp is a very robust image manipulation program that could easily be compared to Photoshop in terms of functionality. Gimp offers advanced image editing capabilities and best of all: is open source.

GimpShop
Gimpshop is an even closer replica of Photoshop. GimpShop is a modification of Gimp that intends to specifically mimic the feel of Photoshop.

Seashore
Seashore is a lightweight image editor that only touches on the most common image editing functionality. Mac only.

CinePaint
CinePaint is another fully-featured image editor that is similar to Gimp. Linux, Mac and BSD only.

Outsourced Work

Most of us can’t do 100% of the work that’s needed on an in-depth project. Sometimes we need design help, other times we need a hand with the programming side, or marketing, or copywriting, etc. Oftentimes it’s cheaper to outsource some of this work. Here are a few sites that could potentially save you money on outsourcing work.

One Caveat: While you may be able to save some money by outsourcing your work, many times the quality suffers and you’ll have to pay more in the long run for updates to broken code, etc. You should be careful as to what you’re outsourcing so you don’t pay more in the long run.

99 Designs

If you’re strictly a developer and need a bit of design help from time to time, then sometimes it’s easiest to just use a site like 99 Designs. 99 Designs has over 47,000 designers that regularly compete for design jobs posted on the site. How it works is you submit a design brief, then the designers will submit concepts that you choose from. Once you choose a favorite, than that designer gets the bid. Usually you can post work here for much cheaper than using a freelance or in-house designer.

Elance
Elance is a place where you can hire experts to do just about any sort of work: Writing, development, design, sales, administrative, legal, and much more. Elance tends to be more expensive than the other outsourcing sites, but they also tend to have the most competent workers too.

Rent a Coder
Rent a Coder may have the worst site design of any major site I’ve seen in a while, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find some cheap work. The workers typically aren’t as high-quality as Elance, but if you’re on a tight budget it’s great.

Amazon Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk is one of the cheapest places to find mundane labor work. If you have some highly-repetitious work that you’d like to outsource, you can do it very cheaply with Mechanical Turk. You essentially set up a “template” for Mechanical Turk workers to go off of, and then set a budget and a per task payment.

Bartering
This should really be an article in itself, but bartering is a great way to save some money while developing your project. If you have friends who have different skill sets than you, offer to trade work. This is hands-down the best way to save money on a project.

Marketing

Many people think that you need really expensive ad campaigns to really market a good product.

Wrong. Save your money.

The best marketing that can be done online these days doesn’t really have to do with money, just a little creativity.

Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is the attempt to create an ad of some sort that becomes “viral” and spreads throughout the Internet. Many of these types of campaigns are done with videos and other tools.

Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is a great way for you to generate publicity, both online and off. Here’s an article with 5 tips to generate word of mouth marketing.

Pitching to Bloggers

Pitching your project to bloggers is something that is free and fairly easy to do. However, you must remember that bloggers get tons of emails about products to pitch, so here are somethings that you have to do to make the blogger take notice.

1. Offer something. A free pass, a coupon code for their readers, anything other than “hey, check this out”. Bloggers need incentive, just like everyone else.
2. Personalize the message. “Dear Sir or Madam” letters go straight into my Junk mail folder, just like everyone elses. If you’re going to pitch a blogger, write her a personalized email.
3. Be brief. Longer emails don’t get read because they’re picked up by spam filters, or the reader just loses interest. Be short and to the point, without wasting any time.

A blogger can send you good traffic, positive reviews and incoming links, which will be very successful in marketing your product.

Linkbait
Linkbait is creating a tool, article, or some other resource that people will want to link to. Usually the goal for linkbaits is to get onto the homepage of Digg, Delicious, or some other social news site. Linkbait is most effective when the medium used is easy to share (pdfs, websites, blog posts, etc.) in digital format.

Here’s a great article on the four characteristics of success for linkbaits.

Every web developer has their own favorite platform to create in. Some prefer Linux, while other prefer Windows or Mac. One thing is for certain though: each platform has a passionate rabid community behind it. Those web developers who prefer the Mac are no different, and for good reason:

The Mac boasts some excellent software for web development.

