If you’re building a website, you don’t necessarily need to know how to write code. A growing number of do-it-yourself web design software tools are making it easy for anyone to create an attractive, professional-looking site.
There are tools available for everything from simple blogs and informational sites that don’t require any commerce capabilities to full-scale ecommerce sites that integrate with other systems. Many services also offer help with search engine optimization (SEO) — including finding the right keywords to include on your site, optimizing your page titles and meta descriptions, and more.
These tools have made it easier than ever to create websites quickly and easily without writing any code. But not every service is created equal — here’s an overview of some of the most popular services available today.
Do It Yourself Web Design Software
If you’re searching for a good web design software – you’re probably feeling a bit lost (and maybe a bit scared) on how to build a website that people won’t laugh at…
Some questions that you have might include:
“I feel DUMB because I don’t even know where to get started.”
“People tell me I have to HAVE to learn code, but I really don’t want to.”
“I was born with NO design talent whatsoever! I know it when I see something nice, but I have trouble designing ANYTHING from scratch.”
“I’m WAY too busy with other things in life. I want a web design software that’s easy to use, and can make my website look good.”
Web Design SoftwareHere’s the counter-intuitive thing. Building your first website doesn’t have to be so scary.
It’s actually easier than you were led to believe.
This statement would have been absolutely false a few years ago – but with modern web design software that’s widely available to you today, you can actually build a pretty decent website without having to commit a lot of time, or even go to a coding school.
Don’t believe me?
Think about how far technology has improved over the past decade to make your life easier than ever. Smartphones, online shopping, streaming videos, etc.
With Uber, you no longer have to extend your arm and wave like a crazy person just to flag down a cab. The driver comes to you after you just click a button.
With Airbnb, you can actually live in someone else’s home half way around the world, all with just a few clicks online. You now have the option to not live in expensive hotels when you’re traveling.
They even have self-driving cars for goodness sakes!!
So is it really that outrageous to believe that building websites can actually be easy with modern technology?
With the right website design software, you can now tap into technology (that’s easy to use) to help you create a good looking website.
It’s possible, and it’s easier than you think!
Here is a sneak peak summary of the modern web design software on the market and how they can help you build your website:
The Best Website Design Software
Wix – easy to use editor with great support, beautiful templates and innovative features and apps, free plans available or from $4.50/mo
Squarespace – a design oriented website builder, with templates that look good on all devices, from $12/mo
Weebly – Weebly – very user-friendly editor with pre-designed page layouts to help you get started, free plans available or from $8/mo
logo-wix-100×100
Best All-Around
4.8out of 5
TOP CHOICE
Ease of Use
5 out of 5 stars
Template Design
4.5 out of 5 stars
Features & Flexibility
4.5 out of 5 stars
Popularity
5 out of 5 stars
Pricing
5 out of 5 stars
Read Our Full Review
squarespace logo
Best Design Oriented
4.6out of 5
Ease of Use
4 out of 5 stars
Template Design
5 out of 5 stars
Features & Flexibility
5 out of 5 stars
Popularity
4.5 out of 5 stars
Pricing
4.5 out of 5 stars
Read Our Full Review
weebly_logotype
Easiest to Use
4.4out of 5
Ease of Use
5 out of 5 stars
Template Design
4 out of 5 stars
Features & Flexibility
4.5 out of 5 stars
Popularity
4.5 out of 5 stars
Pricing
4.5 out of 5 stars
Read Our Full Review
1
Benefits of Modern Web Design Software
2
The Old vs New Way of Building Websites
3
Web Design Software – They’re Darn Easy to Use
4
You Don’t Have to Worry About Design or How to Make Your Website Look Good
5
Sorry, But You Won’t Have to Deal with Hosts and Servers
6
What If I Need a Bit of Handholding & Support?
7
Web Design Software Pricing – Is it Worth the Investment?
8
Conclusion – You No Longer Have to Stress About How to Build a Website
9
Web Design Software – The FAQs
Choose a website builder and make money online today
What type of site do you want to build?
build a website
build an online store
WEBSITE
ONLINE STORE
1
Benefits of Modern Web Design Software
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Easy to use – just drag & drop, no coding required.
