Web development is a very interesting field these days, especially due to how rapidly it’s evolving. It’s hard to stay up to date on all things web dev, which is why I’m here to help! As a developer myself I like to share the best tools out there with the world, hence this list of free tools for web development.
Web development is not easy, especially if you are working without the proper tools. Even the smallest task can be a cumbersome operation when you are using tools that are clunky. So, to make your life easier, I have put together a list of the best free web development tools that I use on a daily basis.
CMS Hub: Best All-in-One Web Design Software for Beginners
Free Trial
CMS Hub is a website builder and content management system that includes a visual drag-and-drop editor, a collection of templates, and an SSL certificate. Because it requires zero coding and includes everything you need to launch a website, it comes out on top as the best all-in-one design software for beginners.
CMS Hub is also integrated with all other products in the HubSpot platform, including our CRM, marketing software, sales software, and service software.
CMS Hub Core Functionalities
- Web Design
- Collaboration
- Wireframing
- Content Management
- Website Structure
- URL Mapping
- Analytics Reporting
- Security
Figma: Best Free Collaborative Wireframing Tool for Beginners
Free
Best defined as an interface design tool, Figma enables multiple designers to collaborate in real time. As such, it’s ideal if you have various project stakeholders involved in the design process. Figma is a web application, so you won’t need to download a tool to your desktop.
The free version includes unlimited drafts, unlimited commenters, and unlimited editors. You can have up to 1 team project, so if you’re all working together on one website only, this is a great choice for your team. The one limitation is that it only includes up to 30 days of historical changes.
If you upgrade to the Professional tier, you’ll get unlimited projects and unlimited history, while the Organization tier gives you access to advanced security and analytics.
Figma Core Functionalities
- User Interface Design
- Collaboration
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
Lunacy: Best Free User Interface Design Tool for Windows Users
Free
Launched as a free alternative to Sketch for Windows, Lunacy is now a fully functional graphic design software that’s rich in features. A couple of years ago, all it could do was open Sketch files on Windows. Today, it offers all the standard features of a UI and screen design tool and a library of free, high-quality graphic assets.
It includes full support for Sketch files, so if you ever switch from Windows to Mac or vice versa, you can edit your Sketch design without a problem.
Lunacy Core Functionalities
- User Interface Design
- Collaboration
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
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.
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 $13 per month and include ad removal, increased bandwidth, and additional space for videos.
Adobe Dreamweaver
The best web design software for professionals
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT 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.
Conclusion
Being a web designer is no easy task. It requires a lot of hard work, patience, and unique skills just to get started. If you’re just starting out in the field, then you’ll need to utilize any type of tool that will help you in your journey. We all have our favorites when it comes to tools for web development so I wanted to share mine with you along with some other tools I think are worth looking at.