Here are some essential bits of software that every Mac-owning web developer should have in their toolkits. From text editors to command line tools, here is the best Cupertino has to offer to aid the web developer, soup to nuts.

Text Editors

When it comes to text editors, there are quite a few choices to choose from. Some are free, some are paid, but like any bit of software it all comes down to the developer’s preference. The same is true between the two most popular text editors for the Mac, Textmate and BBEdit.

Textmate

Textmate is one of the most popular of the text editors. It has a bevy of features, like file tabbing for having multiple files open in a project, works with xcode, and integrates with FTP clients. It also comes equipped with “bundles” that allows you to have multiple different configurable languages. (This post is actually being written and published in Textmate.)

Textmate isn’t free, however, and costs $59. Check out Textmate’s manual to get a better feel for how Textmate works.

BBEdit

BBEdit is another full-featured text editor that is very similar to Textmate in terms of features. The BBEdit product page even has a section for web developers to see the benefits of BBEdit. For those Mac users who think BBEdit is better than Textmate, it’s usually because BBEdit is a Cocoa application, and TextMate is a Unix application. Without getting into the nitty-gritty between the two editors, the main differences between the two applications are 1) look-and-feel and 2) price. BBEdit is a steep $125, more than double the price of TextMate.

Test Environments

It’s important to have a good test environment on the mac, especially if you’re programming with a dynamic language. Since the majority web development is done in PHP or Rails, it’s best to set up a test environment with the likes of Apache and MySQL. There is one tool that makes this all very easy.

MAMP

MAMP is a quick and painless way to set up Macintosh, Apache, MySQL and PHP in the same environment. What used to be a tedious process now literally takes just a few seconds between downloading MAMP and installing the software. Instantly you’ve got a fully-functional web testing environment for your PHP applications. It also comes locked and loaded with PHP extensions like Zend, and you can specify different cacheing types like APC, eAccelerator or XCache.

You can apparently use MAMP to run a Rails environment as well.

Update: Thanks to some savvy commenters, I’m adding Aptana to the list. Aptana is a programming environment for languages like PHP, Rails, Java, Ajax, Javascript and others. The software also comes with optional plugins like Adobe AIR and an iPhone environment. The community edition is 100% Open Source, and they have a Pro Edition with paid support and a few extra features.

FTP

Cyberduck

Photo by ClausM

Cyberduck is an incredibly user friendly FTP client that’s provided for free and licensed under GPL. It can be used in many different settings, like FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and Amazon S3 straight out of the box. Cyberduck also integrates seamlessly with essential Mac functionality, like Bonjour, iDisk, Growl, AppleScript, Spotlight and even Quick Look to instantly see the guts of the file with a tap of the spacebar.

My favorite aspect of Cyberduck (aside from the free-ness), is the fact that it integrates easily with many text editors like Textmate. As an added bonus, Cyberduck also allows you to use Quicksilver to access your FTP bookmarks. Very handy.

Transmit

If Cyberduck is a cadillac of FTP clients, than Panic’s Transmit is a Rolls-Royce. It offers almost all of the same functionality as Cyberduck, but adds a little more robustness for advanced user. For example, you can edit any remote file (even a picture or graphic) in any software using Transmit.

The only downside to Transmit is that it costs $29.95, whereas Cyberduck is free.

Code Editors

Text editors offer a simple, no-frills approach to programmers. However, sometimes developers prefer to use software that has more of an interface than the traditional text editor. Here are some code editors that allow you to do things with more of a visual approach and allow for greater functionality.

cssedit

cssedit is a CSS editor with a fantastic user interface. It has the look and feel of a Mac application, which makes the experience of editing CSS much more enjoyable. It has nice built in features like being able to extract stylesheets and learn from other other websites, an inline visual editor, and you can even edit css inside of ajax.

cssedit will cost you almost $43, but if you’re a sucker for beautiful interfaces, this software might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Coda

If you’re building a site from scratch, it’s nice to have a program like Coda where you can manage all the files and FTP functionality from within one program. Built by Panic, the same guys who develop Transmit, Coda is a one-stop solution for web developer. Within code you can manage files, ftp to a server, preview the code, use a css editor (like cssedit), and even use Terminal all from within Coda. And if that weren’t enough, they’ve thrown in a copy of The Programmer’s Desk Reference from within the software.

