Whether you’re a web developer or not, it’s easy to see why Dreamweaver is the industry standard in web design software. It offers tons of different options and tools for creating stunning websites, so it can be intimidating for beginners or people with less experience.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Dreamweaver that’s free and maybe a bit easier to use, we’ve got you covered. Here are the best free web design software alternatives to Adobe Dreamweaver.
Table of Contents
Best Free Web Design Software Like Dreamweaver
1. BlueGriffon
BlueGriffon is an open source WYSIWYG editor powered by Gecko, the rendering engine developed for Mozilla Firefox. One of a few derivatives of NVU, a now-discontinued HTML editor, BlueGriffon is the only actively developed NVU derivative that supports HTML5 as well as modern components of CSS. If your goal is to write as little actual HTML as possible, then BlueGriffon is the tool you want. It’s a true drag-and-drop WYSIWYG website designer, and even includes a dual view option so you can see the code behind your design, in case you want to edit it or just learn from it.
It also supports the EPUB ebook format, so you don’t have to just publish to the web: you can provide your readers with a download of your content that they can take with them. Licensed under the MPL, GPL, and LGPL, a version of BlueGriffon is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac.
2. Aptana Studio
Aptana Studio is an “open source development tool for the open web” which, in practice, means it’s more of an advanced IDE specializing in web development. Based on the open source Eclipse project, Aptana Studio features tools for assisting in HTML and CSS authoring, including code coloring and completion, debugging, and outlining of documents. Its main selling point is its JavaScript support, making it a strong tool for developing more complex web applications.
3. NetBeans
NetBeans is a widely used software development platform for building web, mobile, and desktop applications with Java, JavaScript, HTML5, and more. It has been supported by Oracle (and its predecessor, Sun) since 1999, and in October 2016 moved to the Apache Foundation for open governance, and simplified and streamlined community contributions. Netbeans isn’t exactly a drag-and-drop web design application, but it’s a robust web-aware IDE. It’s a great choice if you’re developing web apps, or if you just enjoy coding for the web.
4. SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey is a community continuation of what was once a Mozilla-produced internet application suite. While Mozilla decided to narrow its focus to individual projects, SeaMonkey continues to make regular releases of its full suite, which includes SeaMonkey Composer, a simple WYSIWYG HTML editor. You’d struggle to do advanced layouts with Composer (for instance, you can’t adjust the CSS display or property to create a two column text and image pair, but would have to use a non-responsive table instead), but for basic pages with zero code written, this is a realistic option.
5. Aloha Editor
Aloha Editor is a JavaScript-based WYSIWYG HTML5 editor that allows users to edit content in the same layout that readers view it. This is a pretty unique model, as it’s not exactly an application itself, but embeds an editor into your HTML page. It requires a Node.js stack, so if you’re not a developer familiar with Javascript then it can be difficult to configure. However, if you’re a site admin looking for an easy editing interface for your users to make quick updates to their pages, then you should say “aloha” to Aloha.
6. WordPress
The open source content management service (CMS) and blogging platform, WordPress, features a structured yet flexible page layout interface. It lets you create blog posts and pages with just enough flexibility to let your creativity thrive, and with just enough restriction to ensure that your creation renders correctly in all browsers. With WordPress, you can have choose your desired level of complexity at every step. You can self-host it using their famous 5-minute install method, or you can buy hosting from Wordpress.com. You can use the drag-and-drop designer to create pages, or you can hack on HTML and PHP yourself. You can choose a contributed theme or you can design and create your own. It’s a great resource for anyone who wants to run a website.
7. Try an advanced text editor
While not necessarily the best for beginners, a number of text editors provide additional functionality that is incredibly useful to those editing HTML/CSS documents. When used side-by-side with a modern browser with built-in debugging tools, you may be just as productive with one of these as you are with a more dedicated solution. Some of our favorites include:
- Atom describes itself as a “hackable text editor for the 21st century.” Developed by GitHub, it has support for HTML and CSS out of the box and many additional plugins available.
- Brackets is a JavaScript-based text editor developed by Adobe for web design and frontend development. It touts its inline editor, live preview, and preprocessor support functions for making it easier to do web design in the browser.
- Vim or Emacs. Without participating in the holy war between these two traditional text editors, I can safely say that there are a number of enhancements for web editing available for both. So if you’re already a terminal junkie, take your pick. Or, if those don’t satisfy, try one of these Emacs/Vim alternatives.
google web designer
Design online ads and videos
Google Web Designer is an advanced web application that lets you design and build HTML5 ads, images, videos, and other web content using an integrated visual and code interface. Using Google Web Designer’s Design view, you can create content with drawing tools, text, and 3D objects, then animate it all on a timeline.
Develop code
Google Web Designer’s Code view lets you create CSS, JavaScript, and XML files, and uses syntax highlighting and code autocompletion that makes your code easier to write with fewer errors.
Add media and interactivity
Google Web Designer provides a set of components that let you add image galleries, maps, visual effects, and other functionality to your websites and advertisements. You can customize events to trigger based on user actions, or at specific points in time. For video ads, you can also edit video and audio clips.
Advanced workflows
Once you’re done creating your content, Web Designer provides the tools you need to make your layout responsive across different screen sizes, or add dynamic bindings to a data feed so you can personalize your ads for your audience.
All at no cost
There is no cost to download or use Google Web Designer.
Conclusion
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