10 Best Web Development Resources & Tools

Technology plays a massive role in our daily lives, from the simplest of apps to the most groundbreaking inventions. A web developer has built every website or piece of software that we interact with—but what exactly do you need to create these intuitive pieces of software? All of this will be answered in this guide about the Best Web Development Resources & Tools.

Though the choice is vast, some applications stand out. They offer more opportunities to understand ideas of any complexity. They have more straightforward navigation. Plus, modern professional instruments are at your disposal.

In this article, we’ll look at all of this and recommend the tools you’ll want to consider including in your next project. These include developer and designer apps, debuggers, and coding resources.

Interesting? But before jumping right into it, let’s get to know…

What do we consider as a Web Development Tool?

A Web Development Tool allows the developers to build the website layout and UI more efficiently and without any hassle. With the assistance of such tools, developers’ work, especially repetitive or monotonous tasks, gets reduced, which subsequently fastens the web development process.

Now, without any further ado, Let’s get into the list of the best web development tools that deserve a web developer’s attention.

10 Best Web Development Resources & Tools

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (or VS Code) is an open-source code editing program built by Microsoft. It runs everywhere and allows you to do anything from debugging code to inputting Git commands or creating Sass code.

There are many appearance options, including customizing fonts, icons, layout, and color scheme. But the remote development features are what set it apart—you can use a container or a small machine as a full-featured dev environment.

Visual Studio Code has an extensive library of extensions, making it modular and flexible enough to meet your development needs.

It means you’ll install linters and fixers for your chosen language (yes, ESLint and PHP CS Fixer are there), alongside Docker and Vagrant extensions, and far more.

In addition, it is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux as well – also, Visual Code Studio provides you with built-in support for JavaScript, TypeScript & Node.js, and other languages such as C++, Java, Python, PHP, etc. can also be supported using extensions.

You’re strongly recommended to give it a try to Visual Studio Code, especially if you’re a beginning as a developer.

Figma

Only a few years ago, if you wanted a professional design tool, you’d need to spend a whole lot of cash and download complex software. Not anymore.

Figma is a design tool that is an oft-mentioned web development tool that allows you to collaborate on design.

It’s like LEGO for web devs. Need to mock up a mobile app? Design an entire UI? Build your client’s dream website from scratch? Just use the drag-and-drop editor, and away you go. With version history, you’ll even collaborate in real-time and not worry about breaking things.

Even though Figma is browser-based, there is a desktop version for both Windows and Mac OS. Presumably, these are wrap applications that are running a browser inside them, but whether that’s the case or not, Figma is always running online within those apps.

Nevertheless, Figma allows you to create up libraries of reusable components to which the whole team has access. Components give designers a start on any existing design systems, and when a component is updated in the central library, those changes are made across all designs for everybody.

As for pricing, Figma offers a Starter Plan that is Free Forever, giving Unlimited Cloud Storage, 30-day version history, and much more. Whereas moving one step ahead, it also offers the Professional plan that costs $12 per “editor” on the standard tier (FREE for student and Educators), which rises to $45 per “editor” for enterprise-based teams (for “editor,” read “seat” — it’s an equivalent concept). As such, the worth could rise based on what percentage editors you’d like onboard.

Git

Another tool that comes during this list is a popular version control system – Git. It allows you to manage the source codes, track the changes you’ve made in your code, or even roll back to the previous state in a more convenient way. Git also saves every change and allows all the developers in the team to work on the same code simultaneously without any hassle. It makes the collaboration among developers smoother by reducing the danger of situations like code conflict, etc.

In a nutshell, it’s a way to document the changes you make to your project’s code and store them in “repositories.” Git also comes with built-in GUI tools (git-gui, gitk), but several third-party tools exist for users looking for a platform-specific experience.

A basic command used to perform file function is:

git add file.php 

This command helps you get file.php ready and stored on the git staging area before being pushed to the repository. This can be done for all files as well using the below command.

git add .

The final step to commit the changes to the repository is completed using the git commit command.

Finally, Git is free to use, open-source, and very secure – what else do you need to get started with the enriching tool for your web development journey.

