Responsive web design has been around for a while now, but it’s becoming more and more important as the web grows. The browser landscape is changing, and the way people use the internet is changing with it.
In this article, we’re going to look at three responsive web design software programs that can help you make sure your site looks great across all platforms.
Table of Contents
Responsive Web Design Software Reviews
1. WordPress (Free and Paid)
Here at websitesetup.org, we recommend people use WordPress to create their websites.
Why?
Through our experience creating hundreds of sites, we’ve found that WordPress offers the best combination of flexibility, power, and ease-of-use necessary to build and launch content-based websites.
And it seems like the internet agrees with us! Over 35% of all websites run on WordPress. WordPress powers popular blogs, e-commerce stores, communities, and more.
To get started with WordPress, you have two options:
- Set up a self-hosted WordPress site (WordPress.org)
- Sign up for a free WordPress.com account
If you’re just looking to host a small personal site, WordPress.com may be a great choice. However, if you’re starting a more complex project a self-hosted WordPress site is probably a better option.
If you are already using WordPress, but looking for help creating a WordPress theme or customizing WordPress pages, we recommend checking out the Genesis Theme Framework and the Elementor Page Builder.
- How to Create a Website using WordPress (step-by-step)
- How to Create a Blog using WordPress (step-by-step)
2. Bootstrap (Free)
Originally created by the engineering team at Twitter, Bootstrap is now the world’s most popular framework for building responsive, mobile-first websites.
Put simply, Bootstrap is a free library of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that simplifies the process of coding a website from scratch. Bootstrap offers dozens of features like a grid system, responsive breakpoints, and a large library of components that make coding a website quick and easy.
The component library includes headers, navigation, buttons, forms, alerts, and more. The Bootstrap team has comprehensively documented each feature, complete with examples and suggestions for customization.
To get started with Bootstrap, simply download the latest version of the Bootstrap framework, copy one of the example templates, and start coding.
- How to Use Bootstrap (step-by-step)
3. Wix (Free and Paid)
Wix is an easy-to-use, affordable alternative to WordPress.
Much like WordPress, Wix can be used to create a variety of different sites, including blogs and stores. Through its drag-and-drop editor, Wix makes it simple to set up and launch your site in just a few minutes.
Wix is a fully-managed subscription service, meaning that the company handles all the details around hosting the site, backing it up, and handling security.
Wix offers a free, ad-sponsored plan that includes hundreds of templates and options to choose from. Paid plans start at $14 per month and include ad removal, increased bandwidth, and additional space for videos.
- How to Use Wix (step-by-step)
4. Dreamweaver (Free Trial)
Dreamweaver is Adobe’s application for coding, editing, and maintaining websites. It lets you edit websites both by coding them manually and through an intuitive visual interface.
Dreamweaver includes many of the features of a traditional, text-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like syntax-highlighting, automatic code completion, and the ability to collapse and expand sections of code. You can even use Dreamweaver with Bootstrap!
Unlike a traditional IDE, however, Dreamweaver’s visual interface is what makes it really stand out. Any changes you make in your website’s code are automatically displayed in real-time in Dreamweaver’s interface, and you can also point and click to edit your website’s code visually.
If you’d like more power than a simple drag-and-drop editor, but need something simpler than a code-only IDE, Dreamweaver is a fantastic option.
You can subscribe to Dreamweaver on its own for $20.99 per month or choose a subscription to Adobe’s full Creative Suite for $52.99 per month. Adobe offers 7-day free trials for both options, and discounts for students are frequently available.
- How to Use Dreamweaver (step-by-step)
5. Squarespace (Paid)
Squarespace is another good website builder that serves as a third alternative to Wix and WordPress.
Much like Wix, Squarespace offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface for creating your website. Squarespace also offers a huge variety of different themes and color customizations and includes many of the standards you’d expect like SSL encryption and the ability to build an online store.
Squarespace’s personal plan starts at $14 per month with limits of 20 pages and two contributors. The business plan lifts these limitations and costs $23 per month.
- How to Use Squarespace (step-by-step)
Best Software for Interface Design & Prototyping
Interface design apps and prototyping tools help designers envision and communicate how websites will look and behave before they’re launched. Here are a few great candidates to consider.
6. Figma (Free and Paid)
Despite being one of the newest tools on this list, Figma is also one of the most powerful. If you’re looking for a feature-loaded tool for interface design and prototyping, Figma may be the perfect fit.
Much like Sketch, the next app on this list, Figma features an intuitive, vector-based interface that makes designing websites simple. Anything you can do with Sketch or Adobe XD, you can also do with Figma.
What makes Figma really shine, however, is its collaborative, cloud-based approach. With Figma, multiple team members can edit a design file simultaneously. Business stakeholders can also leave comments, and developers can copy code snippets to simplify the process of turning your design into a real site.