Changes

Changes is a nifty application that lets you visually browse changes to your code base. Instead of having to use a subversion to manage your code base (though Changes works with svn and other repository software), you can use Changes. This is great for sites that have multiple developers working on them and want to make sure their code is up to date. You can use your favorite text editor like Textmate or BBEdit to edit files.

Collaboration

Any web developer knows that collaboration is a huge part of web development.From asking questions in forums or IRC channels, to working in a code base that is shared among other developers, programmers need fraternization with other developers.

Colloquy

IRC is an old skool method of chatting online, and has been the method of choice for programmers and developers to communicate. Many major projects like Wordpress use IRC to provide support for their open source projects.

Colloquy is an extremely helpful IRC client for the Mac. It’s open source, allows for plugins and styles, and even has an iphone interface. Robust, elegant and powerful.

SubEthaEdit

SubEthaEdit is a collaborative text editor for the Mac. You can use the software as a text editor, note-taker and for co-writing text. It integrates with Bonjour, iChat and Mail, but isn’t limited to those integrations. SubEthaEdit also has a fairly robust editing syntax for many different languages. So really, this is a swiss-army tool for developers that work in a collaborative environment that share code often. It’s not free (around $54), but SubEthaEdit could be well worth the price given its usefulness.

Skype

Photo by Huasonic.

While it’s not typically thought of as a web developer’s tool, Skype can be a lifesaver. Not only can it save lots of coin on your cellphone bill, Skype adds a lot of features that a traditional phone can’t touch. For example, Skype has a pane for text messaging and sharing files. The ability to share snippets of code while you’re talking is essential. While the video feature might not be that useful to web developers (who’d want to see my ugly mug?!), some might find it useful as well.

Oh, and did I mention it was free?

Command Line

The command line is not for the faint of heart. It can be incredibly useful, and incredibly frustrating for new users. So much functionality and power in one little window, yet the learning curve can be steep.

Terminal

The built-in Terminal is a great place to start when working with the command line. There’s a great guide to learning Terminal, but essentially Terminal is a bare-bones tool that allows you to do just about… anything. I’d recommend you read the tutorial for a better explanation (as it’s outside the scope of this article). I’d also recommend snagging the Quicksilver plugin for Terminal to help speed your usage.

iTerm

If you’re looking for a way to ease the pain of using the command line and Terminal, try iTerm. iTerm is a “Terminal emulation program” that adds a bit more functionality and user friendliness to Terminal. It offers features like multiple tabs, bonjour support, bookmarks, and much more.

Database Managment

Managing databases can be a pickle for the casual developer. If you’re just wanting a simple install of Drupal, creating a database is a necessary evil. It’s nice to have software that can add an interface that doesn’t require you to know SQL to help with functions like creating a database, adding users, or creating tables and rows.

phpMyAdmin

Photo by jeromejtk

phpMyAdmin is the kindly old grandfather of database management scripts. Not necessarily hip to an attractive user interface, phpMyAdmin still has the skills to pay the bills. You can manage your databases locally using this stable script. It ships with MAMP, so installation is a breeze. If you’re not MAMP, then you’ll have to configure PHP to run on your Mac, which is a much more involved process. Still, phpMyAdmin is a tried and tested solution for managing databases with a UI.

CocoaMySQL

CocalMySQL is a database tool developed specifically for Mac with Cocoa. It has the elegant look and feel of a true Mac application, and is laden with features. CocoaMySQL is much easier than phpMyAdmin on almost all fronts; it’s easier to setup, has a much more intuitive interface, and runs more like a Mac program. The software is also licensed under the free GPL license.

