The best web design software for iPad is a great way to stay productive while on the move. With so many different options available in the market, it can be difficult to choose which one is right for you.
Establishing a budget before going into the research process will help ensure that you get what want without spending too much money. This article will discuss some of the different types available and how they compare in price range as well as features offered.
Table of Contents
Best Web Design Software For Ipad
Adobe Ideas
Adobe Ideas is a digital sketchbook app from Adobe that allows you to draw out content on your iPad including finger-drawn wireframes and other planning-oriented drawings. Adobe Ideas is a great app to just sketch on, anywhere you are, doing so naturally with your finger.
Adobe Ideas features all the basic tools including size and opacity sliders for your mark. For an in-app purchase (which is marketed as a “premium feature” even though Adobe now charges for the basic app), you can also get layers functionality to build up your drawings layer-by-layer.
Adobe Ideas is a $5.99 app available in the App Store for iPhone and iPad, although layers require a $0.99 in-app purchase.
iMockups
Where Adobe Ideas is mainly a general sketchbook app, iMockups is something much more specific. Through its apt name, you can likely guess that iMockups is an app for creating mockups and wireframes for websites and iPhomne/iPad apps.
Like many wireframing tools, the main creation process consists of using a bunch of pre-design elements and arranging them on your canvas. When you have them on, modal controls allow you to move them to pixel perfection by using nudges or co-ordinates.
iMockups is great for rapid wireframing, especially when you’re away from your desk. It’s available on the App Store for $6.99.
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Mocking Pad
Mocking Pad is another wireframing app with a similar story to iMockups. The app allows users to pull in a number of elements branded with the Marker Felt-style font that has become synonymous with wireframing apps.
Mocking Pad is $9.99 in the App Store.
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle is one of the more expensive apps on the App Store, clocking in at $49.99, and it’s all about the planning stage. OmniGraffle is a planning app for creating diagrams, charts, wireframes and other layouts that’s promoted as being highly adaptable to a bunch of different situations including web and graphic design. OmniGraffle uses the multitouch input of your iPad to help you do everything from basic, freehand drawings to extensive, structured charts.
The app is available for $49.99 on the App Store. However, you should note that reviews criticise export limitations and the near-requirement to have a Mac if you want to edit files off the iPad since OmniGraffle is not available for Windows.
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SketchyPad
One more wireframing app for iPad is SketchyPad. Like all the others, SketchyPad allows you to create wireframes and plans for your web designs on the go on your iPad. While the concept of what the app does is majorly the same as the others, SketchyPad does so with a little bit more color than the monochromatic-based elements of the others.
SketchyPad is in the App Store for $4.99.
Dropbox
Now we’re moving into the apps you can actually use in the creation stage of web design. Dropbox is more of a behind-the-scenes utility that can be used for syncing content between your multiple devices so a document on your iPad can be fully synced with your computer, and vice versa.
Dropbox is also integrated into some of the other apps on this list which has an almost-silent footprint on your workflow yet facilitates the syncing of your documents between devices.
Dropbox is a free app on the App Store and a free account will get you 2GB of storage space with paid, more spacious plans available.
Evernote
Evernote is a notetaking and archiving app that’s not web design-specific but can be used within a designer’s workflow. In web design, Evernote can be a great way of storing inspirational imagery and ideas to be later recalled across one of your connected devices.
This iPad app has been placed on a ton of honorable lists including the New York Times’ “Top 10 Must-Have Apps”. It is available for free on the App Store, with paid plans available for higher storage and other features, including offline notebooks.
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Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express is another app from Adobe which is less focused on creating new images (like Adobe Ideas) and more on editing existing ones. That means, should you be using your iPad as a web design device, it’s really simple to do some light image editing including cropping, rotation, exposure/saturation manipulation and applying borders and effects.
Adobe Photoshop Express is available on the App Store for free. There is a $4.99 in-app purchase too which gives you the “Adobe Camera Pack”, a set of tools for your phone/tablet/iPod camera.
Textastic
Textastic is a versatile text editing app for iPad, an app I used to use a lot. Textastic includes all the basic functionality of a good text editor such as syntax highlighting, line numbering, line/character count, previews and more.
