I’ll introduce you a collection of web design tools that will help you to create beautiful and usable websites.
When I started designing websites I was looking for inspiration, resources and web design tools to help me build the best projects. There were plenty of nice sites out there with a good selection of resources, but I found no single place where I could find everything I needed in one place.
So after many hours spent searching around the internet, I’ve decided to create one myself — a website dedicated to helping fellow designers with their work.
Cool Web Design Tools
Yeah, I know we all love to get to the basics to put the pencil on paper. But sometimes involving new web design tools in the process can help you to flow the creative juice all over the place.
It’s been a while since I have been involved in managing design and development processes. So while restoring my old habits, today I am sharing with you some amazing web design tools for web designers and design agencies to consider using to build or even relaunch a website.
I have divided the tools into 4 major categories. Each category represents a phase of the four basic stages of the design process.
A design process typically starts with brainstorming for samples, ideas, and color themes. As creative as the process can be, it can also be a dreadfully repetitive one. There are quite a few tools for web designers that can help when working on tasks that involve creating design mock-ups and then repeating the same design steps over and over.
Categories of Website Design Tools
Requirement Gathering/Collaborating
Trello
Slack
Web Design Tools for Wireframing/Mockups
Figma
Wireframe.cc
MockFlow
Balsamiq
Canva
GIMP
Pixel Dropr
Niice
Intuitive Color Picker
Google Fonts
Behance
Place It
Designmodo
Web Design Tools that Support Coding/Debugging
Bubble
Interplay
Eclipse
Invision
Creative Tim
Foundation
Codekit
Webflow
Deployment/Maintenance Tools
Cloudways
Get Your Design Proposal Template Here
Convert your clients more effectively with our template..
Email Address
I agree to the Cloudways Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
Collaboration tools for designers
Collaboration Tools for Designers
This is the first phase of the design process where communication with the client needs to be clear and precise. Most often, teams revert back to the client’s job brief to ensure that the requirements are clearly highlighted and communicated.
Let’s look at some tools for web designers and developers that help facilitate this real-time communication and make organizing information easy.
- Trello
Trello designer collaboration tool
Trello’s platform makes it simple and manageable to create spreadsheets, emails, and do tasks that involve major teamwork and collaboration.
Projects, tasks, and assignments are all transparent – all team members can see what everyone else is doing, as well as what tasks are pending by accessing the relevant board and cards. This makes for excellent productivity.
- Slack
Slack design collaboration tools
Slack is a single workspace that helps teams communicate in an organized way. For instance, communication between different teams in the digital agency and the client. Its multiple bots and app integrations help set up alerts and notifications when tasks are complete.
Slack also has some neat features for developers, such as the ability to share code snippets directly in the app, as well as notifications on change requests from customers and new bugs
You have the best web design tools. But, you also need fast hosting.
We are 4.8/5 on G2. With load times as low as 79ms, Cloudways is one of the fastest hosting providers out there.
Web Design Tools for Wireframing/Mockups
This is the second phase of the designing process is where the initial sketch and outline of the project are created. This helps structure the work and explain the user journey from the beginning to the desired actions.
Design mockup tools
Here, after the wireframing, mockups help create a visualization of how the end product will look so the client can see how close the end product is to the expected outcome according to the brief.
Let’s have a look at some of the best web design tools that help in creating clear and simple wireframes/mockups.
Read our blog on some of the Best Web Development Companies of 2022
- Figma
Figma wireframe and mockup design tools
This flexible design platform helps demonstrate designs over the web. Designers and developers working independently or in a digital agency should consider adding Figma to their web design tools inventory for easy collaboration and real-time feedback from their clients.
With Figma, there is no need for other third-party tools to enable the exchange of mockups or updates. What’s more, its in-app commenting feature eases design review feedback without the need for making constant design updates.
