What I use on a daily basis

This is a list of everything I use on a daily basis as a web developer. I've recently made a lot of changes to my setup, the biggest one being the switch from Windows to Linux, which in turn has also caused some changes in the software I use.

I will continue to update this list as I learn more about the Linux ecosystem and find new tools & software that I like. I will also try to keep some kind of a changelog for this page, to keep track of the evolution of my setup as time goes on. I'm not entirely sure how I will do this yet, but that's an issue for another day.

I use a pretty old pre-built PC with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 6-Core Processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and an AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT GPU. I have a 500GB SSD which is enough for me.

The monitor I use is BenQ Zowie XL2411P which is a 24-inch 1080p 144Hz gaming monitor that I bought a long time ago specifically for playing Counter-Strike, which I don't play anymore. It's not the best monitor in terms of the color accuracy, but it's good enough for me.

I use a Logitech G Wireless Pro mouse which is very comfortable and has a great battery life. This is my first wireless mouse and I don't think I'll ever go back to wired.

For my keyboard, I use a Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 which is a full-size but compact (96%) mechanical keyboard. I personally dislike the numpad-less keyboards, as I think using a numpad is in many cases more efficent than using the number row and I've gotten very used to it. But I also like the idea of a smaller keyboard, so I think this one is a great balance between the two. It's also wireless with a very long battery life, which is a big plus.

As a life-long Windows user, I recently made the scary but not so scary switch to Linux. In this current initial phase of using Linux, I've chosen Ubuntu, just to get used to it, but I'm planning on distro-hopping for a while to find the one that suits me the best. It's a very interesting process and I don't think I will be going back to Windows anytime soon, if ever.

Currently I use the default terminal that comes with Ubuntu, but I'm planning on trying out some other terminal such as Alacritty or Kitty.

In terms of the shell, I'll stick with bash which is the default shell in Ubuntu, but I want to experiment with other shells such as zsh or fish.

I use Visual Studio Code as my code editor. I've kind of always used it without really thinking about it or trying anything else, so maybe it's time to try some alternatives to see if there's something better out there.

I may or may not have a slighly different approach to themes than most developers. I like to use both a light and a dark theme depending on the time of day. I find that during the day time, a light theme is easier on the eyes, and it prevents me from darkening my room in order to comfortably look at the screen. But during the evening and night time, a dark theme is of course much better. My favorite theme is Catppuccin, and here are my preferred variations:

• Light color & icon theme: Catppuccin Latte
• Dark color & icon theme: Catppuccin Macchiato

Here is a list of the extensions I use in VSCode:

• Auto Rename Tag
• Better Comments
• ESLint
• GitHub Copilot
• GitLens
• indent-rainbow
• Markdown All in One
• MDX
• Prettier
• vscode-styled-components
• YAML

I like to spend some time designing my projects, even the simple ones. I use Figma for this and it works great for me. The free tier is good enough for personal projects.

I use Brave as my main browser right now. I've tried a hardened version of Firefox before (Betterfox), but I prefer Brave right now.

I recently switched from Gmail to ProtonMail for my emails. Anybody that respects their privacy should probably consider leaving Gmail (and Google as a whole) and switching to a more privacy-focused email provider. I don't miss a single thing about Gmail, and I'm very happy with ProtonMail.

I used 1Password up until recently, but I've switched to Bitwarden because it's open-source and free. I don't really need the extra features that 1Password offers (which aren't many anyway), so Bitwarden is perfect for me.

I use Namecheap for all my domain needs now. I haven't had any issues with them yet, and their prices are good. Domain.com is what I used before, but I never liked their UX.

Currently, I host all of my projects on Vercel. It's very easy to work with Vercel, specifically if you're using Next.js, which I do for a lot of my projects. I do want to, however, get my own VPS at some point, because of the flexibility and freedom it offers.

I used to add analytics on every single project I made, but I've recently stopped doing that. They slow down your website, they aren't very accurate anyway, and they're a privacy concern. I would definitely advise against using Google Analytics of course, but I can't recommend anything else at this point.

I'm not against analytics in general, but I think they should be used when they're actually needed, for example on a business website. For most personal projects, I don't think they're necessary.

For almost a year now, I've been using Brain.fm for ambient music while working. Apparently it's "scientifically proven to increase focus" , which may or may not be true, but it works for me. It does actually help me to get into the zone and stay there for hours at a time.

This website is built with Next.js, TypeScript, and MDX. It's hosted on Vercel, and the source code is available on GitHub.

If you want a deeper dive into how I designed and built this website, I wrote a blog post about it.