Figma offers a free plan that includes up to 3 projects. Paid plans start at $12 per month and include advanced options like custom user permissions.
Visit Figma.com
7. Sketch 3 (Free Trial)
Sketch is an extremely popular interface design tool focused on simplifying the process of creating beautiful, high-fidelity mockups. Sketch gained popularity in the early 2010s when it won a design award from Apple.
Designers love Sketch because its uncluttered and intuitive interface makes it easy to create beautiful designs quickly, without the steep learning curve often associated with other design tools. Sketch also has a comprehensive ecosystem of plugins and integrations that bring added power and make it simple to integrate Sketch into your workflow.
While Sketch has recently added some features focused on prototyping and collaboration, the program isn’t as advanced in these areas as some of the other tools on this list.
Sketch is available for macOS and costs $9 per editor, monthly (or $99 per editor, annually). Sketch comes with a 30-day trial.
Visit Sketch.com
8. Adobe XD (Free Trial)
Tired of being beaten out by simpler tools that were better-suited to interface design and prototyping, Adobe released XD in 2019 as its answer to the other tools on this list.
XD is a powerful, vector-based tool that also supports prototyping animations. If you like Adobe’s other products like Photoshop and Illustrator, chances are you’ll also like XD.
The program also supports opening and editing files from Sketch, making it a popular choice for Windows users who need to collaborate with other designers who use Sketch. That said, novices may find XD’s learning curve a bit steep, and even many professionals prefer other tools on this list.
You can subscribe to XD on its own for $9.99 per month or choose a subscription to Adobe’s full Creative Suite for $52.99 per month. Adobe offers 7-day free trials for both options.
Visit adobe.com/products/xd
9. InVision Studio (Free and Paid)
While InVision got its start offering a cloud-based prototype service that integrates with tools like Sketch and Photoshop, it now offers its own full-featured interface design and prototyping tool called Studio.
Think of InVision Studio like an advanced version of Sketch, complete with advanced motion animations, collaboration tools, and options to create and share prototypes.
InVision Studio is currently in free beta. To share prototypes using its cloud service, you can opt for a free plan or upgrade to one of InVision’s paid offerings, which allows for more collaborators and projects.
Visit InVisionapp.com
10. Framer X (Free Trial)
Framer originally started as a JavaScript library and toolset for prototyping, but it’s evolved into the most powerful tool on this list.
Framer X is a rapid prototyping tool that supports complex animations and generates the code for React components on the fly. At first glance, Framer’s vector-based interface looks extremely similar to Sketch, but there’s far more power under the hood.
Designers like Framer for its responsive design features, an array of premade components, and support for advanced animations. Developers love it because it simplifies the process of turning a design into production-ready code.
If you’re already part of the React ecosystem, or if you simply want a powerful interface capable of creating high-fidelity prototypes with realistic interactions and animations, Framer X is a fantastic option.
Framer X offers a free plan for up to two editors. Framer’s paid plans start from $20/month.
Visit Framer.com
website design software free
1 GIMP (free and open source)
GIMP is a free and open source software that provides original artwork creation. The artists can have the power and flexibility to transform images into truly unique creations. This free website design tool can provide high-quality image manipulation. GIMP manages the tasks related to photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring.
Graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, and other artistic people can create design elements, icons, and scripted images with the help of GIMP.
(Source: GIMP)
Core functionalities:
- Photo Manipulation
- The full suite of painting tools
- File Handling
- Animation
- Customizable Interface
- Photo Enhancement
- Digital Retouching
- Hardware Support
- File Formats (JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF)
- Filtering
- Image Editor
- Templates
- Artwork Creation
- Graphic design elements
- Programming Algorithms
- Desktop publishing Workflow
- Extensibility and flexibility
2 Brackets (open source)
Brackets is an open source tool that can design in the browser effortlessly. Brackets software is crafted for web designers and front-end developers. You will find this open source website design tool light-in-weight yet compelling.
The software helps in creating new pages or sites and provides a simple interface to web designers. With live preview functionality, the user can connect to the web browser in real-time. It is an excellent tool for coding exercises.
(Source: Brackets)
Core functionalities
- Inline Editors
- Live Preview
- Preprocessor Support
- Front-end editor
- Simple user interface
- Effortlessly switch between the tabs or pages
- Multiple Cursors
- Open Source Text Editor
3 openElement –free
openElement is free software for creative professionals. This powerful and intuitive web authoring program provides tools to build a reliable, compliant website. This software supports all the latest technology (like HTML5, CSS3).
This free web design tool can maximize productivity by simplifying tasks and optimizing workflow. This tool helps in providing efficiency in the web creating process. Custom elements can be effortlessly modified and created with openElement. OpenElement can optimize your site for a better user experience and a higher position in search results.
