Anybody who has worked as a developer knows that the best thing that could happen to you is finding awesome tools that save you time, effort, and money. Today I’m gonna share with you some awesome Free Online Tools for Developers so you should never have to spend any of your hard-earned money on paid tools ever again.
As a developer, chances are you’re always looking to improve your skills. Whether you are making cool new web apps or improving your old ones, learning new tools can be extremely helpful. To help you out, I’ve gathered some free online tools for developers that are perfect for enhancing your skills.
ImageOptim
Do you care about load time? If you do then you should definitely be using ImageOptim. Just like it sounds, it optimizes your images and it does it without losing quality. Or if you want, you can tweak the settings to change the quality to get even smaller image sizes. Plus, it will remove any metadata (GPS Position, Camera Serial Number, etc) if that is a concern for you.
GraphicBurger
GraphicBurger is a great website for free design resources such as PSD mockups (devices, collateral, products, etc), UI kits, icons, and much more. Everything we’ve used from there has been very high quality, and it’s also royalty free for commercial use.
UXPin
UXPin is a powerful wireframing tool. It allows you to focus on the user experience of the website without the distraction of design. You can quickly mock up a variety of layouts, as it pulls in hundreds of prebuilt UI elements and design patterns for websites and mobile applications. You can also create smart objects (like headers and footers) for reuse across multiple pages.
One of my favorite features is the “comments mode” where a client or coworker can easily leave comments or questions on specific pages and sections of the wireframes in the preview mode. Sign up for a free 30-day trial, or sign up for one of their plans starting at $19/month. I know this is a free list, but UXPin is such a good tool that I had to include it.
Livereload
Livereload is a handy tool for any developer. It monitors changes in a file system, and as soon as you save, it reloads the browser. If you update an image or change a CSS file, it instantly updates without having to reload the browser. This tool should save you countless seconds, which will really pay off over the long haul. It works on Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Mobile Safari, and Opera with desktop (Mac and Windows) and browser extensions.
Snazzy Maps
Now that you can responsively embed Google Maps, it’s time to make them more “snazzy.” Snazzy Maps allows you to create better looking Google Maps and embed them on your website. You can choose from some preset styles or create your own and customize every single detail to your heart’s desire.
OneTab (Browser Plugin)
Do you jump around to different projects? Are you a page parker? Well then, OneTab can probably save you a bunch of memory. OneTab will consolidate all of the open tabs in one window into one tiny list that can be reopened at any future time. I use this plugin constantly and my computer runs much faster because of it.
W3C Validators
HTML Checker, CSS Validator, Link Checker.
Nobody’s perfect. People make mistakes. And these three W3C Validators are great resources to find these mistakes. Simply type your URL into each of these and rest easy knowing that your HTML, CSS, and links are error-free and optimized according to the W3C standards.
GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is a great tool for setting up conference and video calls. We use it for just about every meeting at Brolik. The screenshare feature is particularly useful and has replaced a lot of in-person presentation meetings, saving countless hours of travel time. You can set up recurring meetings as well as quickly start a meeting on the fly. Plus, you can record meetings for future reference. GoToMeeting’s free version offers unlimited meetings with screen sharing for up to three attendees.
Atom
The creators of Atom describe it as a “hackable text editor for the 21st Century”. This is in reference to the insane levels of customisation it offers that allow you to make it uniquely yours.
Choose from thousands of open-source packages that add new functionality, tweak the look and feel with CSS, or even add your own major features with HTML and JavaScript.
Using Atom really is a smooth experience. It works with Mac, Windows or Linux and has all the features you would expect. Plus, there is a nice suite of real-time collaboration tools to help you work with a team.
Notepad++
Notepad++ is for those of you who don’t care about themes and minimalist design and all that fancy stuff. From an aesthetic viewpoint, it’s not going to win any awards, but it’s still a powerful open-source text editor that has most of your needs covered.
Created by a talented software engineer web dev named Don Ho, Notepad++ is a user friendly text editing solution for Windows users. It supports 27 programming languages, synchronised edits and views, and uses Win32 API to produce a tiny program size and faster execution speed.
💡Pro Tip: This is also a good option for energy conscious users. By optimising as much as possible, Ho aims to use less CPU power and reduce power consumption, leading to a greener environment.
Freebies.ByPeople
Freebies.bypeople is a professionally-curated repository of the best free-for-commercial use resources for developers and designers. It includes icons, fonts, plugins, UI kits, web templates, web tools & much more.
Cafecito
Cafecito is great for connecting with other people who share similar interests. Its algorithm matches you with vetted creatives to have “coffee break”-style conversations with them.
Conclusion
Developers, it is very likely that you are familiar with most of the major programming languages, but what about the tools? The web is full of development tools and online services which can make your life easier, but finding them can be tricky. After all, most developers don’t want to spend hours searching the net for useful free tools.