Cherry Hau
Selecting my favourite code editor and FTP program to use to create my website.
To make my website live, I needed to use an FTP to push my local files onto the university server. There are many free FTP options available, and after comparing some of the options, I started by using Cyberduck.
In Cyberduck, I found the synchronise feature convenient, as it compares the modification date and time to only upload files which are newer than those on the server. I also liked how I could set up my local folder to upload all my files to the server, and quickly restart the transfer when I wanted to update my files.
However, when I changed the name of one of my webpages, I found that I could still access the original file. This is when I realised that synchronising only uploaded new files and did not check for deleted files or folders. This meant that whenever I moved or renamed a file, a new file was uploaded to the server and the previous one was left unaffected, taking up space on the web server. This was very inconvenient as it meant that the server did not perfectly mirror my local files which caused unexpected problems which were only visible online, and obsolete and placeholder assets were not removed.
After doing some research and finding that the problem did not have a resolution, this led me to change FTP to WinSCP. This FTP has a much more in-depth synchronise feature with many more options. Importantly for me, it allows me to perfectly mirror my files on the server with my local files, with the option to delete files that are no longer needed, with another option to preview the changes that will be made before confirming them.
It also allows me to synchronise in either direction, which made it easier to revoke changes, or would be useful if I were working across different computers. I could not find any drawbacks to WinSCP. While it has all the features that I wanted and that the others were lacking, it also does not limit features where you can pay for a pro version. This makes WinSCP my personal choice of FTP.
Download WinSCP hereAfter getting quickly frustrated with the prompts to upgrade Sublime Text, I began looking for alternatives.
The obvious choice was Visual Studio Code. I found that this program has many useful features that sped up my workflow while programming.
Firstly, it is possible to create your own code snippets, which makes it quicker to complete repetitive tasks. I used these to add image reference amongst other things 2.1.
Furthermore, there are many addons available to enhance the autocomplete of different languages, as well as formatting and changing the interface. This made everything a lot more comfortable to use. Amongst my most useful addons was TabOut, which enables me to use the tab key to escape brackets and quote marks.
These small quality of life changes made VS Code a lot more enjoyable and less frustrating to use.