Professionally designed templates for you to use.
All technical maintenance work is taken care of for you.
24/7 dedicated support teams.
Affordable pricing.
Just to show you how easy it is to create a professional looking website we created a challenge to see if a novice with no website building experience could build a website in under an hour using web design software:
Now that you have a sense of the web design softwares and what they’re capable of, let’s dig into how these website design software are different (and better) than the old school way of building websites.
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The Old vs New Way of Building Websites
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“You can build your entire website online nowadays. There’s no need to install anything anymore. Just log into the web design software (like Gmail) and you’re ready to start. Anyone can do this – even if you’re not computer savvy.”
In the good ol’ days (actually, it’s not that long ago), if you wanted to get a taxi, you’d have to call them.
You find the number on your phone, call, tell them where and when to meet you, wait, hop in the cab and pay at the end of the trip while fumbling around with a bunch of change.
That sure is a lot of work… compared to opening the Uber app, clicking a button, get in the car, get out of the car, and that’s it.
You see, Uber is a service – They are there to make life easier for you.
The same is true for web design software nowadays. They’re services, and not just a product like in the old days.
These software services are here to make building websites easy for you, so you can move on to other important things in your life
Back in the days, you’d have to walk into a store and buy a website design software that comes in a box.
In the box, there are CDs for you to install into your computer.
web design software – old way
Oh GAWD…. is this HURTING your eyes too?? How did people EVER work with this??
After you spend 2 hours trying to install the program (and countless Windows pop up that says you have to update this or install that driver), you’ll have to drag your eyes through a thick technical manual on how to actually use it.
Yeah, it’s sooo primitive! Remember those days? If you’re younger, then ask your parents. They’ll tell how badly that sucked!
It’s like running to the payphone around the corner just to call your friend. So ghetto!
Website builders nowadays are all online based. So you don’t need to buy any CDs, you don’t need to download any files. You just type in a website address into your web browser, sign up online and you can start building your first website.
You don’t have to worry about coding, you don’t have to stress about how to make your website actually appear online on the internet. The website builder takes care of all that technical stuff for you.
We’ll get into more details of how they work below.
Remember, web design software nowadays is services.
This means they’ve designed technology to make things easy for you, and have full-time support teams to help you.
Just like how Uber makes going from point A to point B easier, and how Airbnb makes traveling easier, and cheaper, these software’s entire goal is to make website creation easy for you.
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Web Design Software – They’re Darn Easy to Use
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“If you can drag things around your screen with your mouse, you can build websites with web design software. They’ve made it easy (and code free), that even a grandma can do it.”
Back in the days, if you weren’t technical, or if you didn’t have a best friend named Bill Gates that just happened to know how to code, you’re crap out of luck.
Not only that, you have to set up your own server to host your website so your website can actually exist on the internet.
It feels like you need to go through another 4 years of school just to be able to build a simple website.
AND, that doesn’t even guarantee that your website will look remotely good! The last thing you need is to spend months building a website and have it look as if you pieced it all together in the dark.
Ewww…
Web design software nowadays is DEAD easy to use — and they make your design look good.
It’s almost like laying on your couch while messaging your friends on your phone to say “what’s up”, instead of using a dirty payphone 4 blocks away at the gas station.
Software such as Wix, Squarespace or Weebly do all the heavy lifting for you.
You literally just have to log into the web software, and you’re ready to build.
There’s no setting up, no updates, and more importantly, no need to bake cookies to make friends with a coding guru.
You can drag content (like text, pictures, videos) around your website without ever touching one line of code.
Web Design software – drag & drop
Drag & Drop – it’s as easy as it looks
You don’t have to mess around with hosting or server stuff.
These web design software, like all the other new technology nowadays, make life easier for you.
Don’t believe me? Just sign up to any one of the leading web design software and give it a test drive (signing up is free).
If you are unsure about which is best for you, take our short quiz to get recommendations tailored to your needs:
website builder quiz
It’ll surprise you how effortless it is nowadays to make your own website, compared to just a few years ago!
We’ll go over some of my favorites later below.
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You Don’t Have to Worry About Design or How to Make Your Website Look Good
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“Web design software give you great looking design templates to give you a head start. You don’t have to be great at design at all.”