Additionally, Textastic is one of those apps I previously mentioned with Dropbox support, allowing you to work on a site on your iPad and have it sync to your other devices (and vice versa).
Textastic is available in the App Store for $9.99.
Gusto
Like Textastic, Gusto is a code editing application that allows the iPad to become a real productivity platform. Many Mac-based web designers choose to use Coda, and Gusto shares many similar features including a “Sites”-esque file system that organizes your files by each of your different products.
Of course, just like Textastic, Gusto includes all the basic traits of a good code editor including syntax highlighting, line numbering etc. Gusto also includes built-in support for file transfer over FTP and SFTP which shares some of the benefits syncing over a service like Dropbox provides.
Gusto is available for $9.99 in the App Store.
Typography Insight
Good typography is a fundamental element of good web design, and, for that reason alone, Typography Insight should be in any good web designer’s iPad toolkit. The app has a bunch of tools for trying out and comparing different typefaces through methods such as typing in a font, looking at them with different levels of zoom enabled and measuring.
The comparison tools may be the best feature, however, allowing you to put fonts side-by-side and on top to make more educated decisions about what to use in your work.
Typography Insight is relatively cheaper than other apps on this list, selling for $1.99 in the App Store.
CSS3Machine
CSS3Machine is an iPad app for creating CSS styles and trying them out in a preview. With the app, you can create various CSS styles including transformations, gradients and more, and then transfer them to your computer over WiFi.
The app is in the App Store for $3.99.
.net: Practical Web Design
.net is a web design and development-focused magazine covering topics like CSS, PHP, JavaScript and HTML5 written by “many of the world’s most respected web designers and creative design agencies”.
.net is a magazine available in the App Store, and issues are priced at $6.99 or available through subscription plans for three months ($20.99), six months ($34.99) and one year ($64.99).
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Use a Website Builder APP to Create Your Website
There are plenty of website building apps in the iTunes store, so it won’t be a problem to find one. The question is which one to use? Which app is good for building a professional website? I found out that the app offered by Weebly is decent.
Weebly is a drag-and-drop site builder, which enables users to create a business site, blog or online shop. Weebly is very easy to use; it is perfect for beginners who don’t have any coding skills. The great thing about Weebly is that you can try it out for free.
Now let’s see how to get started with Weebly App. Go to the app store and search for the app, than install it to your iPad. Access the app and create a free account on Weebly to get access to their website builder. Once your account is ready, choose a theme that you like best. There are hundreds of high quality templates you can choose from. You can edit each part of these templates, so to reduce your effort, choose a design that has the layout you are looking for.
Now you can edit the text, change images, add new elements such as titles, paragraphs, maps, slideshows, videos, forms, buttons and much more, just tapping your iPad.
Once you are done editing your site, you can publish it to a sub-domain and you can view it online in Safari or other browser you have on your iPad.
Although you can try out the site builder app for free and also can publish your website, the free version is very limited in features. To create a professional website, you will need to upgrade to a premium plan, which starts at $8 monthly and includes a free domain for a year. This might be a good deal, but I have better option for you. Just keep reading!
Use a Browser Based Site Builder to Create Your Website
In this case, you don’t need to install anything to your iPad. You just need the Safari or other web browser and you are good to go.
For creating your website with an iPad or iPhone (or other smart phone), I highly recommend using the website builder offered by HostGator. This site builder is browser-based, so you don’t need to install anything to your device. The drag and drop functionality of this builder allows you to customize the layout, edit the content, change the design as you like. You can choose from thousands of templates.
The site builder offered by HostGator is easy to use, does not require you to know HTML or other programming, just with the tap of your fingers you will be able to create and publish a professional website in minutes.
This site builder has the option to create a blog as well to add products to your page, using the eCommerce functionality.
Currently HostGator is running a promotion, offering their hosting plan, which includes the site builder as well, for only $3 per month when subscribing for at least 12 months. The disadvantage is that you cannot try out the site builder for free; however HostGator offers a 45 day money back guarantee. If you don’t like their website builder or service you can ask for a refund.
