Although the majority of our day-to-day work is produced via the Windows operating system, some tasks are simply easier to complete using OS X. Web design is a good example. If you're a novice user, you can use a template-driven web design tool such as Rapidweaver to quickly produce a professional homepage. However, if you know how to code or edit web pages, there are other alternatives that offer you more control over the pages in your site.

Coda 1.5 is a commercial web design tool aimed at the professional market. It enables you to setup and control various sites, edit the pages that make up your site, preview the pages live and then publish to your remote server. The latest Coda 1.5 supports versioning, so more than one person can work on the site and revert back to a previous published page if required.

We used Coda to develop the vnunet.com Downloads Newsletter. It's a well designed application and enables you to quickly make changes to your code and then preview those changes, before you 'make live' your work.

Coda 1.5 link.

These days there's a fine line between shareware and commercial software. What defines commercial software if you can purchase both on the Internet? The clear difference between the two is that commercial software often ships in a box and is available through retail. However, shareware authors can give the impression that their software is available commercially by designing a box image.

True BoxShot 1.7 is a tool that will enable you to create your own 3D box image from either a plain 2D image or from a collection of images, logos and other graphics. It's that easy. If you have your own logo and a stock photo, you're more than half way to creating your own box. This 5-star rated product is worth the small investment if you're going to create one or more box images.

BitFontMaker is a handy online font editor that allows you to build and download your own fonts. Once created, they can then be transported into typical word processing apps the same way you would for any font you’ve downloaded in the past. You can choose to build your own font from scratch, or simply customise a generic template to your liking. The results themselves are surprisingly impressive, although don’t expect to be giving Letraset and the like any worries with your finished product just yet.

Editor and downloads here.

Google’s recently acquired SketchUp, a 3D modeling tool aimed at beginners and professionals alike, gives you the chance to insert 3D models into Google Earth with surprising ease. The basic package is free and supports both Windows and Mac, whilst the simple and clear video tutorials give you more than enough information to get going on your own 3D landscapes. Of course, SketchUp’s uses go way beyond its compatibility with Google Earth, but designing your own house and famous landmarks is a good a place as any to get to grips with the numerous features on offer.

Download here. Checkout the video tutorial here.