Who are you, and what do you do?
Born Manuel Moreale, but I’m happy to simply be called Manu. The way I describe myself these days is that I’m a writer. It’s a somewhat misleading description since when you say writer people usually think at books but writing is what I do every day, both professionally and recreationally.
I am a freelance web developer—been working solo from home for almost 15 years—and so my job consists primarily of writing code. I’m a trained graphic designer, that’s where my career started and that’s also the only professional qualification I actually have, but I then morphed first into a designer-who-codes, and now I’m more a developer-who-knows-design. I work primarily alongside other freelance designers or design studios, and I help them convert their projects into actual sites. But because I do have a design background, I can also provide feedback along the way and propose solutions that go beyond the basic code implementation.
When I’m not writing code, I’m writing blog posts and sometimes newsletters. Since 2017, I have published on my personal site…I was gonna say regularly, but that’s not exactly the right word. It was very sporadic for the first year or so, and it took me a couple of years to find some sort of rhythm. These days it’s easily a weekly blog, sometimes even twice or thrice a week depending on what I read that week or what’s floating in my head. My posts are a bit all over the place (I do rant a lot) and are often a way for me to think through topics.
I also have a newsletter, recently renamed “Thoughts and Walks”, that’s used to deliver the content I publish on my site as well as the rare exclusive content to those who subscribe. It exists mostly as a convenience for the people who enjoy reading content in their inboxes, but it’s fun to have it as an extra creative outlet.
When I’m not writing, I’m walking around nature, hiking mountains, swimming in rivers, often solo, sometimes with friends, and, if the weather is cold enough, with my dog, since he hates the warm weather. Oh, I occasionally take pictures.
What do you use to get the job done?
My setup is very boring, and I’m not one of those people who love to constantly tinker with it. I think I wrote a blog post about it in the past, but a lot of my stack is now 10+ years old. In terms of hardware, I’m using a MacBook Air 13 M4. I bought it last year to replace my Mac Mini M1. Before that, I was on a MacBook Pro 13.
I have the laptop open on my desk—an IKEA solid wood board on top of two IKEA Mittback trestles—I type on it, and sometimes I use its trackpad. I also have a Magic Mouse on the desk. I tried a Logitech MX at some point: too bulky. Yes, I can hear you all screaming that the Magic Mouse is an ergonomic nightmare, but I’ve been using it for so long that I’m used to it at this point.
The laptop is connected to a Samsung Space monitor 32, 4k, and the only other things I use to get things done are pen and paper. I have a stack of A4 paper on my desk and a Muji gel pen. I sit on a Varier Thatsit that is quite literally falling apart after 10 years of wear, but it costs too damn much to fix, so it will stay the way it is for the foreseeable future.
As for software, general writing happens on iA Writer. I’ve been using it since it first came out and I have purchased every version of it. I use it on both Mac and iPhone. For coding, I use Sublime Text. I’m always running the latest build from the dev channel. I tried a few other editors, but Sublime works for me. I have Codekit running as a companion app to take care of a few things. I use Transmit to connect to clients’ servers. I have both the GitHub App as well as SourceTree for Git related tasks.
I have Figma and Sketch installed, but I use them very little these days. It’s mostly to open the designs for the sites I have to code.
For comms, I usually have Apple Mail open, Telegram, Whatsapp, and iMessage. People write to me on all of those for different reasons, so I begrudgingly keep an eye on them all.
Browser of choice is Firefox for dev work, Safari for general browsing (with 1Blocker and NextDNS).
That’s the core of the software I use, and I’d say 95% of my time is spent within those apps. There are then a bunch of small utility apps I use for specific tasks, and those apps are, in no particular order: Ping, Numi, Timemator, HandBrake, ColorSlurp, ImageOptim, Halloy.
What would be your dream setup?
In terms of software, I’d not change much, honestly. What I have works just fine, and I don’t think I need anything new. I’ve been running with pretty much this exact setup for 10 years, I think. In terms of hardware, though, I’d probably swap my current Samsung monitor with two Apple Studio Displays and run a triple-monitor setup. If we’re thinking big, I’d move my studio from where it is now to a cabin in the woods with a nice view over a forest or maybe even a lake.
Ah, one thing I’d love to upgrade is my camera. I take all my pictures with an iPhone at the moment, but I want a proper camera. So that’s something I’d love to integrate into my dream setup.