Let’s face it, building a website is one thing. Making it look GOOD is another thing.
The last thing you want is for someone to look at your website, and say, “hmmm, it’s nice…”
We all KNOW what that means!
Here’s the problem. Even if you got around all the technical headaches of building a website, you still have to make it look good.
Think of a Ferrari or a hot sports car of your choice. The engineering marvel that sits under the hood is a lot less sexy if the shell sitting on top of it looked like an ugly square box.
The car has to look good, right? Nobody wants to own the best engine money can buy, and be caught dead cruising in a square box down the highway.
You’re not going to earn any swag points with that.
Looks MATTER and you know it. Just keeping it real.
So how do web design software solve this problem for you?
They give you a good collection of professional looking design templates, so you can start off on the right foot so to speak, instead of staring at a blank canvas without know where to even start.
website Design software – example
Here’s an example of the caliber of templates these web design software give you.
You can browse through their design libraries, narrow down to your favorite one, and use that as a starting point to build out your website.
Staring at a white blank page, and not knowing where to start, is a terrible feeling especially if you’re not good with design.
With these designs, you can have a great looking website without having to be a rockstar designer.
Instead of “hmmm, that’s nice….”, your friends will be saying, “Whoa, how did YOU do that??”
You may not be a rockstar designer, but you can certainly feel like one!
Take a look at a few leading web design software’s design templates you’ll see what I mean:
Wix
Wix has over 500 designs covering a broad range of industries – so you’ll have a really good chance of finding something for your own industry. Their templates come with pre-populated designs so you can just swap in your content to get started really quickly.
Web Design software – Wix templates
Click to see Wix’s design templates
Further, their designs are also very up-to-date with the latest design trends. For example, you can build 1-pager parallax designs, insert background videos, create different background sections, all without touching any codes (just drag & drop). You can see them in action here.
Squarespace
Although Squarespace doesn’t have that many templates, all of their designs look really professional and polished. It’s a classic case of quality over quantity. Your website will look as if you paid someone thousands of dollars to custom design for you.
Click to see Squarespace’s design templates
Weebly
Weebly doesn’t have as many templates as Wix, and their designs are not as updated as Squarespace’s (but they’re getting closer), but they’ve really come a long way in improving their collection. They have some pretty good ones, and you can expect even better ones to come in the near future.
web Design Software – Weebly templates
Click to see Weebly’s design templates
As you can see, these software provide you with an amazing collection of design templates – so you don’t have to be afraid that your website will look bad. If you haven’t done so yet, click on the images above to see for yourself!
Why You Should NOT Hire A Designer – you really don’t have to hire a designer especially if you are just starting out. See our detailed discussion on why this is better for you, especially if you are just starting out.
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Sorry, But You Won’t Have to Deal with Hosts and Servers
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“You used to have to deal with all the technical tasks like hosting and security updates. Not anymore. They’re all taken care of for you.”
It’s a sad day… and I’m not talking about restaurant hosts and servers (lamest joke of the day…)
I mean, why wouldn’t you want to torture yourself with technical manuals about how to setup, configure and tweak servers so you can host your website online? It’s not like you have better things to do…
Website design software nowadays is all online. So you don’t have to worry about how to keep your website on the internet.
Just log into the software, insert your content using their drag & drop technology (no coding required), and click publish.
They’ve made it dead simple for you.
You might not get a badge of honor for learning how to setup and tweak servers. The opposite sex might not get a chance to drool over your tech prowess. [Sad faces all around]
What you will have, is a good looking website – published, so you can move on and take care of other things in your life.
All the back end technical matters are managed for you by the software providers.
Remember what I mentioned above? These software are services. They’re here to serve its users (you), so you can actually enjoy the process.
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What If I Need a Bit of Handholding & Support?
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Using a web design software to build your own website is not like buying tools and materials from Home Depot, where you’re largely left to figure things out on your own with minimal instructions.
When you build your website with these software, they give you 24/7 support.