- Wireframe.cc
Wireframe.cc tools for designers
Wireframe.cc is a freemium web design tool that helps create simple wireframes for websites and mobile applications. Its minimalist design interface clearly demonstrates website elements, while removing distractions and clutter. Once the wireframe is complete, you can easily save the URL to show the client. - MockFlow
MockFlow design tool
An online wireframing and website layout tool, this helps create initial sketches for software and websites. MockFlow’s inventory of buttons, tabs, and graphics explains the flow between screens in an intuitive, easy-to-understand way. There are a variety of templates to choose from so designers and developers don’t have to start from scratch for every project. You can use this for creating a fantastic web development proposal for your clients. - Balsamiq
Blasmiq design tool
Balsamiq is a rapid wireframing software that helps explain mockups using a simple paper sketching style. This web designing tool simplifies the mockups, following a minimalist design principle that reduces any other distractions for clients and stakeholders. - Canva
Canva design tools
One of the more popular and accessible design tools, Canva helps you create quick images with the help of predefined, optimized templates. These customizable templates allow you to play with images and colors and easily create visuals, social media graphics, presentations, and posters. Further simplifying the process is the tool’s drag and drop interface and a premium library of graphical content. - GIMP
GIMP design tools
A Graphical Image Manipulation Program like GIMP, that’s light on the computer’s RAM, is a popular freemium tool to add to the inventory of web design tools. While it may not be as technically sophisticated as Photoshop, it’s a nifty little tool when it comes to explaining an idea in a presentation or retouching an image before uploading it on a blog post. - Pixel Dropr
pixeldropr design tool
Pixel Dropr is a Photoshop plugin among the popular web design tools created by UI Parade. The concept behind the Pixel Dropr is to ease out the web design process by grouping all commonly-used UI elements in one plugin.
By using this plugin, web designers can create a group of buttons, icons, vectors, and other web elements. These web elements can be dropped and dragged into any PSD file directly from Photoshop.
- Niice
Niice design tool
Niice is sort of a search engine for designers. It gathers results from Behance, Designspiration, and Dribble. If you’re looking for creative inspiration, just dig here and you won’t be disappointed. I recommend that you try searching for responsive web designs. - Intuitive Color Picker
Intuitive Color Picker Wireframe tool
Intuitive Color Picker online color picker tool. When it loads, the whole browser gets filled with color. You can move your mouse left to right to change the hue and up and down to adjust the brightness and change the saturation with scroll. You can choose a color theme and click on the screen to save that color and continue with the second color. You can create a whole collection of colors. Here’s a screenshot that shows how it works. - Google Fonts
Google Fonts for designers
Among many web design tools, Google Fonts is a popular option that helps you to enable a font type on your website with a simple one-line code. It contains a huge collection of fonts best optimized for the web. Follow these 3 simple steps:
Choose
Review
Use
- Behance
Behance Mockup tool for design
Behance is the leading online webpage designing tool for creative designers that work independently or with an agency. You can showcase your work to the world and find relevant works created by other designers.
It helps designers to update all their work in one place and broadcast it widely. It helps companies and agencies to explore creativity and find the right talent globally.
- Place It
Place it mockup design tool
Place It is a drag and drop website layout tool that helps to place your product screenshots in a realistic environment. You can use this app to tell your product story in seconds with real-life examples. You will love it, give it a try! - Designmodo
designmodo
Designmodo offers tools to create websites and email newsletters. There are two website builders: Slides and Startup. The latter is based on the Bootstrap framework. Users can create custom websites using these two builders and launch them via a host. Postcards is an email newsletter builder. It’s a no-code tool that you can use to create engaging newsletters. You can choose from different templates and save them for use later.
Web Design Tools that Support Coding/Debugging
Once the wireframing and mockups are approved, work starts on the real code behind the application and the script. Documentation at this time can get tricky to maintain along with the alterations to the code. Hence, it’s important to maintain both these tasks in parallel.
The work is not yet complete until a prototype is created and tested. This is where the application is tested and improved until it meets the satisfactory expectation as per the brief.
Coding tools for designers
The following tools help developers work in a streamlined and organized way.
- Bubble
Bubble design tool
Bubble helps create functional and data-driven web applications. Its point-and-click editor helps developers build, design, and customize web applications depending on their requirements. - Interplay
interplay design tool
A lot of designers and developers use Interplay to communicate and collaborate with the team. This webpage designing tool integrates with code and helps create documentation that’s easy for members of the team to follow. - Eclipse
Eclipse design tools
Eclipse is a Java Integrated Development Environment that helps you easily combine languages such as C/, C++, and PHP IDE. Developers can make use of the Eclipse Marketplace to integrate extensions and customizations without worrying about repeatedly diving into the code and testing it. - Invision
invision design tool
InVision is the world’s leading design prototyping and collaboration platform. This webpage designing tool transforms designs into interactive prototypes with proper transitions, animations, and working buttons without any HTML process involved.
