10 Free Web Design Tools You Might Want To Try
On the hunt for free web design tools to help build a new website or even clean up the one you already have? We’ve got 10 you’ll want to try.
Web designers come up with high-quality work using the best tools available to them.
Professional website design companies use premium web design tools to provide client focused results. Web designers, especially the highly skilled and experienced ones who have been in the business for a long time, typically pay top dollar for these programs and considering what they can do with those tools, it makes a lot of sense for web designers to invest in them.
But does that necessarily makes sense for you?
If you’re on a shoe-string budget you might just prefer using free web design tools… at least for now. Fortunately, there are tons of web design tools out there that they can use free of charge.
While these free tools may not offer the same functions and capabilities of premium ones, they can produce websites that look and feel as if designed by expert web designers. Some of these free tools might even surprise you because of what they can do for you, and for free at that.
Here are 10 of those free web design tools which you might want to give a try.
1. Google Web Designer
Google Web Designer is a professional-grade HTML5 authoring tool that features a clear and interactive interface. It’s great for quick prototyping, and is quite handy for creating animations. If you want to develop HTML5 creative websites without having to do any coding, this is the tool for you.
2. Logo Lab
Any logo that you create for a website has to be tested for scalability, balance, and other vital factors. Run your logo through Logo Lab which will, among other things, evaluate the logo and tell you if it has to be improved.
3. Pixlr
Graphic designers will always want Adobe Photoshop. However, if you don’t have the budget for it, there’s a Cloud-based tool called Pixlr that you can use if you only need to do low to moderate-level photo editing. Incidentally, its interface will instantly remind you of Photoshop. The results probably won’t remind you of the Adobe software though, but they still would be good enough for the level of work you’re doing.
4. Type Genius
You will need to mix and match fonts you’re going to use for a website, but you have to make sure they work. Type Genius is the free tool that will help you find the perfect font combinations for the website you’re building. It gives you an idea of how any font combination will appear on your site by showing you what they would look like on other websites.
5. Maze
Run your prototype design through Maze so you can get an idea of how it will perform. This free tool can provide actionable insights from users, and you won’t even have to do any coding.
6. ColorZilla
Color-related tasks can be made easier by using ColorZilla. It’s known for the eyedropper tool that it places on your web browser, which you can use to extract any color from any website and use it on your project. ColorZilla can also help you out when you’re analyzing DOM element colors or trying to get the HEX code of a specific pixel.
7. Awesome Screenshot
The name says it all. Awesome Screenshots allows you to take screenshots of just about anything you want to capture on the Internet. You can also write notes and draw on any screenshot you take. And if you’re working with a team, you can easily share the URL of your annotated screenshot to them.
8. Draw.io
Before starting design work on any one project, web designers will need to show to clients what they have in mind for their websites. They will need to create sitemap flowcharts and wireframes and visualize everything to make it easier for clients to understand what’s in store for the website they’re paying designers good money to develop.
Draw.io is a free, Cloud-based tool that is perfect for such tasks. Its drag-and-drop function is a favorite among designers who use it. Printing the flowcharts or anything created using the app is also easy.
9. Canva
There are completely free web design tools, and there are freemium online graphics tools like Canva, for which you have to pay if you want to be able to use its more advanced functions.
Then again, the free version of Canva should be good enough for web design newbies who are looking to create custom-sized or shaped images. It’s already loaded with features such as built-in templates and an easy-to-use search and drag function.
10. Checkli
If web design only required actual design work, then a lot of web designers would be very happy. People involved in web design projects, however, still have to organize and manage everything. They have to be sure they’re not missing anything, and that’s why they need to make a checklist of all the tasks that need to be done.
Creating such checklists can be easier with a free tool called Checkli. A very light tool, Checkli helps you make a task checklist that you can conveniently share with team members and clients alike. And if you like working on your tablet or smartphone, you’d be glad to know that Checkli is also responsive.
You can be a long-time web designer or a newbie, and you can probably find some use for these free web design tools. Try them out and see if they can make your web designing life more manageable.
