Toolbox

After more than 30 years as a PC and Windows user, Mac and Apple were added to my toolbox in 2019.

WordPress, Photoshop, Word and PowerPoint are some of the tools I use on a daily basis.

Adobe CC

The first Adobe program I added to my toolbox was Photoshop, when I started to optimize images for the web at the turn of the millennium. But over time, my use of the application expanded to include graphic design. I use Photoshop on a daily basis, also to create sketches and simple vector graphics.

Depending on what projects I’m working on, I often use Acrobat, InDesign, and Illustrator. In recent years, I’ve added video editing with Premier Pro, and will include Premiere Rush for editing video “on the fly”. For a more efficient production and distribution of content at social media, I recently added the Canva challenger, Adobe Express.

Adobe CC

WordPress

Like more than 40% of the world’s websites, I use WordPress to build and manage my sites. Besides creating designs from scratch, I customize the theme’s patterns and webpage designs such as: posts, landing pages, banners and blocks that trigger an action (CTA). By using the query loop block and filters, I target what posts to display on specific webpages.

By self-hosting WordPress under my own domain, I gain full control over design, functionality and content. And by using one of WordPress’ native block themes, I have no need for third-party webpage builder or code.

WordPress

Microsoft 365

Word, PowerPoint and Excel have been part of my toolbox for more than 25 years. I use PowerPoint and Word daily, including when I write texts for the web. For other tasks such as publishing scheduling or site navigation, I use Excel. And after testing various options, Outlook remains my preferred email client.

Microsoft 365

LinkedIn Learning

Another useful tool in my toolbox is LinkedIn Learning. To update and further develop myself as a content designer and content creator, I use this learning platform with more than 16,000 online courses within software, creative and business skills.

LinkedIn Learning

OBS Studio

To create video courses and webinars, I use the open source program OBS Studio. For now, I use it primarily for screen recordings, but are also planning to live stream.

OBS Studio

Dropbox

Cloud storage and file sharing with Dropbox have been part of my toolbox for many years. But I may also share documents via iCloud and OneDrive, and Google’s free alternatives if needed.

Dropbox