(Source: openElement)
Core Functionalities:
- Intuitive Interface
- Responsive design
- Drag-and-drop facility
- SEO Management
- Element Editor
- Image and Code optimization
- Easy integration of scripts
- Cross-browser
- Reusable styles and element packs
- Manage Codes
4 Adobe Dreamweaver (open source)(free trial)
Adobe Dreamweaver is an open source software that is fast and responsive. The developers can create websites and web applications for any device with the help of this tool.
This tool is apt for everything from single page design to the development of dynamic pages. It is a powerful and fully-featured web designing software tool. The software can build beautiful sites for any browser or device. In a few easy steps, you can set up your website. The software can provide a dynamic display on every device.
(Source: Adobe Dreamweaver)
Core Functionalities:
- Multi-device products
- Dynamic Code editor
- Regular Updates
- Quick Publishing
- Code Themes and Introspection
- Real-Time Browser Preview
- Syntax Checking
- Fast and flexible coding
- Creative cloud
- Seamless live view editing
- Multi-monitor support
5 Mobirise (free)
Mobirise is free software that can efficiently create a mobile-friendly website. The software can create landing pages, online resumes, and portfolios effortlessly. Without HTML/CSS skills, the professionals can create a stunning site in a few minutes with the help of this free software.
This free web designing tool can effortlessly set up a stunning personal site or a fully functioning landing page for the business. The software is a downloadable offline web builder that can be supported on Win, Mac, and Android Operating systems.
(Source: Mobirise)
Core Functionalities:
- Mobile-friendliness
- Latest website blocks and techniques
- Drag-and-drop website builder
- Website builder
- Themes and Templates
- Extensions
- Bootstrap and AMP (accelerated mobile page) pages
6 Webflow (free)
Webflow is free software that can translate the design into clean and semantic code, which can be quickly published to the web. The pre-built pieces can be used for complex elements like tabs, sliders, and background videos. The software can create reusable symbols and can effortlessly keep the items organized.
It is easy to build the site with real content by employing this free website design software. The software can create responsive sites and can create reusable CSS classes. The user has complete control over the layout. The software allows the building of website interactions and animations visually.
(Source: Webflow)
Core Functionalities:
- Build CSS (Cascading style sheets) grid-powered layouts visually
- Add CSS filters
- Clean, compliant, exportable client
- Responsive Images
- Flexible and responsive layouts
- Reusable and editable symbols
- Creative Control
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Customizable forms
- Marketing & SEO
- Website animations and interactions visually
- Custom Branding
- Fine-tune typography
- Global color swatches
- Integrations
- Motion design
7 Webydo (free trial of 30 days)
Webydo is a cloud-based software that can create beautiful websites without handling any code. The software is apt for businesses and design agencies. With the help of intuitive tools, it is effortless to have an excellent website-building experience.
The software is easy-to-use that allows for building responsive SEO-friendly websites along with a powerful content management facility. Users can efficiently create interactive and attractive sites.
(Source: Webydo)
Core Functionalities:
- SEO-friendly websites
- Content Management
- Client Billing
- White label branding
- Customizable Templates
- Hosting
- Web Analytics
- Social Integration
- Mobile styling
- eCommerce
- Drag and drop elements
- Responsive websites
- Parallax Scrolling Animator
- Professional design tool
Although the list mentioned above of free and open-source web designing tools is of top-notch quality that can provide amazing results to the users. Along with it, there is also one more web design software- Google web designer, which is gaining popularity. Below you can explore the core functionalities of Google web designer:
Google Web Designer- Popular
Google Web Designer is remarkable software that can create engaging and interactive HTML5-based designs and motion graphics. The software allows seamless integration with other Google products like Google Drive, display and video 360, and Google ads.
The software provides a full design suite and can edit HTML, CSS, and JavaScript directly. Across the advertising platforms, this web designing tool can support a wide range of display and video ad formats.
(Source: Google Web Designer)
Core Functionalities:
- Drag-and-drop component
- Flexible
- Interactive
- Dynamic workflow
- Animation-3D content
- Content Creation Tools
- Display and Video ad formats
- Google Integrations
- Responsive Ads
Conclusive statement
In the digital marketplace, your website defines your online presence. It is essential to make your website appealing to the audience. If the design of your website is attractive, then it will surely hold the attention of the people, which in turn allows them in completing a visit to the website.
Web design software enables designers to experience drastic growth in the designing arena. The software can effortlessly and creatively build an excellent website for the viewers. With the help of free and open-source web design tools, it is effortless to have a fully-functional and professionally-designed website for business use.
If you are looking for more advanced features of web design tools, then you can explore the GoodFirms platform where you will find the top web design software available in the market. In case you have come across any of the free and open-source software mentioned above, then feel free to share your valuable reviews on the same.
Conclusion
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