It helps designers to sell their ideas by using real-time design presentations and collaborations. It allows clients to click through the design and experience the live demo before starting the development process.
- Creative Tim
Creative Tim.
Creative Tim creates fully coded UI Kits and dashboard templates built on top of Bootstrap, Vue.js, React, Angular, Tailwind, Node.js, Laravel, and many other technologies. You can use their templates to build web and mobile apps faster and easier.
Creating a web design from scratch by yourself is time-consuming, and hiring web designers to do it can be very expensive. With Creative Tim’s web templates, you don’t have to worry about interface design. Plus, you save time and money and can focus on other aspects of your web project or business.
- Foundation
foundation design tools
Foundation is a nifty web layout tool to develop a responsive front-end framework. It allows developers and designers to create responsive and faster websites for better user experience. Now it’s crazy fast for web designers to code and build apps, products, and services in no time. - Codekit
Codekit design tool
CodeKit is a design tool software that helps to build your website faster and better on Mac. It compiles everything automatically including typescript, Haml, Less, Sass, Stylus, CoffeeScript, slim, Markdown, and Javascript. You can also auto-refresh the browsers through this software and you never have to hit the Command+R again. Isn’t it cool? - Webflow
Webflow design tool
Webflow is a website-building tool for web designers. You can use the drag-and-drop feature to create a custom-made website without using any code. It’s a handy tool for those creative web designers who don’t like to code to create an entire website.
Deployment/Maintenance Tools
The next and final phase of this design process is making changes to the live website. This can be time-consuming as it may require major collaboration and quality assurance. Hence, this is where documentation helps maintain a log to know the version and alternation of the live website.
Cloudways
Cloudways gives freelancers, professional developers, designers, and digital agencies the leeway to collaborate with team members, test changes, and publish their projects and work. I’ll be elaborating on some of the ways it does so.
Cloudways Staging
Cloudways staging for designers
When it comes to testing out changes on a website, Cloudways offers an isolated staging area. This means that changes on the website can be beta tested to prevent the live website from breaking and costing the business. When the new changes are functioning as expected, these changes can then be pushed onto the live website.
Cloudways Hosting
Cloudways offers its customers the choice of using five industry-leading infrastructure providers (AWS. GCE. DigitalOcean, Linode, and Vultr) depending on their performance requirement and budget. It also gives its customers the flexibility of using popular web applications (such as WordPress, Magento, Laravel, and all the PHP based applications) based on business requirements.
For designers and developers, Cloudways erases the headaches involved in hosting and managing servers so you can focus entirely on creating and developing applications and websites for your clients.
Cloudways Teams
The Teams Feature helps Cloudways account owners give access to specific external parties to an application or their Cloudways Platform. The account owner can manage multiple teams using just one email address for breezy collaboration. For designers and developers especially, this simplifies the process of teams working together on a single platform.
Cloudways team collaboration foe designers
On the platform, you can give three kinds of access;
Billing Access to view, download, and pay invoices.
Support Access to create and manage support tickets
Cloud Console Access that’s either Limited or Full Access to the Cloudways Platform
In a Nutshell
This listicle has some of the popular web design tools that are used by design professionals and experts. I’ve compiled this list of design and development tools based on reviews from G2 – an incredible source for business software and services reviews.
I’ve covered tools that come in handy during each phase of the design process, from collaboration, wireframing and mockups, coding and debugging, to pushing changes to the live website.
best web design tools
The best web design software makes it simple and easy to build a website, either by offering a coding platform, or a drag-and-drop interface.
It used to be the case that the only option was to code a website directing, using HTML & CSS and even JavaScript. However, these days drag-and-drop editors have become much more commonplace, making it a breeze for anyone to customize or even build their own website.
Whichever option you prefer, all of them make it easier to build in the elements you require on your website, and can work with additional tools such as form builders, image hosting, and even content delivery networks (CDN).
In this guide we have focused on the best web design tools currently available on the market. Similar to the best website builder services, when weighing up which to include, we focus on ease of use, supported web languages, cost, and how easy the tools make it to upload the finished project once you are done.
These are the best web design software services of 2022
Website screenshot for Wix
(Image credit: Wix)
- Wix
The best web design software for beginners
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Wix Pro
$23/mth
Wix Connect Domain
$3.54/mth
VISIT SITE
at Wix
REASONS TO BUY
+
Very easy to use
+
No coding required
+
Huge range of powerful features
+
Yet still highly user-friendly
Wix is more of a website builder than a coding platform, but it is one of the most popular online website creators, offering a range of plans and products. The free version has Wix branding, limited storage space and bandwidth, but move up to the most popular plan (unlimited) and there’s no Wix ads.