Chrome Developer Tools

Chrome DevTools is that the name for the online development tool built into the Google Chrome browser. There is no need to download any programs or check if it’s got MacOS compatibility—right-click in the browser, choose “Inspect,” and get stuck in.

It is a widely used web development tool that permits you to edit sites directly from the Google Chrome browser and diagnose problems rapidly to create better websites.

With the assistance of Chrome DevTools, you’ll easily view and manipulate the DOM, change a page’s style sheets (CSS) or use it as a JavaScript debugger.

Although other browsers have Dev Tools, too, the Chrome Dev Tool is taken into account the simplest around.

Bootstrap

Bootstrap, originally named Twitter Blueprint is a leading open-source CSS framework created by a bunch of the developers behind Twitter. Released back in 2011, it’s a full-scale tool designed to assist you in quickly create and customize responsive mobile-first sites.

Currently, Bootstrap 5.1 is that the latest version available for download. It is a toolkit that combines JavaScript plugins, Sass variables, some pre-built components, a quality responsive grid system, and much more. There’s even a marketplace of official themes that supports working with Bootstrap, and plenty of WordPress websites also use themes built on top of the design framework. In a first for front-end frameworks, it also comes with its SVG icon library designed to work with your Bootstrap sites.

Bootstrap brings some more goodies to the table besides pure CSS reset. It comes with normalize.css, an HTML5-ready alternative to CSS resets, and it also has some well-designed defaults of its own.

For example, Bootstrap sets the global default font size to 14px, with a line-height of 1.428. The default font is modified to Helvetica/Arial, with sans serif fallback. It is one of the most popular front-end frameworks and is completely free to use. With Bootstrap, just a couple of simple CSS classes are all it takes to build a totally responsive and delightful front end, fast and easily. It’s a great starting point for your next big project or startup.

Given that the framework is completely free, your time becomes the only cost factor.

Django

Django is a high-level Python framework built by expert developers and used by giant web apps like Reddit, Instagram, Pinterest, and Uber. It’s secure and scalable, which means it’s suitable for a small side hustle or enterprise-scale projects.

To sum it up, Django makes it easier to build great web apps. Fast. The focus here is on enabling devs to create sites and apps with less code (to get nerdy, Django’s server-side processing speed is super quick, and the file structure is feather-light).

That said, uptake is lower, which might be due to Python’s reputation as a learner language. Despite this, Django works well with other languages, like JavaScript, to be the basis of a contemporary web app.

Lastly, one of the greatest strengths of Django is its community. They contribute many useful packages and utilities—a search on PyPI brings up 4,000+ packages free and ready to use. We think 2021 will see an increase within the number of websites running on Django with all this.

React.js

React (React.js) is another great Javascript library built by another ultra-powerful tech company: in this case, Facebook. It is an excellent web development resource that’s made specifically for building user interfaces, it makes it painless to create interactive UIs visually.

React is one among the foremost popular of the various JavaScript frameworks available. Used by WordPress for their backend and Block Editor, it’s a platform to consider for any web developer working with user interfaces.

A component-based system means that individual components manage their own state, and can then be composed to build complex UIs. React can also render on a server using Node, and with React Native you can power mobile apps as well.

Anywhere you would like a contemporary and dynamic Interface (UI), React is going to be the first-choice consideration. It uses a syntax extension to JavaScript called JSX to create elements, which are then rendered to the Document Object Module (DOM).

Because of the popularity and the going demand, we recommend React.js should be on your “must-learn list.”

Elfsight Apps

Elfsight Apps is a SaaS service that provides customizable & coding-free website widgets with rich integration capabilities. It is hands down the best way to build and add custom widgets to your website.

Elfsight Apps are often embedded to any website platform: WordPress, Shopify, Weebly, Wix, Squarespace, Joomla!, Drupal, BigCommerce, OpenCart, Adobe Muse, Webflow, HTML, Magento, Blogger, ModX, Webnode, Lightspeed, BigCartel, and more or added to an HTML website.

Elfsight also provides an analytics feature that helps you track your widget’s efficiency. It monitors your widget’s most important metrics, checks how it does the job, and sees its true value for your website.

It offers a 14-Day money-back guarantee and gets you started without using a Credit Card, that is completely risk-free and allows cancellation at any time.