In addition to with extensive help guides online so you can search for answers, they offer different channels of personal assistance as well:
Wix: Phone / Email
Squarespace: Live Chat / Email
Weebly: Phone / Live Chat / Email
Just to give you an idea of the level of support you can expect, here is the support statistics for Squarespace from 2016:
web design software – squarespace support
Support statistics for Squarespace in 2016
As easy as these software are to use, being able to get proper support gives you a bit more confidence in your ability to use them to build a good, functional website. Agree?
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Web Design Software Pricing – Is it Worth the Investment?
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“Technology is getting cheaper & cheaper. The same goes for web design software – the monthly fee is very affordable.”
I’ll get right to it. Building your own website is not expensive anymore.
In fact, fueling your daily Starbucks habit is 20x – 30x more expensive per month than getting started with a website design software.
Those darn triple, venti, half-sweet, skinny, low foam, soy caramel macchiatos.
In fact, some of the best software allow you to build a full website for free. They don’t even impose a time limit as to how long you can keep using them.
The catch is that if you want more tools, or be able to customize certain things, you’ll need to subscribe to a premium plan.
But you can get started with a premium plan for as low as $5 per month. There are no hidden fees.
You’ll just have to give up a fancy cup of (fake) coffee for 1 day. I’m sure you can handle that.
Of course, the higher the plan, the more features you get access to.
But in my opinion, the web design software below give you all the necessary tools to publish a functional website, even with their lowest plans.
Keep in mind that you also get access to their support teams and that their technical guys will manage all the technical matters for you, so you don’t have to.
YOUR BUILDER
FEATURES
FREE* PLAN
PAID PLAN
logo-wix-100×100
Free of Adverts
Personal Domain
Unlimited Bandwidth
Read Pricing Review
squarespace logo
Free of Adverts
Personal Domain
Unlimited Bandwidth
Read Pricing Review
weebly_logotype
Free of Adverts
Personal Domain
Unlimited Bandwidth
Read Pricing Review
*Squarespace offers a 14 day free trial so you can try before you buy.
Here are the pricing charts to Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly. Just click on them to see their pricing pages so you get a sense of what’s included:
Wix
Wix actually has a VIP plan that gives you premium support with their own dedicated VIP support line. But it’s not something you have to sign up to yet. If you’re interested in using Wix, you can start with a lower plan, get your website up and running, then upgrade later if you want to.
Web design software – Wix pricing
Click to see more pricing details
Keep in mind that you can sign up and use Wix for free, and they don’t impose any time limit on you.
Squarespace
Squarespace has a wide range of plans for different users.
Note that with all 4 plans, not only can you create unlimited pages, you also have access to Squarespace’s Cover Pages which enables you to create 1-pagers for your website. 1-pagers are quite popular nowadays where you can layout your content in multiple sections on a single page set up.
The higher plans ($26 / $40) are dedicated to ecommerce websites. So if you’re interested in building an online store, those are options you should look at.
Web design software – squarespace pricing
Click to see more pricing details
Weebly
Weebly’s highest plans (Business & Performance Plan) is dedicated for people who want to focus on building an online store. If your website won’t be used to sell anything, then the Starter or Pro plan should be enough.
Note that you can still sell products through their Starter or Pro plans, but the ecommerce features available to you are limited. But it’s a good way to get started to test things out.
Web design software – weebly pricing
Click to see more pricing details
Remember, all of them are free for you to try.
You can test them out for free, and if you feel comfortable, sign up to one of their plans.
I would suggest starting with a lower plan, and work your way up. You can always upgrade later without over-committing yourself.
Cost of Building a Website – if you’re interested in hearing our own trials & experiences.
We mentioned a few website builders above. If you’re curious, here are more in-depth discussion about their pros & cons and how they can help you:
Wix Review
Squarespace Review
Weebly Review
Or, if you want to dive straight in:
Try Wix for Free
Try Squarespace for Free
Try Weebly for Free
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Conclusion – You No Longer Have to Stress About How to Build a Website
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I hope that this article showed you that you no longer have to be afraid of building your (first) website.
Modern technology has transformed how a lot of things work, including website building.
Just think about it this way. Keeping in touch with your friends and family is so easy nowadays through Facebook or other social channels.
If you’re lazy, you can get groceries or hot meals delivered directly to your front door with a few clicks.
