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Recommended Tools to Support Testing

4 minute read - Recommended Tools

Recommended Tools to Support Testing

Published: Jun 2, 2019
Last updated: Jul 21, 2026

Updated and Refreshed in July 2026 - a list of tools I use for Work and Testing.

My Primary Tool is Total Validator Pro

I use it from the Chrome Extension when working on local web design (hint: set “Include / Stop after 1 pages tested” to work with a single page).

And I use it to spider a full site for more information.

I’ve also been using:

Both LibreCrawl and SEONaut I run frm docker.

AI

  • Codex my main paid AI tool.
  • OpenCode for alternative reviews and free coding models.
  • OpenRouter as a marketplace for AI models which I can’t run locally.
  • Ollama for local AI work

Docker & Tailscale & RustDesk

I used to use a lot of Virtual Machines - now I tend to rely on Docker.

I tried using WSL but found that the Linux integration wasn’t as good as it should be so I just switched to Docker Linux images.

I also use Tailscale to connect to web apps running on different machines.

And I choose RustDesk when I need a Visual Remote Desktop Session.

FreePlane Mind Map Tooling

I use FreePlane for creating MindMaps. FreePlane is a fork of FreeMind.

FreePlane is my tool of choice.

Why?

  • Out of the box pdf export with no additional drivers
  • A good organic layout is created automatically
  • I can script it if I want to with Groovy
  • It can support attributes on the nodes now
  • The file format is easy-peasy xml for easy parsing and manipulation
  • It is fast and when not in use doesn’t hog my processor
  • Very easy to use
  • It is cross platform

The fact that it is free and open source is a bonus and means that anyone can benefit from this tool with no monetary investment. I thoroughly recommend trying this tool out.

Daily Notes

I used to maintain my Daily Notes in Evernote, and then moved to flat text files.

Now I use Obsidian

A plain folder of text files, indexed as Obsidian and Synced to cloud storage.

I like the fact that I can point AI at the notes folder and it can retrieve information and update and fix content

ScreenShots

I rely on SnagIt as my Screen Capture tool.

I also use:

In the past I have used:

XPath and CSS Selectors

I normally just use browser dev tools.

I used to use a bunch of plugins for dev tools to help with XPath, CSS, etc. e.g FirePath, XPather, FireFinder, etc. But the dev tools have now reached the point that I use them raw without any plugins.

Chrome Browser Extensions

REST API Tools

I default to:

More API Testing Tools Listed here.

HTTP Proxies

I primarily use BurpSuite Free and Zap Proxy:

IDE

I use IntelliJ as my coding IDE.

Text Editor

I tend to use Visual Studio Code as my main text editor. I also use it for Code reviews from AI generated code.

I write Markdown in VS Code but rarely write code in VS Code.

When I want to make a more formal document I tend to feed my markdown into Pandoc to generate PDFs.

When I’m testing… all my notes are written in Markdown using VS Code.

Web Site Creation

I pretty much use Hugo for all of my web sites.

Also I also use Docusaurus for the Test Pages

Modelling & Diagramming tools

Version Control

I also use the Github CLI and UI

FTP

I still tend to use FileZilla. Feels intuitive to me.

Misc Windows

  • WinMerge for file and folder comparison

Misc Cross Platform

Video Creation

I mostly use Descript now for video recording and editing.

Image and Video Optimisation

I use:

Regular Expresssions

Much as I appreciate the conciseness, usefulness and elegance of Regular Expressions; I just don’t use them enough to have mastered them or keep the rules in my memory. I used to rely on “Mastering Regular Expressions”, which I still find very useful. But now I use one of the online tools to help me most often.

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