Six months ago, I was a very different person. SEO was something I knew little about (I still do not claim to have above a beginner’s understanding), and I was running an OS that I did not care for.
Then one day, after struggling with a lousy driver install and a Lexmark printer (Die!! Lexmark…DIE!!!), I said some rather foul words and went to the Ubuntu website, intending to dual boot. I didn’t pay any attention to what I was doing, and promptly wiped my hard drive (because I can be a stubborn know-it-all, not because Ubuntu is difficult to install).
Oh well, that’s what backups are for…
Yeah, so I converted to Linux, and while I am not sold on the whole “Everyone should run Linux” mantra, I do recommend it for people who are generally technically savvy (e.g. SEOmoz readers).
The question then becomes “What do I use to replace my old apps, and how is Linux a good tool for SEO?”
I will list these below, and tell you my experience with each. (Note: my current web page is under redesign, so don’t think that I used these tools for the current version of my site. My current site is UGLY – and you will probably think it is worse. The new version using these tools will be markedly better… promise!)
With most search engines, if not all, being run on a LAMP server, it would probably behoove us to to learn the ways of Linux.
An excellent article on these methods has been written here.
Maybe you don’t prefer to learn a command line, but those of you who are in love with analytics should find plenty of minutiae to keep you occupied. In addition, the command line is quite powerful, and should you find the need to edit a large amount of static content, it will be quite useful to you.
Fortunately, most SEO tools are platform independent and browser-based, and are available on this very site. Design software is so much more expensive, and besides, you need those two 30″ LCDs to improve your productivity.
To that end, I have compiled the following list:
Browsers:
- Windows: IE, Firefox, Opera, Lynx
- Linux: IEs4 Linux, Firefox, Opera, Lynx, Galleon, Konqueror, Gecko….ad infinitum
Testing for every browser under the sun improves your code, and the understanding of what you are actually doing. Not that any of these esoteric browsers will ever catch on, but in the off chance you end up optimizing for a Linux website (think Slashdot, Ubuntu, Linux foundation), you may at least want to be familiar with them.
Web Design and Development:
- Linux: Kompozer, Quanta, Screem (Based on Quanta), Scite
Kompozer is a great WYSIWYG option, with an easy to use CSS styling tab. One of its current faults (and this may be fixable via the Preferences) is that the CSS tab opens in a separate window, and you have to move it around to see what is happening to your page beneath.
Quanta is excellent, as it allows you to collapse your
Screem: I prefer Quanta, but Screem has a more user-friendly interface.
Scite: Supports Ruby, Perl, and <insert language of choice here>.
Graphics:
- Windows: Photoshop, Fireworks
Linux: GIMP, Inkscape
The new GIMP is now available, powerful, and way better looking. It has been a real joy editing creating graphics for the new site. If you prefer the familiarity of Photoshop, you can get GIMPshop, which gives you a Photshop UI over the GIMP engine. Nice.
I have used Inkscape once or twice, and found it to be an excellent SVG editor. The downside is that .ai files are supported. This should be fixed in an upcoming release.
Multimedia:
- Too many to mention, but here are a few : Kaffeine, FFmpeg, Audacity, Kdenlive
There is a good reason why Linux has been known to attract software pirates: Somebody has written a plugin for every known type of media on the planet. If it’s an obscure, inane, and overall useless file format, chances are you can turn it into something usable in Linux.
Audacity has been one of my favorites for a couple years now, and I believe it is now available in both MAC and Windows.
The programs mentioned above have a relatively low learning curve, with the exception of the command-line based FFmpeg. There are tons of UIs that are made specifically for that library. Yes, there is support for .flv
What if I still want to keep Windows?
Well, you could always dual-boot and/or install WINE . That way, you can keep your Adobe CS3 Suite and only use those other tools when necessary.
Look, I know we all want to think about our OS as little as possible, but it’s time we started thinking. We should know how our OS works, why it works, and why we choose it. Does Linux have the most robust suite of tools right now?
The answer is no. There are a ton of niche tools that allow you to do whatever you feel is necessary to get your job done. If there isn’t a tool, you can request an add-on, and someone may build it for you.
Hopefully, this has helped you. If you have any other suggestions, please leave them in the comments. I’m new to this whole FOSS thing, and there are plenty of great tools that I’m sure are still undiscovered.
Signing off for now…
