Useful Tools
From Zen Cart(tm) Wiki
Useful Tools For Working With Zen Cart®
Descriptions of these tools can be found at the individual web sites
Hash Validation Tools
- HashTab - Windows/Mac tool for validating MD5/SHA1 hashes of downloaded files
PHP, HTML and Text Editors
Freeware
- Notepad++ **RECOMMENDED** (See review here)
- Arachnophilia (allows GUI design of HTML)
- Crimson Editor
- Aptana Studio (an Integrated Development Environment for Win, Mac and Linux)
- NotePadXP
- PHP Editor
- Win32Pad
- PSPad
- TextWrangler (Mac)
- Nvu (allows GUI design of HTML)
Commercial
- Sublime Text (Windows, Mac, Linux) **RECOMMENDED** deemed by many to be the best!!!!!!
- BBEdit (Mac)
- TextMate (Mac)
- TextPad
- Namo WebEditor
- Dreamweaver (allows GUI design of HTML)
- Zend Studio Designed for PHP editing by the authors of PHP
CSS Debuggers
- Firebug **RECOMMENDED** - Is the most popular useful tool for working out CSS and Ajax/Javascript problems on your site.
- Firefox with the Web Developer Extension
- The latest versions of the more popular browsers also have built-in "Inspect Element" functionality, which can significantly aid in troubleshooting.
CSS Editors
Freeware
- See Firebug and the Web Developer Extension in the CSS Debuggers section above for the best tools available!
- CSS Tab Designer (only for building CSS tabs)
Commercial
- CodeKit (Mac)
- BBEdit (Mac)
- TextPad
- TopStyle Pro
Text-Search Tools
Freeware
- Crimson Editor
- PSPad
- TextWrangler (Mac)
Commercial
Graphics Editors
Freeware
- GIMP (Win/Mac/Linux)
- IrfanView
- Photo Plus
- Photofiltre
- Photomeister
- Paint.NET
Commercial
Screenshot Tools
Freeware
- Shotty (Windows) (See review here)
- IcoMaker (Mac)
- IrfanView
- Pixen
- PrintScreen
- Screen grab! (Add-On for FireFox)
- Awesome Screenshot (Add-On for FireFox/Chrome/Safari)
Commercial
Color Pickers
Freeware
- ColorZilla (Add-On for FireFox)
- Color Pix (Windows, Mac)
Commercial
- ColorSchemer Studio (Windows, Mac)
File Comparison Utility
Freeware
- WinMerge (Windows)
- FileMerge (part of Apple XCode tools) (Mac)
- TextWrangler (Mac) (TextWrangler has built-in basic "Find Differences" tool which is faster than FileMerge)
Commercial
- Beyond Compare (Windows and Linux) ** Offers 3-way comparisons! **
- Kaleidoscope (Mac)
- Araxis Merge (Windows, Mac) ** Offers 3-way comparisons **
- BBEdit (Mac)
- DeltaWalker (Windows, Mac, Linux) ** Offers 3-way comparisons! **
- DiffFork (Mac)
- Guiffy (Windows, Mac, Linux) ** Offers 3-way comparisons! **
FTP Tools
Freeware
- WinSCP A great Windows-based secure-FTP program. *RECOMMENDED*
- FileZilla (Windows and Mac)
- FireFTP (Add-On for FireFox)
- FlashFXP
- CyberDuck FTP (Mac)
- Aptana (part of IDE)
Commercial
- Transmit (Mac)
- Forklift (Mac)
- WS_FTP Pro (Windows)
- BBEdit (Mac)
- Zend Studio (Windows/Mac/Linux)
We often find folks reporting in the support forum that they have had problems with corrupted uploads or incomplete uploads due to timeouts which have occurred while using SmartFTP and CuteFTP. Thus, we recommend against using those products.
BETTER CHOICES: Usually WinSCP and FileZilla are found to have no such difficulties whatsoever.
File Archiver/Zip/Unzip Utility
Freeware
Commercial
Browser Addons/Utilities
Freeware
- FireBug (Add-On for FireFox)
- Aardvark (Add-On for FireFox)
- BBCodeXtra (Add-On for FireFox)
- CoLT (Add-On for FireFox)
- CSSViewer (Add-On for FireFox)
- HTML Tidy (Add-On for FireFox)
- Selenium IDE (Add-On for FireFox)
- SourceEditor (Add-On for FireFox)
- View Source Chart (Add-On for FireFox)
- Web Developer (Add-On for FireFox)
- JSView (Add-On for FireFox)
- Safari WebDevAdditions
Validators
Freeware
Database Manipulation Tools
Freeware
- phpMyAdmin
- SQLyog CE (Windows)
Commercial
Local Web Server for Development Environment
Freeware
Other things
Freeware
External Resources/Tutorials
- MySQL
- php.net
- SitePoint.com
- Tizag.com
- W3 Schools
- Clean CSS Online tool to optimize your stylesheet
- CSS Formatter and Optimiser Online tool to optimize your stylesheet
- See: CSS Resources
