Uses

December 12, 2019OtherEdit Post

Make sure to check out uses.tech for a list of everyone's /uses pages!

Everyday I get a few emails asking about the specifics of some piece of software or hardware I use.

I change up things fairly often, so this page will serve as a living document and a place to point curious developers to when I get asked.

If there is something missing shoot me a tweet @wesbos and I'll add it.

Most of these links are amazon affiliate links, so I'll get philthy rich if you click them and buy something.

Editor + Terminal

• Visual Studio Code is my current editor which I switched to in September 2017 after years of Sublime Text. I have a list of extensions I use here

• I created a theme called Cobalt2 for VS Code, Sublime Text and iTerm2 v3 which I use.

• I'm currently using Operator Mono for a font. Yes I paid the $200 for it. Yes I actually like it. Before that I used Inconsolata for many years.

• Firefox Developer has been my main browser since January 2020. We did a show on it here

• The cursive font you see is just the italic weight of Operator Mono. Your theme must have italics in it for it to work - my Cobalt2 uses italics heavily.

• I currently use Warp for my terminal, but some of my videos show me using Hyper or iTerm2.

• You can see most of my config files over at my Dot Files repo but please don't just take these settings carte blanche - they work for me but might not be the best.

• Both my eslint and prettier are wrapped into eslint-config-wesbos

• In my tiktoks, you'll see the JavaScript result inlined beside my code. That is using Quokka.js Pro version.

Desktop Apps

• I use Better Touch Tool for window management, custom keyboard shortcuts (via the Hyper key) and a few other things. Best mac software ever!
• I use Text Expander for canned responses and for most of my code snippets
• I've always been a huge Alfred fan and have many workflows but have recently switched over to Raycast which is even better!
• I use Things App with a GTD mindset for managing my tasks.
• I design almost entirely in Sketch. One day I'll move to Figma.
• The cool Emoji picker you see me use in my videos is Rocket

Backup Strategy

My Backup strategy is as follows:

• I backup my entire computer locally to a Time Machine on a LaCie rugged portable hard drive
• I backup my entire computer remotely to BackBlaze
• I still use Dropbox quite a bit, but it's a huge resource hog.
• I run a Synology NAS DS920+ with 4 4TB Seagate Ironwolf HDD - I use this as storage for course videos that I'm not actively working on and then have those folders mirrored to Backblaze B2 as an off-site backup.

Recording

• I use a DBX286s to do all my audio compression and processing as I record and pipe it into my computer with the Volt1 USB audio interface.

Cameras and Lighting

• My webcam is a Logitech HD Pro c920
• I run a Sony RX100 III with the HDMI out plugged into an Elgato CamLink. I also have a cheaper knockoff camlink that works pretty well.
• Above my desk I have a Neewer 480 LED light that has seperate warm and cool light knobs. I bounce the light off the angled ceiling and it lights my face pretty well.
• I run RGB Floodlights for backfill lights. Still tweaking the colours of these to not look like a gamer.

Desk Setup

• My main monitor is a 32" 4k LG 32ud59. I usually run this at 1440 or 1692. Best developer monitor bang for your buck hands down.

• To my right I run a vertical 27" 4k Dell 4k P2715Q and an open loaded macbook pro nested on a Rain mStand

• I sit on a polished aluminum Herman Miller aeron

• I swapped out the wheels for ROLLER BLADE WHEELS. Best upgrade ever, highly recommend these. If you have an ikea chair, get the 10mm ones, otherwise 11mm.

• My desk is an 8 foot oak butcher block countertop on legs. Mine is solid oak, but it looks like they aren't currently selling a solid version. Most flooring and home improvement stores will sell butcher block.

• Here is a photo of my setup

• Everything — Monitors, Ethernet, Hard Drives, Webcam, and Power — is plugged in via a single USB cable and piped into my Caldigit TS3 Plus - This is a pretty sweet setup!

• All this gear is pretty demanding, so I use an Amazon Basics 10 Port USB Hub to make it all work at once while only having to plug in a single cable into the above dock.

• I currently use a 2021 16" Macbook Pro M1 Max with 64 GB ram, 2TB drive

• Before that it was a 2019 16" MacBook Pro 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 with 32gb memory

• The keyboard is an Apple keyboard with a number pad. It's space grey so lots of people think it's some wicked hacker keyboard. I've tried a few mechanical keyboards but they are all too loud for my recording :)

• Mouse is a Logitech MX2 Master

Other Gear

• After a lengthy search for the perfect backpack for both traveling and schlepping gear around the city I bought the Peak Design Everyday Backpack 30L and it's incredible (and very expensive 😑).
• I listen to Bose QC35 headphones all day at my desk and AirPods Pro when on the go