An excellent collection of 500 plus templates gets the design process off to a quick start. The drag-and-drop editor gives you all kinds of tools and features to explore – an image editor, video backgrounds, animations, social buttons, an integrated site blog – and just about everything can be tweaked, tuned and restyled. Furthermore, as of recently, Wix introduced Wix Turbo, which increases the speed and performance of websites substantially.
All the core editing functions are really smartly designed, and operate more like a native app than your average website builder. Wix does have some weaknesses, with tech support seeming a little sluggish and limited in some respects. But there’s no denying that the superb editor and range of top-notch templates make it easy for web building novices to create something impressive.
Read our full Wix review to find out why it’s the best web design software on the market.
Website screenshot for Adobe Dreamweaver
(Image credit: Adobe)
- Adobe Dreamweaver
The best web design software for professionals
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+
Customize your design
+
Build a responsive design
+
HTML5 support
REASONS TO AVOID
Not cheap
Adobe Dreamweaver is a long-established app that allows you to code your website design directly, without having to know too much about programming. The software works through a mix of visual editing and HTML editing, which means it shouldn’t have too steep a learning curve for most users.
Additionally, while coding your own website design requires you to put in more effort than simply using an existing ready made template, at least you have the chance to ensure you get the look you actually want, rather than trying to work around someone else’s design specifications.
A particularly good feature of Dreamweaver is that it allows you to produce a responsive design, which means your website can be optimized to display on desktops as well as mobile devices, without limiting the user experience.
However, if you are a more advanced user you may be pleased to note that Dreamweaver provides multi-monitor support for Windows. It also supports the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) to work with HTML5 elements and CSS grids. Additionally, there’s also support for Git to allow you to edit source code directly from within Dreamweaver.
Dreamweaver is available as part of Adobe’s mid-range packaged app subscription service, Creative Cloud, which also includes Photoshop.
Read our full Adobe Dreamweaver review
Website screenshot for WordPress
(Image credit: WordPress)
- WordPress
The best custom option for beginners
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+
Easy to install and use
+
Many available features
+
Pre-built website templates
REASONS TO AVOID
Watch out for spam
WordPress is an alternative way to set up and design your website, being rather different to the other offerings we’ve highlighted here because it’s actually a content management system (CMS). The power here is that it is a simple matter to set up a website in minutes. Indeed, many web hosting packages include a one-click install of WordPress from their Control Panel, but even without that, WordPress is relatively easy to install.
Once installed, the backend for administration and management is very user-friendly. You can use the existing WordPress design templates for your website, but more likely you will want to download and install an existing free or premium WordPress template – all of which can be done with just a few clicks.
Even if you would prefer to work with your own design, you can often do so using drag-and-drop functions, usually from a downloaded design with an in-built framework. This can allow you to create a professional-looking website without having to learn programming or coding at all.
Better still, there are so many free add-ons available to download and install, often requiring nothing more than a few clicks. This makes the whole process of customizing your website very simple, and it does not require any professional skills.
Overall, WordPress is a very easy CMS to use, and can provide a very quick way to get any form of website online fast. The huge variety of template designs and additional community supported features mean that getting something which is near the mark of what you want isn’t hard at all. Just ensure that in the settings you select to turn off comments so as to avoid spam.
Read our full WordPress review
Website screenshot for Weebly
(Image credit: Weebly)
- Weebly
The DIY e-commerce website
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Weebly Starter
$5/mth
Weebly Pro
$12/mth
Weebly Business
$25/mth
VISIT SITE
at Weebly
REASONS TO BUY
+
Professional look
+
Mobile-friendly
+
Easy to personalize
Weebly is another online CMS, this time targeted at people with little or no coding experience, by providing easy to use drag and drop tools for creating a website. Weebly also provides the ability for users to create online stores using existing templates to work with their simply website-building framework.
The number of themes available for Weebly is somewhat limited, but the designs are clean and professional-looking, plus there are options to personalize accordingly. Additionally, the themes are responsive, which means they are optimized to work with mobile devices, plus they have in built SEO, analytics, and even a feature for posting ads directly to Facebook.
There’s a free tier available for basic use, and allows you to get used to the service. However, to use your own domain and get rid of ads, you’ll need the Professional plan.
