Keeping up with the never-ending stream of new web design tools is always a challenge. So we’ve done the hard work for you and rounded up the newest, most interesting and most useful tools on the market today. Here are our top picks for the best web design tools to help you build your site in 2018.
Table of Contents
Best Web Design Tools 2018
It’s still early in the year, so no doubt you’re keen to learn some new web design skills to carry you into 2018. We have various learning resources in this month’s round up of new web design tools, as well as tools that make it easier to do hard things, such as transition to CSS Grid, or build a progressive web app. As well as that there are colour tools, cheat sheets, and lots of little things that make life easier.
01. JavaScript Object Explorer
Instead of digging through the docs, use this tool by Sarah Drasner to find the object method you need. Use the drop-down menus to explain your situation and what you want, and you get a concise explanation of what you need as well as a link to the docs, should you want to delve deeper.
02. Workbox
This set of JavaScript libraries and Node modules from Google help you build better progressive web apps by making it easy to add offline support.
03. Kap 2.0
Kap is an open-source GIF and screen-recording app for MacOS. It’s great for capturing GIF, MP4, WebM and APNG files, and it exports easily to Giphy, Imgur, S3 or the clipboard. The newest release has some useful new features including trimming, plugins, full-screen capture and window capture.
04. Pigment
This colour palette tool is a good choice if you’re creating something with two main colours and you want to see how one stands out against the other. You can adjust the intensity of the colours as well as the lighting to get a different range of options, and each colour pair comes with two additional, related palettes.
05. Duotone
Duotone is another one from ShapeFactory that helps you to convert an image to a duotone. Select any two colours and drag the sliders to get real-time results.
06. Learn CSS Grid
With sponsorship from Mozilla, Wes Bos has created this video series for free that will get you well on your way to being proficient in CSS Grid in just four hours. The course consists of 25 videos and a collection of starter files and exercises to teach you how to use the new web layout system.
07. Basin
Save yourself the bother of writing form backends by using Basin instead. It’s easy to set up and has lots of useful features for handling submission data and tracking conversions including spam filtering, auto responses, CSV export and the facility for form-users to attach files.
08. CSS Gridish
This tool from IBM aims to make it easier for teams to take advantage of the power of CSS Grid sooner by creating several useful resources to smooth the transition. Check out this post to get an idea of what it can do for you.
09. Scrimba
Scrimba is a tool for teaching and learning code using interactive screencasts that enable users to play around with the code they’re learning. It’s a good platform if you have something you want to share, and also great for picking up new skills.
10. CSS Cheat Sheet
Your choice of CSS cheat sheet will come down to personal taste. But allow us to offer this one by Adam Marsden for your consideration: it’s nicely laid out and provides links to further detail on the Mozilla Developer Network.
best professional web design software
1. WordPress
Source: WordPress
WordPress powers 40% of websites around the world, and no wonder. This web builder offers thousands of pre-made themes and a high level of customization (thanks to its functionality and 50,000+ plugins), making it a perfect choice when building a website to fit your brand. WordPress also has an excellent content management system (CMS). It’s easy and straightforward to publish content in the blink of an eye. And word has it that it’s the best CMS for SEO.
WordPress offers a free plan. Paid plans start at $4/month.
2. Webflow
Source: Webflow
Webflow is an all-in-one responsive web design tool that folds a CMS, managed web hosting, and free SSL certificate all in one no-code platform. Build interactions and animations into your website, drag-and-drop unstyled HTML elements. Or make use of pre-built elements like sliders, tabs, and background videos. The tool features a master component library of core layouts, components, and patterns. Plus, Webflow gives you the ability to prototype and export code to hand off to developers if you don’t want to launch a site on its native subdomain.
Webflow starts free, with plans going up from $12/month on an annual basis.
3. Wix
Source: Wix
Wix is a user-friendly web design software for complete beginners. Don’t know where to start? Choose from over 800 templates or answer a few questions from Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI). ADI will automatically build a website based on your responses. To customize it, drag and drop elements on the screen and edit as you see fit.
Wix offers a free plan. Paid plans start at $4.50/month.
Additional options of a drag-and-drop website builder include Boxmode and Webwave.
4. Statamic
Say hello to Statamic, the CMS of the future. Built by developers for developers, this laravel-based and open-sourced CMS handles everything without any plugins. And by everything, we mean everything. Custom fields, navigation builder, search, you name it. Compared to other CMS, it’s easy to customize Statamic from the frontend. Its flat-file mode reduces complexity and makes maintenance a piece of cake. This is one cool web builder.
It’s free to use Statamic. Paid plans start at $259/site with an additional $59 for updates (free for the first year).
5. Ghost
Source: Ali Abdaal
Ghost is a simple professional publishing platform. In addition to the blogging tool’s standard features, Ghost also offers built-in memberships and email newsletters. Other great features include the minimalistic and powerful editor, site speed, and user-friendly and lightweight CMS. If you want to set up a membership website with zero hassle, look no further!
Ghost offers a 14-day free trial, with plans going up from $29/month when billed annually.
Conclusion
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