Amazon delivering products to you using drones. Self-driving cars. Artificial intelligence.
Given how advanced technology is nowadays, being able to build websites easily and hassle free – sounds pretty low-tech in the grander scheme of things.
So you better believe it – Building websites is easy nowadays.
With leading web design software such as Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly you no longer have to be comfortable with technology (such as coding, or managing a server).
They’ve made it very easy for you to just login into their software online, and drag and drop your way to publishing a website.
You also don’t have to stress about design, as they all offer you collections of great looking design templates. These templates will give you a head start so even your friends will be impressed (even if you’re not good with design).
Using these software is not expensive either. If you can afford a cocktail on a night out, you can definitely afford taking advantage of these website builders.
Don’t forget that they have dedicated support teams to help you out as well. So that will give you the confidence to embark on your web creation journey.
If you’re interested in finding out more about some of these software, here is a comparison chart where we’ve highlighted some of their key differences for you.
Happy website building!
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9
Web Design Software – The FAQs
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What is the easiest web design software?
If you’re looking for a very straightforward and smooth website building experience, you really can’t go wrong with Weebly. Their editor is easy to use and very quick to get to grips with.
While this is true, we recommend having a play with a couple of website builders before settling on your final choice. You want to make sure the one you choose really is easy for you to use.
Which web design software has the best customer support?
Both Wix and Weebly have fantastic customer support available. We really like Wix’s Help Center – they have an answer for almost anything!
What is the cheapest web design software?
Both Wix and Weebly offer free plans so you can get started for nothing! They do both offer reasonably priced paid premium plans that are really worth considering if you want to give your site that extra boost!
Which web design software has the best templates?
Squarespace is well-known as a design-focused website builder. Their templates all have the ability to make your website look amazingly professional.
Another website builder with impressive templates is Wix – they have a range of over 510 so you’re spoilt for choice!
Which web design software is the most mobile-friendly?
Squarespace’s templates are all mobile responsive which means they look stunning on all devices with little or no effort from you.
Also, Wix has a separate mobile editor which gives you control of how your site looks on mobile. This means you can update and tweak things on the mobile version of your site independently from the desktop version if you need to.
best professional web design software
The very best web design software is essential to make your work run smoothly and efficiently. As such it’s worth taking the time to review your design toolkit once in a while, to make sure you’re not missing a trick. After all, if a new web design tool can make even a small improvement to the speed you complete your work, it could save you serious time and money in the long term.
In this article, we highlight the best web design software available today that range from website builders to Adobe design apps. All are best-in-class, and should boost your productivity. To see more, also read our longer list of best web design tools, and why not check out our guides to the best web hosting and best website builders too?
Best web design softwarecb badge
(Image credit: Wix)
- Wix
The best web design software if you’re starting out
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2006Developers: Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora KaplanCost: Free to $18/monthPlatform: Windows, Mac OS
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Wix Connect Domain
£3/mth
Wix Connect Domain
£3/mth
VISIT SITE
at Wix
REASONS TO BUY
+Easy to use
+User-friendly
+Loads of features
REASONS TO AVOID
-Empty List
This is our top pick of the web builders, and web design software in general – Wix is one of the most popular site makers in 2021, and for good reason. It offers a range of payment tiers (including ‘free’), with befitting features. With the entry level free version, you’ll have to negotiate Wix adverts and and a 500GB space cap, but pay as little as $6, and you’ll bypass the ads, have a free domain for a year, get 2GB bandwidth, and 3Gb storage space.
There’s up to 500 templates to choose from, and you can easily start personalising with animations, image editing, social media buttons and various backgrounds – with plenty of further options to change as well.
We love the intuitive design of this web builder, and with the abundance of customisations, and loads of beautiful straight-out-the-pack templates on offer, it’s a cracking website builder for all levels of ability.
Adobe XD screenshotscb badge
(Image credit: Adobe)
- Adobe XD
The best web design software for prototyping.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2016Developer: AdobeCost: Free to $9.99/monthPlatform: Windows, Mac OS
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Adobe XD – Single App Monthly
US$9.99/mth
VISIT SITE
at Adobe
REASONS TO BUY
+Feature-rich
+Creative Cloud integration
+Cross-platform
REASONS TO AVOID
-Full version requires subscription
The fight to become web design’s favourite UI design tool has been a close-fought one over the last decade, with Adobe XD, Sketch, Affinity Designer and others scrapping it out. But for our money, the amount of effort Adobe has put in to developing XD makes it essential web design software for creatives.
