Developing websites on localhost, your computer instead of online, is far faster and more enjoyable than developing online. A conscious stream of creative ideas does not have to be broken by balky FTP or browser based online tools.
Notepad++
My text editor of choice. I’ve tried others, you may find something more to your liking. When you spend time with a text editor, you will have built up a library of macros, plugins, and other tools that make your development flow smooth as silk. If you haven’t yet, get a robust text editor, learn it and stick with it.
Officially, XAMPP’s designers intended it for use only as a development tool, to allow website designers and programmers to test their work on their own computers without any access to the Internet. To make this as easy as possible, many important security features are disabled by default. XAMPP has the ability to serve web pages on the World Wide Web. A special tool is provided to password-protect the most important parts of the package.
Note: I use Xampp, I am not a Xampp expert so don’t ask me any technical questions about it 🙂
Notepad++ has been around for a long time, and many users have only ever used Notepad++ when they’re ready to upgrade from Notepad or Wordpad. It’s still under development though, and combines the simple interface of Notepad or Wordpad with advanced features that will make writers and developers happy.
Notepad++ is free (free as in free speech and free beer) and available for Windows only. You can grab it as an install-able app, or a portable app to run from a flash drive or cloud storage service like Dropbox.
Get Xampp
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/
Get Notepad++
If you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for in a text editor, it’s a good place to start, especially because it’s free. You can donate to the project though, and if you enjoy it, you should.
Divi ♥ Licious Child Theme
Grab my custom Divi child theme and have your way with it. It is not perfect but has served me well. If you come up with some ideas on extending it, I hope you will share them here.
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