Top 10 Web Design Tools For Your Website
In today’s article, we will discuss the top 10 web design tools that will help you create a modern, accessible and effective website for your organization.
It’s been almost 30 years since Tim Berners-Lee introduced the world to the World Wide Web with the first website making its debut at http://info.cern.ch/ in 1993. By 1994, there were 3,000 websites and today there are over 1.9 billion websites. I often refer to the early days of the WWW to stand for Wild, Wild, West as there were no standards, guidelines, protocols or roadmaps to where the web would evolve or even how a website should be properly built. Several competing platforms and web design tools once filled with the promise of creating such standards ultimately proved to be evolutionary dead ends (hello, Flash). Fortunately today, the web design industry has matured. We have much clearer understanding of what a website should be and established compliance standards and UX, including the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards for accessible design.
Today’s businesses and organizations understand that a quality website is a well established best practice. Modern web design tools have evolved to the point that you do not even need be a designer or coder in order to create a solid website (although there are always added benefits with using a professional and experienced web design agency). The technology has become scalable and based on organizational objectives and budgetary constraints.
The following list was created in order to introduce you to the most current and popular web design tools used by both professionals and novices alike:
1. WordPress
WordPress is by far the most popular web design tool on the planet and basically pioneered the open source industry. There are more websites built using WordPress than any other platform. With WordPress, designers can create a custom website or choose from one of the thousands of themes available through the the WordPress store or through third party websites. The platform core is available for free, but one of the things that makes WordPress so great is their huge developer community that offer plugins ranging from eCommerce stores to portfolios.
2. Sketch
Sketch is a web design tool that offers an enormous library of plugins and integrations, interactive layouts and shareable prototypes. It has a web-based workspace for designers to collaborate and share ideas and integrates with multiple other tools and plugins. Bear in mind that Sketch is only available for Mac users.
3. Maze
Maze is a web design tool that allows web designers to perform in-depth tests and validate ideas implemented throughout a website’s development process. The tool aims to assist developers in optimizing each page and creating the best possible user experience. The toolbox includes wireframing, A/B testing, heatmaps and so on.
4. Adobe XD
Adobe XD is a web design tool that can create product prototypes, workflows, websites and mobile applications. One of the advantages of Adobe XD over its competitors is that it’s fully compatible with other Adobe products.
5. Figma
Figma is a web-based tool that has libraries and prototyping features. This tool is integrated with the Sketch plugin, which allows for enhanced functionality over its core toolkit. With Figma, project team members can view designs from any location clients can provide comments and feedback during the design phase.
6. Invision
Invision is a popular web design tool that designers can use to collaborate from concept to completion. The toolkit offers the ability to create wireframes and interactive prototypes, vector drawing and build-in animations. Invision is available for both Mac and Windows users.
7. Wix
Wix is a beginner-friendly, cloud-based website designing software which offers over 800 website templates to choose from. It has a novel AI Design tool that will design your website for you based on your responses. For more hands-on web designers, Wix also offers drag and drop functionality and the ability to make customizations.
8. Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe Dreamweaver is a coding engine that allows for real-time previews of the content and of edits made to the code. With Dreamweaver, you have the option of using one of their pre-created templates or start from scratch. The platform offers HTML widgets, including eCommerce, blogs and portfolios with a modern user interface.
9. Webflow
Webflow is an all-in-one web design tool that emphasizes responsive web design. Webflow offers the complete suite of web hosting, content management system (CMS) and even a free SSL certificate, everything you need in a single platform. You can create interactive websites using widgets like tabs, sliders and video integration. It comes out-of-the box with a vast library of layouts, patterns and various design components.
10. Gimp
GNU Image Manipulation Program, or Gimp, is a free, open-source web design tool used for image editing. With Gimp, designers can create icons, graphical elements and various art for the user interface. The tool allows for free-form drawing and converting images between different formats (eg, .jpg, .gif, .png). Gimp supports Mac, Windows, Linux, Sun Open Solaris and FreeBSD.
Finitione
Our list of top 10 web design tools represents the most popular platforms in the market today, but the choices are dense in both breadth and depth of software options available. This article was intended merely as an introduction as you prepare a roadmap for your next website. It may seem overwhelming at first, but we are here to help you navigate through the minutiae. To schedule your own complimentary responsive website consultation, call us at 888.938.8289 or email us at inquiry@deepblue.com.
DEEPBLUE Knows the Market
DEEPBLUE is a San Francisco mobile web designer that delivers measurable results. Learn more about our mobile web design services and contact us to schedule a complimentary needs-assessment consultation.
When it comes to these hot new trends, the team here at DEEPBLUE is ready and willing to use them when designing your site. In fact, many of the new trends follow the work we have completed, making us proud web design trendsetters. If you want to get your hands on a site that is innovative and designed beautifully then give us a call, we’d love to work with you.