This vector-based tool is available for both Mac and (unlike Sketch) Windows. It plays nicely with other Adobe tools like Photoshop and Illustrator, and you can easily import assets like Adobe Fonts and Adobe Stock. So if you’re a Creative Cloud subscriber already, it’s kind of a slam dunk.
Even if you aren’t, though, we feel this is the best web design software for creating mockups, prototypes and wireframes. With a clean and intuitive interface, there are so many cool features including a ‘Repeat Grid’ for fast designing, auto-animation, voice triggers, good collaboration features, tons of storage for your design files, an array of plugins, and lots of integrations with other web services.
In short, XD is the complete package when it comes to prototyping, and there’s even a capable free version. The many different ways to get XD does get a bit complicated, though, so check out our guide on how to download Adobe XD to check out your options.
The best web design softwarecb badge
(Image credit: Weebly)
- Weebly
The best web design software for e-com
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched : 2006Developer: Square, Inc.Cost: Free to $18/monthPlatform: Windows, Mac OS
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Weebly Starter
£4/mth
Weebly Pro
£9/mth
Weebly Business
£18/mth
VISIT SITE
at Weebly
REASONS TO BUY
+Looks great
+Mobile-friendly
+Loads of customisation
REASONS TO AVOID
-Empty List
Having been around for 15 years, Weebly does what it does very effectively. And that is provide user-friendly templates and e-commerce options for everyone.
If you’ve got little to no coding experience (let’s see a raise of hands!), then Weebly is a great web design option. There’s super easy drag-and-drop tools for site creation, and with its build framework options, you can also build online stores, should selling your wares be essential to the site.
Less is definitely more with Weebly, and although you get a limited number of templates and themes to select from, what there is are a good range of clean and clear options that have enough room for personalisation to keep creatives happy.
As is the way, you can try out a free version of Weebly for restricted use of its features, which is perfect for seeing if this is the right choice for you. If you feel it is, there are further tiered options available, depending of what you want.
Best web design software
(Image credit: Webflow)
- Webflow
Another great website builder for starters
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched : 2013Developer: WebflowCost: Free to $36/monthPlatform: Browser
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
CHECK AMAZON
Visit Site
REASONS TO BUY
+Cross-platform
+Easy drag and drop
REASONS TO AVOID
-There are better interfaces
Yet another web-based option that is perfect for beginners wanting to create a quality website with minimal fuss. As is common with the best web design software, there’s a super-easy-to-use drag and drop approach to building a Webflow website, using many of their well-thought out templates.
You can start creating a website with Webflow with zero coding experience, but there’s room to move if you want to get to know a bit more about coding. There’s also a handy, free demonstration of all Webflow’s features at the click of a button, so you can head over to the site and see if what it has to offer is for you, without spending any money. From there you can create two sites for free to see the features in action, and then it’ll cost you to build more.
Icons explaining concept behind Pattern Lab
(Image credit: Dave OIsen and Brad Frost)
- Pattern Lab
The best web design software for building design systems.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2013Developer: Dave OIsen and Brad FrostCost: FreePlatform: Browser
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Free
+Clear focus
+Intuitive interface
REASONS TO AVOID
-Not a website builder
Building a design system for your web work? Pattern Lab is a frontend workshop environment that can serve as your hub, and it helps you build, view, test, and showcase your UI components. And it’s totally free.
It’s all based on the concept of Atomic Design, which involves breaking a website down into its basic components and then working up from there to create a site. That mental model is baked into its interface and feature set, making it remarkably intuitive and easy to get started with.
Understand, though, that this is not a production-ready framework. You don’t actually build websites with Pattern Lab; you build components and design systems, which will in turn allow you to create prototypes and finished websites much more quickly and consistently.
