So why do I use this shareware program called skEdit instead of Adobe Dreamweaver for my freelance web design?

This all goes back to about 3 months after I started at Hitchfinder.com. The other designers were using Dreamweaver as a text editor for HTML and CSS and I was too. In college I had 2 semesters on how to use Dreamweaver.

It's a great program, but at a certain point I got to the skill level that I no longer needed all the extra help Dreamweaver throws at you (most without your asking) like the design view, flash text, integration with Fireworks and so on.

So I decided to check out this little shareware program called skEdit, by stki Software. The programmer, Sean Kelly, is a young software engineer working at Apple, Inc. I guess that's where the "sk" in the name came from.

This program is made and designed for Mac ONLY. I use Macs, so I thought it would be a perfect fit.

Well, I really love this program. I have only opened and used Dreamweaver a few times in the past 2 years. I have not needed it. The only times I have used it has been when I had 2 clients that used Dreamweaver and I needed to use it in their office because they were familiar with that program.

So what does this program do that Dreamweaver does not? Wrong question.

It simplifies the design process by letting you focus more on the code. It actually does a number of the same things like code completion, auto closing brackets, snippets, design view (previews in browser, not in skEdit), search, syntax aware indenting, find and replace and autosave.

There are features I don't even use like edit files on remote server, HTML tidy, subversion integration and user scripts.

What I think are killer features are projects and the code navigator.

The projects let you tie a project to a local folder and you can have a number of different projects or sites open at the same time. That way you can copy and paste code from one site to another quickly and easily. Try having 2 index.html files from different sites open in Dreamweaver at the same time and feeling real confident you are copying and pasting the right pages. In skEdit you are sure because the files are open in different windows at the same time.

The code navigator is a pull down menu the CSS related codes on the page. If you open your CSS file, in one quick place you can quickly see all the rules by name that you have created. It makes jumping down to that CSS ID "center_column ul li" a very painless task.

This program just does what it needs to effectively and quickly and it is not a ram hog like Dreamweaver.

You have to try it to really get the feel of how it works and what it can do. There is a free 25 day demo, full online documentation and it's only $34.95 to purchase.

Sean is very good at getting back to you with requests and problem resolution and is a nice guy.

Powered by ScribeFire.

The new free WordPress magazine style theme, by designer Andrew Lindstrom of the blog Wellmedicated.com is a sharp looking theme.

The theme, just released, is cross browser compatable, widget ready in the sidebar and footer, ad ready and validates in XHTML and CSS.

And did I say it was free.

Great work Andrew. This is the 2nd free theme of Andrew's that I have downloaded. The other one was his great theme Grass Roots, which I have already reviewd on my casual/family blog The Life of Buford.

I wish I had the time to create some of these free themes. It does look like a lot of fun coming up with these ideas. I might just have to take a crack at making one too.

photo credit: kke227

For the past 2 years I had been all cozy in my job working as a web designer for a company called Hitchfinder.com.

I worked on over 14 large commercial e-commerce web sites coding CSS and HTML, creating and editing graphics and doing a dozen other project related tasks. Whatever needed doing, I just jumped right in and took care of it.

It was a nice job. The best thing about it was the huge amount of knowledge in this field I learned on the job working with a team of other web professionals.

Well, I did also get a really cool 24" iMac.

It was an automotive parts company so I had to learn a whole new industry front to back.

The economy and the $4 a gallon gas finally caught up with the company and I got caught up in a layoff that sent 1/3 of the company to the unemployment office.

So I have decided that I am going to charge out on my own and try the freelance route and try and make my money on the internet without an employer.

Ok, that sounds really stupid. As a freelancer, each client you work with is essentially an employer.

Let's just say I want to make my fortune on the internet. I know you have to start somewhere, so this is my starting point of reference.

The methods I have in my toolbox are...

• Web Design
• E-Commerce
• Graphic Design
• eBay
• Internet and Affiliate Marketing

My rules of conduct for myself...

• Earn enough so my beautiful wife Ruthie can retire (see pic below)
• Do it legally
• Do it ethically
• Have fun

Click image for larger view

That's my wife Ruthie and myself at the beach in Cozumel, Mexico from our August, 2008 Carnival cruise on board the Ecstasy from Galveston, Texas. We took our three boys, Joshua, David and Jonathan for a well deserved 5 night vacation. We love going on cruises because you can just totally relax, get really pampered and get to sample tons of exquisite food you normally don't eat.

So please join along for the ride and let's see where this takes us. I hope I learn as much as you do along the way.