Questions on Mac OS X from a web developer who is new to Mac [closed]

Question

I'm getting ready to buy a MacBook Pro 15", but would like some help regarding a few things.

1. I witnessed somebody using a tool that showed all web requests' request headers / content, response headers / content, URL, port, other meta info, etc, sort of like a "Live HTTP Headers" on steroids (I thought it was a stand-alone piece of software, but maybe it's just a browser add-on). Do you know what the tool I'm speaking of is called?
2. Mac OS X comes with Apache and listens at port 80 by default. This is no good, if you're developing an application (a Django app) and you want it listening on port 80 during development (not using Apache). Can I stop Apache from listening on port 80 or disable it altogether, or is it required for OS X (or some built-in software) to operate?
3. MOST IMPORTANT: For about 3 days I had a high-res 15" but had to return it due to the fonts being difficult to read. I was able to cope with certain of the apps, but my code editor's text looked blurry no matter the font size, and a couple other apps' fonts did as well. Is there a trick to getting your fonts to look crisp on the high-res display (such as how Windows has ClearType settings, etc), or should I change fonts? I believe I only used Consolas during the 3 days.
4. Are their any other tools (aside from Firefox add-ons) that you would recommend to a software / web developer who's new to Mac?

Answer 1

The first sounds like Wireshark, which you can install from Fink, MacPorts, or Homebrew.

The second, you don't need to run the built-in Apache at all. System Preferences > Internet & Wireless > Sharing, uncheck "Web Sharing".

The only real font control in OSX is System Preferences > Personal > Appearance, where you can control whether font smoothing is done at all and at what size OSX stops trying to smooth small fonts. Some people don't handle smoothing well, so turning it off can be useful. (Smoothing is done by borrowing and halftoning neighboring pixels, so the fonts really are fuzzy. Some people find it easier to read, some harder.)

Answer 2

1. It could have been an add-on, running in a separate window which may have made it appear to be a standalone application. With Firefox, I use the excellent HttpFox add-on which provides all of what you describe here.

2. If you know how to configure Apache (via the configuration files), you will be able to do anything with it, including making it listen on a different or multiple ports. You could also install MAMP which is a LAMP/XAMP-esque bundle that includes Apache, MySQL and PHP for the Mac. It can be set up very easily.

3. You may have to look at the font-smoothing or anti-alias feature on Mac OS X. As someone else has already pointed out, you can play with different settings from within System Preferences > Appearance.

4. You will definitely want to look at a good editor/IDE to use for web development. You have multiple choices on the Mac, including: MacVim (or Vim on Terminal), TextMate, Coda, Aptana IDE, etc. You may want to look into version control for managing your code and docs. While Git, Mercurial, and Subversion, for example, can be used from the Terminal, there are nice GUIs for each available on Mac including: Tower for Git, MacHg, and Versions.

Answer 3

There are lots of ways to inspect HTTP data. There is a Firefox extension called, "Live HTTP Headers", which can operate as a Sidebar in Firefox itself, or can be popped out and have it's own window (which may look like a "standalone application"?). It does what it says on the cover.

Depending on how technically you need to dive into HTTP inspection, you can do it with various webapps and awesome free apps.

Just last night I used Hurl.it (yes, wonderful name, I know) to send rudimentary HTTP POST requests. I've used HTTP Client.app (Desktop app) to great success, and there is also the classic wireshark, or tcpdump to get loads of technical information. tcpdump comes standard on OSX, as a matter of fact.

Answer 4

Re the fuzzy screen... I recently discovered that when connecting to a LCD display with a VGA cable, it does this trick where it approximates its resolution as if it were talking to a CRT, often resulting in nasty moire patterns and strangeness. It's approximating the size of each pixel, pushing out pixels that aren't an exact match for the size of the physical LCD pixels, resulting in blurring and moire patterns. That's how you drive a CRT, where the pixels are generated in the gun at the back and they hit the screen wherever they hit the screen, but it messes up on an LCD.

The solution is to use a DVI cable. When you do that, the machine is actually talking individually to each physical pixel on the display, and it's super crisp and nice.

If you noticed regular vertical stripes of blurriness on the display, that's what's going on.