MySQL Workbench
This is the newer "do it all" utility for working with a MySQL server. In some of the course notes I probably still
refer to the older MySQL Query Browser, which is part of the GUI Tools listed below, but Workbench
handles all of that now. On the download page, scroll down until you see the "Download" buttons.
You don't need those files listed near the top of the page.
MySQL GUI Tools
This preceded MySQL Workbench and is smaller and faster to use. The MySQL Query Browser
component simple and I still tend to use that more often for quick SQL tests than the full
Workbench above. Scroll down this page until you see the "Download" buttons.
Some students have asked about using the sample databases on their
own local MySQL installations. Here are the SQL backup files that can
recreate the sample databases:
Henry Books,
Premiere Products,
Geonames
When developing for the web, it's important to check your website using several different web browsers. Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) is notorious for displaying or interpreting your web pages in ways that are slightly different than most other web browsers.
Firefox Very common, and so far less prone to hacking than IE
FireFTP Use this Firefox add-on or the standalone Filezilla (below) to transfer files to your website
View Source Chart Firefox plug-in gives you a nice graphical view of your
HTML containers, making it useful for debugging missing tags.
Firebug This Firefox plug-in is an HTML/CSS/Javascript debugger
Google Chrome This has become my second browser of choice. It's more streamlined than IE and Firefox
Safari Apple's browser for the Mac, but there is a Windows version that's pretty cool
Opera This Norwegian web browser has been popular in some regions for quite a long time and it's
on the forefront of support for many HTML5 features.
Opera Portable This is the Portable Apps version of Opera. Copy it to a flash drive and run it on any
computer without having to install it. If you haven't checked out PortableApps.com for other apps that you can run off a flash drive, you should!
IETester This is a handy tool to see how your websites will render under the various versions of
Internet Explorer from 5.5 through present.
Notepad++ This open-source programmer's text editor color codes your HTML and CSS
(and other computer languages) and has a lot of nice editing features.
Notepad++ Portable This is the Portable Apps build of Notepad++ to run off your flash drive.
Text Wrangler This is a Macintosh programmer's text editor that does a similarly good job
of color-coding and formatting various computer languages.
Filezilla FTP client software for transfering files to your website.
Filezilla Portable This is the Portable Apps build of Filezilla. Take it with you and run it
off your flash drive.
GetThisSoftware.com links to more software recommendations
PHP manual from php.net