The year is 1991, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee publishes the first ever website, funnily enough, about the World Wide Web project and how to use it. 30 years later, websites are 2021’s bread and butter.
Reliability, credibility, attractiveness, anything that’s marketed, sold, or shown to the world will need a website and behind that website is a web developer.
Thankfully, 2021 is also the year where the highest powered and functional tools are readily available, and with an increased demand, the question is about web developers becoming more dynamic and malleable whilst keeping a wide scope of expertise.
The wide array of web development apps on offer can have an expensive price tag sometimes. Some say nothing in life is free, others say best things in life are free.
Regardless, free and useful are words seldom seen together, is it too good to be true?
In this article we’ll look at 11 useful tools web developers can use to keep up with 2021’s demand without breaking the bank.
1. Sketch
A designer’s holy grail, Sketch is probably the most well-known tool for web design. If your jam is collaborative development of interface, Sketch’s advanced vector tool will become your best friend. Sketch is free to use, and it has a very high performance, the downside? It only works on a Mac.
2. Notepad ++
For those Windows coders that don’t want to miss out, Notepad ++ is a free source code editor native to Windows’ interface which also supports several code languages and tabbed editing so you can work with multiple files in a single window. Notepad ++ is great to code HTML and CSS so you can get stuck into that website as soon as possible!
3. Visual Studio Code
Free and built on open source, Visual Studio Code works in Windows, MacOS and Linux, so no excuses here! Apart from having intelligent code completion, Visual Studio Code optimises your workflow by having numerous features like text wrap, multi-cursor short cuts and executing and de-bugging JavaScript.
4. Bootstrap
Open source, born out of Twitter, it doesn’t get more 2021 than that. Ideal for mobile first, user friendly website design, its composed of a library of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Ideal for both web design pros and total beginners, coding doesn’t have to be scary!
5. Adobe XD
A timeless classic, Adobe had to make it onto the list. Adobe XD was released in 2015 and its popular for more than just being Adobe. Its user-friendly approach gives you a welcome screen where you can choose to create projects either for mobile, web or tablets. You can also access a tutorial if you’re a bit of a newbie. It’s repeat grid feature will allow you to explore different designs and it’s got a unique pen tool to draw paths, move anchor points and edit vector objects. Best of all? It’s free.
6. Materialize
Materialize is a modern responsive CSS framework. Its UI components are great for creating sturdy, attractive and functional websites. More template based and adhering to modern web design protocols, think of Materialize as a bit of a boomer, effective, hardworking but a bit less adaptable. Materialize and Bootstrap are often compared to each other since their features are similar, but Bootstrap offers more flexibility.
7. Origami
Origami was conceived by the creators of Facebook. Features include high fidelity UIs and prototypes, a focus on building mobile prototypes and supporting popular mobile interactions. Origami is every Gen Z’s dream, its screen interactivity allows you to fine tune triggers, spacing, timing, animation, everything necessary to keep our short attention spans interested!
8. Chrome DevTools
Chrome came to stay. Apart from being a very popular web browser choice, it’s got web development tools right there, ready to use, can you believe it? Chrome DevTools has useful features such as debugging JavaScript, optimization for website speed and handy messages to let you know how the page is running. If you’re a fan of Chrome and want to develop a website within the browser, this is for you. Note that this is limited to the Chrome browser and no other web browsers.
9. Figma
Figma is all about collaboration. Using Figma, multiple designers can edit, contribute and, well, collaborate, in real time. There is a free version as well as a paid version so it’s technically not an entirely free web development tool, but this one snuck into this list for its unique approach and its versatility for projects with multiple stakeholders.
10. WordPress
A classic, the mother of blogs, an OG. It’s likely you’ll be asked about WordPress if you apply to any web design job, it’s a must know, must have. It’s probably the easiest and most flexible site for beginners but don’t be fooled, WordPress has thousands of plugins and millions of themes, ideal for small businesses and used to build around 30% of all existing websites. WordPress itself is free, however there may be some additional costs when building the website, like acquiring the domain
11. Atom
Born in 2014, Atom has been described as “the 21st century’s’ hackable text editor”. A newbie amongst coders, Atom is game changing. Not only are you able to customize your own settings but also its extensions. Praised for its flexibility, Atom is a free and useful web developer must have.
Summary
Web development is a constant learning process, and in an ever-changing landscape with newer and newer apps and software arising and other programmes becoming quickly obsolete, a web developer must always stay on his toes. Staying in the know about the most useful, least time consuming and versatile tools is the best way to optimize work and make the most of the opportunity the industry offers.
Remember that even though there’s a plethora of tools out there at varying prices, the most expensive aren’t necessarily the best, and becoming or continuing to be a web developer is possible using free alternatives!
Elizabeth Hines is a writer and editor at Pay for essay. As a content writer, she writes articles about the latest tech and marketing trends, innovations, and strategies.
