FORTITUDO ( NECESSARY INGERDIENTS )
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This may not apply to everyone, but this list of programs and tools applies to me when I'm making a layout.

Image Editor of Choice: Adobe Photoshop 7.0
I've been using Photoshop for quite some time -- it was the first image editor I used, so naturally I stuck with it. There are plenty of other image editing programs out there, such as Paint Shop Pro -- what's really important is that you're comfortable with what you're using. I'm horribly dependant on Photoshop for image editing. And I know, why am I still using 7.0 when CS3 is out already! Truth is, I'll probably upgrade sooner or later, but I'm pretty comfortable with 7.0. Chalk it up to laziness!

Image Optimizer of Choice: Adobe Image Ready 7.0
I only started using Image Ready when it was bundled with Photoshop 6.0, and it's since been the program I use for image slicing and optimization, and other effects like rollovers. There are also other slicers available such as Macromedia Fireworks, but when I was first learning, I was never able to use many of Macromedia's programs on my older computers. I had really crappy computers back then, Macromedia programs used to love crashing them. I just got used to Image Ready, so I just stuck with that and haven't looked back.

HTML Editor of Choice: Araneae 4.5
I used to use Arachnophelia, but I found this lovely freeware editor and I've been using it since. It's not an HTML editor like Frontpage, where it generates code for you -- it's really more like Notepad, with the exception that it looks much nicer. I still do the majority of my coding by hand, and it's nice to have options to customize your editor. I like customizing things! It makes working on coding more fun.

Image Browser of Choice: Irfan View 3.3
Not very many people use a separate image browser (to my knowledge, that is), but I tend to have a lot of images on my computer and I find it easier to have Irfan View open so I can browse through them faster (there's a slideshow option that I use to peruse entire galleries on my hard drive). Irfan View is actually a very small image editor, and one that I find useful to have around for small jobs.

FTP Program of Choice: WS_ftp LE
I have two or three FTP programs kicking around on my computer, but I use WS_ftp the most. It's graphically ugly, but it gets the job done. I used to use Leech FTP, but it was fairly buggy and eventually became outdated. I don't spend a great amount of time staring at my FTP window, so whatever gets the job done fastest and easiest is the ideal candidate -- and besides, WSftp has been the most stable FTP program I've ever used.

And after all of those programs, all I really need is some music (or a good TV show playing in the background) and a cup of coffee and/or something sugary. I snack a lot at the computer. In any case, those are basically all the tools I use to make a layout!

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