Why is HostGator’s site builder a better choice than Weebly? Besides the fact that it costs less, you will also have the option to host not only one website. In fact there is no limit on how many websites you can create and publish with HostGator. On top of that, you will be able to create websites with other tools such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal, read further to find out how.
Use WordPress on Your iPad to Make a Website
WordPress is the most popular content management system that is powering over 75 million websites world-wide. You can use other systems as well to build your site using your iPad, but I choose to present you WordPress, because it is the simplest and is more user-friendly, while the others are more developer oriented.
The advantage of using WordPress to build your website is that you can create basically any type of site with it. Furthermore, WordPress is an open source software and is free to use. Building your site with a site builder software might be easier, but its functionality is limited, counter to WordPress.
While the site builder does not allow you to have access to the website code, with WordPress you can edit, customize and extend the functionality.
How can you build a website with WordPress on your iPad? First, I suggest checking out our tutorial on how to create a website with WordPress. The process of building a website on your iPad is very similar.
With WordPress, you don’t need to install any app to your device however you have this option as well. Whatever option you choose, you need to purchase a hosting plan that support WordPress and allows you to automatically install it to your website. You can also try out WordPress for free on WordPress.com, by creating an account there.
The WordPress App is available for IOS and Android, but unfortunately does not permit you to set up your website, it only allows to manage and publish new content. To set up your site, you will need a hosting account and you will have to purchase this using a web browser such as Safari.
Once you have your web hosting account ready, login to the control panel. You will receive all these information by email from the hosting provider you choose. You will also get a free domain name if you choose one of the above mentioned providers.
- HostGator: is a reliable web hosting provider for hosting small as well large WordPress websites. They also offer a site-builder with their hosting account. So choosing HostGator is a great solution to try out both: building your site with a builder or with WordPress.
- BlueHost: is the best for those users who want to create a larger website. At BlueHost you have the option to upgrade your hosting account to a larger, more powerful plan if you outgrow your current plan. Here you can also opt for managed WordPress hosting.
- InMotion: is another great solution for hosting small to large WordPress sites. Their support is also great, trained to help users with their WordPress issues.
In the control panel, you will have to look for the WordPress icon and install the software to your domain. This is a very simple task: just set the name for your site, choose admin login info (this will be used to edit your site), and tap the installation button. The installation process is automated, so you don’t have to do anything else.
Once the installation is ready, you can go to your website and access the WordPress admin dashboard. You have to do this in a web browser, while this is not an application. The link will look like this: yoursite.com/wp-admin, sure you need to replace the domain name with your own domain.
The WordPress admin dashboard is responsive, so it will look great on your iPad and on your iPhone too. I recommend using an iPad while configuring your site, just because the screen is bigger.
Now you can customize your WordPress site from your iPad:
- Change the design in Appearance > Themes menu
- Install the plugins you need in Plugins > Add New menu
- Setup the link structure of your site in Settings > Permalinks menu
- Add new posts or pages in Posts > Add New or Pages > Add New
- Manage media files, especially pictures in Media > Library menu
The standard WordPress installation does not have a page builder feature, but you can find several free as well paid WordPress page builders online, that can be installed to your website:
- BoldGrid – a great WordPress page builder, available for free with all shared plans at InMotionHosting
- WP Bakery – is a very popular page builder that costs $46 and works with almost any theme
- Awesome Builder – is another great drag and drop premium page builder for WordPress that costs $28
Why should you consider WordPress for your website? Unlike site builder apps, WordPress can be also edited on a desktop computer. For instance, if you choose to build your website from your iPad using an app, later on you won’t be able to edit it on a desktop computer, unless the app allows that (in most of the cases it doesn’t). While website builders are easier to use, they are very limited compared to WordPress. It is true that with a site builder you can customize every design element of the website, but the functionality cannot be extended. With WordPress you don’t have any limitation regarding the functionality or design of your website.
To further develop a WordPress site you might need some knowledge of PHP, HTML and CSS programming, but with the use of the plugins you can do basically anything, without touching the code.
Just to give you some examples that WordPress can offer but a site builder cannot: social network type website, forum type site, property or car listings site, classified ads, etc.
Conclusion
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