Tools I Use | Feint.me

These are the tools I’m currently using to build my websites and apps. Some of the links may be affiliate links.

Clicky

There are many great alternatives to Google Analytics that have more intuitive interfaces and aren’t part of the Google machine. Umami and Plausible are both excellent options, but I’ve been using Clicky for over a decade and haven’t found a reason to switch. Its interface is “old-school,” but it works—it provides a clear, easy-to-understand dashboard for all my sites, something Google Analytics doesn’t do.

iA Writer

iA Writer is a Markdown editor for the Apple ecosystem. It’s incredibly fast and responsive. It’s open 100% of the time on my Mac since I use it to put together the daily issues of Canberra Digest—and I’m using it to write this blog post. I appreciate the iOS apps, and since I save all my text files in iCloud, they sync automatically. This works seamlessly while remaining 100% private and end-to-end encrypted (if you enable Advanced Data Protection on iCloud), so I feel confident using iA Writer for things like journaling.

KirbyCMS

This website is built using the incredible KirbyCMS. It’s a flat cms (no db) built in PHP. Kirby is incredibly powerful. By default there is no DB but you can easily connect a database, spreadsheet or other source of data for more complex website. I use text files - and Kirby fully supports markdown. I also love the fact KirbyCMS does not use a templating language! Pages are generated in plain PHP making it incredibly easy to develop for. You don’t need to use hooks like you do in Wordpress. It’s so beautifully simple:

<h1><?= $page->title() ?></h1>
<?= $page->text() ?>

That’s literally it. KirbyCMS allows you to create more complex websites than a flat-site generator but still is very simple and lightweight.

Nova

Nova is my code editor of choice. I appreciate that it’s a native Mac app in a world of Electron-based code editors, which are basically just Chromium windows. Nova delivers better performance and battery life, and its interface is much cleaner.

Vultr and DigitalOcean

I use both DigitalOcean and Vultr servers. They offer very similar products, with Vultr being slightly cheaper. Servers are a commodity these days, and both platforms provide similar uptime. I haven’t had any major issues with either, and both have vastly better interfaces than AWS.

RunCloud

I’m not that confident in managing servers on my own, but with AI tools like ChatGPT for troubleshooting, I believe many people can leave shared hosting behind. I use RunCloud with my servers as a dashboard for installing updates, managing software, handling deployments, and managing backups. I don’t needRunCloud, but it makes things easier for someone who hasn’t done a lot of system administration.

MailerLite

I currently use MailerLite to send daily issues of Canberra Digest. It’s fine. It provides good deliverability at a lower cost than similar platforms.

Buttondown

I use Buttondown to send my Feint.me newsletter. It’s simple and easy to use. I haven’t had much experience with it, but I’m looking forward to using it more. I think it’s the perfect option for personal newsletters.

Cloudflare

I use Cloudflare as a CDN and domain registrar. They offer domain registration at cost (please ditch GoDaddy!). I only wish they supported .com.au domains! As a CDN, Cloudflare works automatically to reduce server load—you could even host your entire website on Cloudflare. There are too many features to list, but I highly recommend using them for DNS hosting. Every time I login to Cloudflare I feel as though they have added some new feature.

ChatGPT

AI for content generation—whether images or text—is fine, but if you write and publish daily, you quickly realize its limitations, even with the most powerful models. AI is great for checking text, troubleshooting, and answering general questions. I primarily use ChatGPT as a spelling and grammar checker—it’s vastly better than Grammarly, which feels like it’s from another era. I write all my own content and then put it through ChatGPT to check for errors. As an assistant—whether you’re coding, writing or doing research it works great. If you want AI to just do all your work and make you rich, it’s terrible.