Read our full Weebly review
Website screenshot for Webflow
(Image credit: Webflow)
- Webflow
Cloud-based offering that needs no coding knowledge
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+
Drag and drop GUI
+
Truly cross-platform
REASONS TO AVOID
Interface takes time to master
Webflow is a cloud-based service which has been created specifically to allow people with no coding knowledge to get started with web design.
Aside from being truly cross-platform, as it’s web-based, Webflow emphasizes the concept of ‘smart codelessness’. In the first instance this means a crisp drag and drop interface allowing you to drop elements such as text and images seamlessly onto a page using one of the freely available templates.
Unlike many WYSIWYG editors, the code produced is very clean and well-written even if you choose the ‘I have no coding experience’ option during setup. Webflow’s automation tool will create the necessary HTML/CSS code for you. You can make granular changes to individual elements using the panels on the right.
Webflow offers a free demonstration of its features via the website, and you can also subscribe for a free Starter package which allows you to create up to two projects.
Read our full Webflow review
Website screenshot for Bluefish
(Image credit: Bluefish)
- Bluefish
Lightweight and easy to use web coding platform
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+
Lightweight and quick
+
Use advanced code via wizards
REASONS TO AVOID
No visual interface
Bluefish is among the smallest web design tools available today. The tiny installer takes only a few moments to setup. While the interface is text-only, it’s clearly designed with novices in mind as it employs clear-cut toolbars, user customizable menus and syntax highlighting.
While the main focus is on HTML, Bluefish supports a huge range of other languages including PHP, Java, JavaScript, SQL, XML and CSS. Unlike visual WYSIWYG web design tools, the text interface makes for much cleaner code.
Bluefish has an excellent search function, allowing you to find text across multiple projects. The tool also has no trouble juggling hundreds of documents at the same time. Although Bluefish supports working with remote files, the varied and useful dialogs and wizards don’t currently support direct upload of web pages via FTP.
Despite the best efforts of the developers, Bluefish may take some time to get used to. The tool is available free of charge, however, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a try.
Website screenshot for Visual Studio Code
(Image credit: Microsoft)
- Visual Studio Code
A text editor from Microsoft
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+
Customizable
+
Loads of integrations
+
Source control tools
Visual Studio Code (or VScode) has become popular among developers – the ones who aren’t put off by the fact that it’s a Microsoft product, anyway. It offers a variety of packages and free extensions that can be downloaded from its marketplace to add additional features – and the code editor itself can be customized.
While a lot of people may be intimated by the idea of coding if they have no programming experience, at some point in the web design process it can be important to be able to edit code directly. This is particularly helpful if you want to customize code for existing software add-ons in order to get the features you want for your website. Visual Studio Code can help make the process less painful by providing a dedicated platform for coding.
Visual Studio Code sports its own terminal and debugger, supports linting, and has integration with all manner of source control tools. It especially offers good support for Javascript and Python, making it potentially useful not just for coding the frontend of a website but also potentially some backend functions as well.
Read our full Virtual Studio Code review
Other web design tools you might find useful
If you’re involved in web design, the chances are you’ll also need some graphic design skills and assets. Here we’ll look at a couple of other resources and assets you’ll properly need to help with your website design process:
- Graphics program
You don’t need anything too expensive or fancy unless you’re chasing a career in graphic design or illustration. However, you’ll probably find yourself wanting to create simple logos, headings, text features, as well as manipulate photos, all as part of your website design.
There are a lot of different packages out there, from GIMP which is a completely free software platform, to older software such as Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro which remains a competent program that can be bought on the cheap at Amazon.
Alternatively, check out these other features for the latest in best, and sometimes free, software you might want to use:
Best drawing and painting software
Best graphic design software
The best free photo editor
- Stock photos
On top of creating your own graphics, there’s also a good chance you’ll want to use stock photos to really give your website a professional look.
Stock photos are available on almost any subject matter, and on top of that there are also an increasing number of stock video websites, in case you want to add video media.
Even better is that there are a number of free stock image and video websites, but be advised that these tend to be much more limited than paid-for stock image sites.
Here you can check out some of our features on these, to help you choose the best ones:
The best free stock photo sites
The best free stock video sites
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Check out other publications to gain access to more digital resources if you are just starting out with Flux Resource.
Also contact us today to optimize your business(s)/Brand(s) for Search Engines