Web Hosting

There is the area where I tend to have the least amount of luck. That being said I have had some success with these guys:

• Host Gator – I haven’t been with them long enough to say for sure, but they have had the best reliability and features with services I’ve used so far. They’re relatively inexpensive too!
• Linode – Really fast, really flexible, really cheap…. I’m in love! Well not really, but Linode is an awesome VPS hosting solution. I have had zero complaints so far.

Web Platform Frameworks

• WordPress – WordPress is by far my favorite platform for blog-centered websites, primarily because it is packed with feature and development is hoppin’. I haven’t delved far into customizing it or theming it, but the little I’ve done has been promising.
• CakePHP – For custom web applications, or anything beyond a static site, CakePHP is the easiest, fastest, and cleanest way to get something from paper to prototype quickly. I’m currently on a major project using CakePHP and I love how quickly I can make changes to the design and database appear in the product. I haven’t seen how the framework stands the test of a production site yet, but for development, CakePHP is king.

Libraries/Tools

• JQuery – This award winning javascript libraries is probably the item on this list I’ve used the longest. I first began using javascript libraries a couple of years ago with mootools. While mootools was great, I quickly found the power and flexibility of JQuery to far more appealing, and I’ve used it ever since.

There are a few other libraries I’m currently toying with, and there are still plenty of gaps in my tool-chain to be filled. These are the basics of my web development though. Enjoy!