The cherry on the cake is it allows subscription to individual widgets of your choice rather than getting the entire bundle. Further, these widgets also offer a Lite Plan, which is Free and can be upgraded as you grow. The Basic Plan starts at a minimal fee of $10/mo, offering unlimited website integrations and free installation service. The Pro Plan gives Premium Support and a whopping limit of 50,000 views/mo for the Growing Business category.

Elfsight is one of the best services to help users connect their websites to other platforms.

Visual Composer

Visual Composer Website Builder is a WordPress plugin created for experts and beginners that lets you build stunning websites using hundreds of elements, beautiful pre-designed templates, and powerful addons to help set your website into an attractive and user-friendly design.

With Visual Composer for WordPress, you can create more complex layouts using a drag-and-drop editor from the front-end of your site. One of the core features lets you customize your website by simply moving and managing the website’s layout and elements across the page. No coding is needed – the website builder is made to build a website without technical skills.

In today’s time, with the vast number of plugins and widgets available on the internet, optimization is the most important thing. Visual Composer does exactly that by following best WordPress practices so that you can choose any WordPress theme of your choice with a minimal imprint on your website’s performance.

Visual Composer Website Builder comes in two variations. It offers a Visual Composer Free version for an excellent start – powerful enough to make and edit any WordPress website.

However, for the best experience and advanced features, Visual Composer Premium will satisfy the most demanding requirements for beginners and professionals. All the licenses accompany with premium templates and elements, header, footer, sidebar editor, and WooCommerce support.

In addition, the developer’s license may be the perfect tool for web developers and agencies that allows you to style a vast amount of websites and access the license management panel.

TinyPNG

Optimization is considered one of the most important aspects of a website. This can only be possible if we have the media content optimized. Well, TinyPNG just does that. It is the most widely used image optimization tool throughout the entire internet. It also supports JPG formats which are given by the name TinyJPG.

It’s still an easy drag-and-drop tool for optimizing your images. There aren’t any bells or whistles, and there isn’t an extensive set of file formats. Still, what TinyPNG does offer is supreme usability and a bunch of integrations with other tools.

Although, there is one important question as to how does TinyPNG does this? While we upload the image into the input field by reducing the amount of colors, 24-bit PNG files are converted to much smaller 8-bit indexed color images. All unnecessary metadata is stripped too. This results in better PNG files with 100% support for transparency. The Optimized image helps in saving bandwidth and improves the performance of the website.

If the website is built using WordPress, you are blessed by TinyPNG with a plugin of its own that is completely free. Just install the plugin and click Compress, while TinyPNG does the rest for you. We strongly recommend using an image optimization and compression tool as it affects the page speed and site performance

Thanks for sticking around till here, as a bonus we have another tool which is widely used in the web development industry.

HTML5 Boilerplate

Even for the most skilled designer veterans, getting started with a new model can be a daunting affair even when a language is designed to make coding more accessible, such as HTML5. Saying that a thorough understanding of HTML 4.01 can be built upon, it’s just a case of identifying which tags are in and which are out.

HTML5 Boilerplate helps designers to get started with the new standard by offering a professional front-end template that allows you to make a quick, robust and adaptable site. These templates provide a set of HTML5-ready features and elements.

As such, it includes seven files spanning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They all contain only the most necessary files and code to render a page. Beyond that point, how your page turns out is up to you. Modernizr is also included to allow you to style the new HTML5 elements in IE and helps with detecting HTML5 or CSS3 features in all browsers, including earlier versions of IE (before v9).

It is widely used by Microsoft, NASA, Nike, Barack Obama, ITV News, Creative Commons, Australia Post, and many more.

Also, the list doesn’t end here….

Many other web development resources & tools are equally important as the ones mentioned above. You can use them for Web Development to make things much more accessible and convenient. Furthermore, it is not mandatory that you go for these particular tools – you can search for their alternatives to find the suitable ones for you. For instance – we’ve mentioned TinyPNG – however, you can explore another Image Optimizer like Kraken.io, etc., as per your requirements.

Check out WebFlare Blog for more valuable content.

Do you have any web development resources & tools to recommend that developers should master or implement in their projects? Let us know your thoughts within the comments section below!