Creating and designing a website can become really frustrating, even if there are plenty of tools you can use that are easily available on the internet. Because each tool varies in how it works, and its capabilities, finding the web design tools for a website you’re making can be a source of stress, even if what you want to achieve looks pretty basic. While almost all web design tools have the same capabilities, your skill level as a web designer will be a big deciding factor on what web design tools will be perfect for you.
Before you fully unlock your potential, beginners and even intermediate web designers have to tinker with a particular tool first and discover all of its features and capabilities in order to work smarter down the road. Constant learning and discovery are also important, not just for your skills as a web designer, but also for the quality of work that you’ll deliver for your clients.
As new technologies continue to improve day by day, enabling your web design to adapt to its environment is a vital component of website creation. To perfectly summarizes A web design company in Philippines saying “because of today’s technology, company websites must adapt to responsive design to be able to keep up”.
To make it easier for beginners to utilize the newest web design programs, you should be able to work smarter. Here are 8 web design tools for beginners you might find useful.
Table of Contents
1. Sketch
When making a website, having the best images and visuals comes as a given. But it seems there are still some who keep using Adobe Photoshop – even if there’s now Adobe XD which was built with wireframing and prototyping in mind – when conceptualizing and creating UI designs.
Sketch offers an easier means to sort through all your web design documents, which allows for easier revisions. Sketch also publishes documents in relatively smaller file sizes compared to Photoshop because images are vector-based in Sketch. This ultimately saves precious storage space and dramatically speeds up load times, which is crucial for visitor engagement and conversion.
If you’ve been using Photoshop to learn the basics in web design, it might be time to expand your skill set and discover a new platform that’s more convenient to use.
2. WordPress
Touted as one of the most popular blogging and content management platforms, WordPress is a self-hosted platform which provides full control for web developers and web designers alike. Though it could be a bit complicated when using WordPress, 30% of all websites are estimated to be using WordPress.
You might encounter a bit of a learning curve when using WordPress for the first time, as it could be a little bit more complicated than Shopify or Weebly. However, once you get the hang of it, the possibilities with WordPress are endless. With thousands of website plug-ins and a few more templates you can readily use and customize, WordPress might just become your go-to web design platform later on.
Most important of all, WordPress is free to use, though you’ll have to shell out some money to buy a domain, as well as for their hosting services. This is a great tool for building blogs and websites that don’t require too much space.
Image by:WordPress Org.
3. Linksplit
In recent times, A/B testing has become an effective technique to gauge the performance of a certain aspect of a website. Linksplit is an amazing tool that lets you do A/B testing at a larger scale. If you want to get insights from every single button on your freshly-designed website, using Link split will make it a lot easier for you.
Linksplit currently allows you to seamlessly split your website traffic between two iterations of your website’s design, providing you a simple yet in-depth look at your visitor’s preferences. It’s free to use for the first 10,000 clicks, so this should be a great addition to your workflow especially when working with average websites.
4. Figma
Are you working with more than one designer in building a website? If you find it hard to collaborate with other designers, Figma might just be the right tool that you need. It allows designers to work simultaneously and collaborate in real-time, minimizing the need to coordinate through email. It’s also available within most-used browsers, or you can install it on your PC running on Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Figma is basically an interface design tool and somehow resembles Sketch. The advantage of using Figma is that it supports an array of platforms, allowing you to collaborate more seamlessly. Figma users also found it convenient since it also supports mock Multivariate testing and makes small changes fast. This platform currently has a free and a paid version with expanded capabilities.
5. GIMP
As a beginner, one of the most irritating roadblocks is when you’re using cracked, unverified software. Thankfully, GIMP is a free, open-source image editor perfect for web design. GIMP has the most resemblance with Adobe Photoshop, so those currently using Photoshop should find ease in migrating to this platform. Though you might find it a bit complicated to use at first, it’s a cool product which has almost all the tools you’ll need to work on image editing and web designs.
6. Avocode
Uploading your website’s design elements by coding can be complicated, especially for beginners. Having been built by the same group that made CSS Hat and PNG Hat, Avocode makes it a lot easier. This platform can automatically analyze your Photoshop or Sketch documents that allow for faster processing. In fact, you can even install a Photoshop plug-in so your image files automatically sync to Avocode with just a click of a button.
If your skill level is more advanced, you can also copy and paste a website’s design code and manipulate it in a text editor. With this, Avocode gives its users the ability to preview the design and have access to the layers required for the design. By making it easy for front-end developers to write codes for apps and websites from Photoshop or Sketch, Avocode is creating a fluid platform that can assist in all your web design needs.
Avocode comes at a monthly cost of $14.
7. Squoosh
Are you striving to publish a high-quality website but worried about large image file sizes? Squoosh will make this happen with ease. Built by Google, Squoosh is a free app that allows users to compress any photos or images while maintaining its quality.
Its simple interface supports easy drag and drop, making it very enjoyable to use. After selecting the preferred compression setting, you can have your compressed images exported in an instant. More interestingly, Squoosh can work offline, so you can continue working even without an internet connection – perfect for jet setters!
8. Web Design Proposal Tool
As a web designer, dealing with clients and closing deals is vital to making your business and reputation grow. However, for beginners, this can be tricky without guidance from industry experts. With the Web Design Proposal Tool, creating proposal documents for prospective clients is essentially magic!
Using the Web Design Proposal Tool adds credibility and professionalism to your work. Its free version allows you to save your proposal midway then come back with all the required proposal details filled out.
When using this tool, you just have to enter the required details on their platforms such as your client’s details, goals, and objectives, results expectations, your project timeline, as well as terms and conditions. Otherwise, you can customize the required fields to your liking. When done, you can instantly export a Word document and send it straight to your client for their review.
Work Smart
No matter how talented and dedicated you are, web design can become overwhelming, especially when working with websites with multiple pages. Which is why having familiarity with these tools is very crucial even if you’re just getting started in the industry. Remember, working smart is always worth it.
About Carson Derrow