Image Editing

Photo editing and design creation may not be at the core of a web developer’s responsibility, but there are some instances where it’s handy to have a solid photo editor that is nearly comparable to Photoshop, but won’t break the bank.

Gimp

Gimp used with Aperture

Gimp is the closest thing to Photoshop that Mac users can get with a $0 price tag. It has many features and has the ability to be extended with Gimp plugins.

Gimp is an application application for developing for web development. While it isn’t quite as useful and feature-rich as Photoshop, it comes pretty close. Note: You’ll need Apple’s X11 environment installed.

Seashore

Seashore is equivalent of a little brother to Gimp. While it’s code base is based off of Gimp, it doesn’t aim to be as robust or functional. Seashore is meant to meet the needs of “normal” computer users, not to be a replacement for a professional image editor. The software is only a tiny 5.4 MB in size and unlike Gimp doesn’t require having X11 installed. If your image-editing needs are modest, try Seashore.

Pixelmator

Pixelmator is a beautiful image editing program for the mac. It’s incredibly intuitive and useful, but doesn’t have all the features of a Gimp or Photoshop. It’s got all the layer editing and retouching tools that we’ve grown to love, and the interface is gorgeous. The only downside to Pixelmator is the $59 price tag, which is still a drop in the bucket compared to Photoshop.

Miscellaneous

Here’s a collection of tools that every web developer should have on their Mac, but don’t necessarily fit into one category. These programs are just as useful as the other applications in the list, just harder to categorize.

Firefox

Firefox 3 on a Mac. Photo by hawkfb

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ve probably heard of Firefox. Not only is Firefox an excellent web browser, the real power of the browser lies in the ability to add extensions that aid in the web development process. Here are a few must-haves for developers and programmers.

• Firebug – A swiss army extension that provides diagnostics of all kinds on web pages, javascript, css and more.
• Web Developer – Another swiss-army extension for developers. You can do just about anything with this tool, like disable scripts and styles, find broken links and images, check Whois of websites, display form information, and so much more.
• YSlow – this is a Fiebug extension (yes, an extension of an extension), YSlow adds diagnostics that show what’s slowing your webpage down. It provides a “report card” of sorts to help you work on issues that slow your site down.
• Greasemonkey – Greasemonkey is a gateway extension of sorts. With Greasemonkey, you can add literally just about any sort of functionality via userscripts.

There are any number of web developer extensions that one could add to Firefox. It’s just a matter of finding the right one.

Quicksilver

Quicksilver photo by bwana.

Quicksilver is a launcher tool that does so much more for developers. If you’re wanting to save time and keyboard strokes, consider giving Quicksilver reign over your computer. For more information as to what Quicksilver is, check out Lifehacker’s introduction to the Mac launcher.

The real beauty of Quicksilver lies in the countless plugins with software that many web developers already use.

Xcode

Photo by barcoder96

Xcode is Apple’s development package. This gi-normous 900mb download adds tons upon tons of system mojo that you’ll probably have to eventually install to your system that you’ll probably use down the line. Many serious development software like SVN and the like use dependancies that Xcode takes care of. Xcode is free for the taking.

Isolator

While Isolator isn’t a crucial application for developers, it’s quite handy for blocking out distractions while you’re getting work done. Isolator is a free program that blocks out everything but the single application you’re working on. This gives a distraction-free environment for writing, programming, or whatever else needs your attention. Just tap the keyboard command cmd + shift + I (or use the toolbar menu) to start/stop Isolator.

Spaces

Spaces is a handy built-in application for Leopard users. It allows you to set up virtual “spaces” for different screens on your computer. This is helpful for developers because you can separate your work flow into different panes. For example, you could have ftp and terminal open in one space, Textmate in another, Firefox in the third and Gimp or Photoshop in the fourth. It’s easy to toggle between the spaces using the command ctrl + arrow, or you can use ctrl + the number of the space you want to switch to.

Nobody likes to toggle through tons of different applications at a time. Spaces effectively clears up much of your work area, allowing you to segment your applications into whichever configuration you’re most comfortable with.