Bootstrap logo
(Image credit: Bootstrap)
- Bootstrap
The best framework for web designers.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2010Developer: Open sourceCost: FreePlatform: Browser
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Excellent documentation
+Responsive-first
+Promotes best practice
REASONS TO AVOID
-Sites can look samey
The time when web designers were expected to write every piece of code, time after time, are now long behind us. There are countless frameworks out there helping you to avoid continuing reinventing the wheel, and instead build sites quickly and consistency. And one of the oldest and best is Bootstrap.
Originally created by designers at Twitter to create consistency among their internal tools, Bootstrap is a free and open-source framework directed at responsive, mobile-first front-end web development.
Now maintained by a small team of developers on GitHub, Bootstrap allows you use HTML and CSS templates for web-based content such as forms, buttons, navigation and more. You can also use JavaScript plugins.
Bootstrap comes with excellent documentation, which is not all that surprising. Because ultimately, Bootstrap is not so much a framework as a methodology, and so is a great way to stay on course with best practices and accessibility. Check out our selection of the best Bootstrap themes.
Sublime Text screengrab
(Image credit: Sublime HQ)
- Sublime Text 3
A super-strong web design software choice.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2008Developer: Sublime HQCost: $80Platform: Windows, Mac OS, Linux
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Fast
+Lightweight
+Extendable
REASONS TO AVOID
-Not free
To write code, you need a decent code editor, and our pick of the bunch is Sublime Text 3. With a streamlined and easy to use interface, it’s fast, lightweight and responsive. And the lack of even tiny, fraction-of-a-second delays in its operation makes a difference when it comes to getting into the flow of programming.
Developed by a former Google engineer, Sublime Text 3 is very flexible too, with a huge range of plugins available. Which basically means it’s suitable for any kind of web design project and any level of web designer, from novice to veteran.
There’s a free trial, but beyond that you’ll have to pay an $80 licence. You may balk at that when there are so many free code editors available. But let’s be real: time is money, and if it makes you more productive, the best code editor will pay for itself many times over.
WordPress templates
(Image credit: Automattic)
- WordPress.org
The best content management system for web designers.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2003Developer: AutomatticCost: FreePlatform: Windows, Mac, Linux
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Free
+Scalable
+Extensible
REASONS TO AVOID
-Learning curve
Once you’ve built a website for a client, you don’t want them ringing you up every time they want to update the information on it. So you want it to be built on a flexible and customisable CMS (content management system), and WordPress is far and away the most popular of these, for good reason.
One of the best web builders around, WordPress.org is free, open source, well documented, and supported by an enthusiastic worldwide community. (Note that WordPress.org is separate and distinct from WordPress.com, which is a paid-for web builder service.)
WordPress sites are SEO friendly, and well protected against security vulnerabilities. You can speed up website creation by using either free or paid-for themes. And there are thousands of plugins to help you add virtually anything to your sites that you want. No wonder WordPress powers almost 40 per cent of the internet in 2021.
Google PageSpeed logo
(Image credit: Google)
- PageSpeed Insights
The best web design software for testing performance.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2013Developer: GoogleCost: FreePlatform: Chrome browser
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Detailed reports
+Easy to understand
+Useful suggestions
REASONS TO AVOID
-Sometimes a little vague
It doesn’t matter how fancy your website is: if it doesn’t load quickly, visitors will go elsewhere, particularly if they’re on smartphones running on slow or dodgy connections. So every web designer in 2021 needs to have website speed test tool in their armory, and our favourite has to be PageSpeed Insights.
PageSpeed Insights was created by Google, which has a direct interest in making sites run faster, so they’ve put a lot of effort into making this useful and efficent. Built into the Chrome browser’s developer tools, It basically analyses your web page for you, provides a detailed report on how it performs on different platforms, and makes suggestions about how to make it run faster.
You just type in the appropriate URL and the software does the rest. These suggestions can occasionally be a little vague, but even then they at least send you in the right direction.
Related articles:
The best responsive web design tutorials
Web design trends that will dominate the internet
The very best web design podcasts
Round up of today’s best deals
Wix
Wix Connect Domain
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Adobe
Adobe XD – Single App Monthly
US$9.99/mth
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Weebly
Weebly Starter
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Webflow
Webflow
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Conclusion
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