15 Great resources that any designer should check out

Written by Kevin Liew on 19 Jun 2019
66,559 Views • Web Development

 We live in a world of fast-paced changes in digital technology. We need to keep up with web design trends and best practices. Freelancers, team leaders, and design agencies are always challenged. They are looking for ways to improve their performance. Do not forget about the quality of their work and their productivity.

It isn’t always easy. In fact, if it wasn’t for a steady stream of improved tools of the trade, keeping up would be impossible. You could argue that everyone would be in the same boat. But that wouldn’t be acceptable; at least not to a professional.

There are plenty of good resources in the marketplace and plenty of good tools as well, perhaps too many. Finding those that will best suit your purposes can take some serious searching.

This collection of top tools and resources is designed to make your search an easy one. Browse the list and you should be able to find one or more items that will make your day.

1. Elementor

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Elementor is considered by many as being the world’s premier and most advanced WordPress website builder. Its more than 2 million active installs would seem to reinforce that belief.

With this drag and drop builder, you have a genuine powerhouse lurking behind an intuitive UI; a web-building powerhouse that can significantly smooth out and shorten your web design workflow. Building any type of website to promote your message will be fast, painless, and will not involve coding on your part.

Building a website is easy thanks to Elementor’s excellent selection of widgets and design aids. Or, you can speed up the website-building process a bit by using any of the more than 100 pre-designed templates.

Newly-added features include a pop-up builder, scroll and hover animations, an advanced form builder, and HubSpot and MailChimp integrations. And, since you can use any theme or plugin with Elementor, web design flexibility and extendibility is seemingly boundless.

2. Be Theme

“Bigger” isn’t always associated with “fastest” but this multipurpose WordPress theme suggests otherwise. BeTheme, with its 40+ powerful core features that includes a library of more than 400 pre-built websites is the biggest WordPress theme on the market.

It also provides you with the tools to build a complex, ready-to-go website in as little as 4 hours. When you’re creating an online store or building a website for a 4 or 5-star hotel, that’s fast.

A shortcode library and shortcode generator, a header builder, an advanced options panel and a premier page-builder/editor accounts for much of this website-building speed, but the real secret lies in the 400+ customizable pre-built websites. They cover 30+ industry sectors, their attractive, and each provides a solid foundation for a high-quality UI and an easy to navigate UX.

3. wpDataTables

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There are many chart and table-building tools that do a great job of handling the small stuff, but if your objective is to create a responsive, interactive, and front-end editable table or chart from millions of rows of complex data, few if any are up to the task.

wpDataTables is more than up to the task. It accepts data from a variety of sources and in most common formats, including SQL database queries. wpDataTables can take this data and create a table or chart in minutes, if not seconds.

Key data in your tables/charts can be highlighted or color-coded thanks to this WordPress plugin’s conditional formatting feature. And, once a table or chart has been published, you can edit it at any time to keep it up to date.

wpDataTables currently has 21,000+ users who have given it a 4.7+ average rating. It can be yours at 30% off when you use coupon code WPDTJUN8413.

4. Uncode

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Uncode is a professionally-designed theme for creatives that provides unparalleled performance and flexibility and gives you pixel-perfect results. Although it is rich in website-building tools and design elements, the best way to see what Uncode can do for you is to visit the website and browse the library of user-built websites.

You’ll come away impressed and eager to try it out; just as have the 50,000+ purchasers of this ThemeForest’s best seller.

5. Nutcache

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Freelancers have to concern themselves with time tracking, budgeting, and invoicing, just as design teams do, and Nutcache does precisely that for them – and for teams as well.

This flexible project management tool easily adapts to your project workflow. It also helps you streamline it to increase your productivity. Teams and project stakeholders will benefit from this tool’s feedback and collaboration features.

6. Amelia

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Businesses that rely heavily on effectively managing client and customer appointment bookings will love the savings in time and effort Amelia can provide, in addition to keeping their customer base well satisfied.

This automated system takes appointments and events 24/7, matches clients to employee availability, manages changes and cancellations, sends reminders, and collects payments. Use coupon code AMELIAJUN5235 and this time and money saving software solution can be yours at a 30% discount.

7. goodiewebsite

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This cost effective platform connects business owners and web designers directly with the developer. The goodiewebsite service is a perfect investment for anyone in need of front-end development of a 1 to 10 page website.

This software development agency has been in business more than 12 years, a factor that’s evident in the clean, error-free code they routinely deliver.

8. Dr. Link Check

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The second law of thermodynamics states that things eventually fall apart. In the case of websites those “things” are links. They either stop working (they are broken) or behave in ways you don’t want them to (maliciously).

Dr. Link Check tracks down those misbehaving links and informs you via email of the results of its analysis and recommended changes. You can schedule Dr. Link Check analysis sessions on a periodic basis.

9. Houzez

Houzez has everything a realtor needs to conduct business, whether it’s in the office or out visiting or showing properties. This customizable, easy-to-use drag and drop specialty theme is loaded with the features real estate agencies want and need; features like advanced property search, multiple listings options, a property management system and property showings scheduling.

Houzez easily adapts to its user’s business model.

10. Mobirise Website Builder

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There are usually many good things that can be said about a website builder that’s been used to create 1.5 million+ sites to date. Mobirise has accomplished exactly that. This offline mobile friendly website-building app is free for commercial use as well as for your personal use.

This lightning fast website builder features a huge library of trendy templates and website blocks along with a wealth of fonts, icons, and images.

11. WP Review Pro

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WP Review Pro gives you an opportunity to spice up your online store and make more sales by incorporating ratings and comparisons online shoppers have come to expect. WP Review Pro is, as you would expect, fully WooCommerce compatible.

It provides you with a complete set of ratings systems, including the ever-popular 5-star rating, plus you can include comparison tables and feature Facebook customer reviews as well.

12. 8b Website Builder

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The 8b website builder is brand new (January 2019 launch), it has a futuristic UI, and thanks to Google AMP it’s crazy-fast. You can use it on your desktop or on your mobile device, you can either use 8b.io or link to a domain of your choice, and you can get listed on Google with a single click.

8b is currently free, so it only makes sense to try it now.

13. Stockfresh

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Stockfresh could well be the only resource for stock photos and images (and additional design elements shortly) you’ll ever need. There are millions of royalty-free stock and vector images to choose from.

You only pay once, and you can use them again and again. The prices are reasonable, and you get what you see, except that the Stockfresh watermark appearing on some images is removed prior to downloading.

14. Savah App

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This advanced prototyping tool for web and mobile app designers is more than a prototyping aid. It also features a built-in design workflow and approval system you can use from project initiation through final sign off.

Savah App is ideal for all your prototyping needs from early conceptual prototypes to high-fidelity interactive user testing and design approval prototypes. It’s also ideal for projects that employ a rapid prototyping approach.

15. Rank Math SEO

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With Rank Math SEO in your toolkit, you can stop worrying about whether or not the search engines are going to take a liking to your website design. This Swiss Army knife of SEO tools has everything you’re ever likely to need, from a WooCommerce SEO tool to a video SEO tool, and everything in between.

There’s even an SEO content analysis tool to help you get things right. Creating an SEO-friendly website just got a whole lot easier.

Conclusion

Select only one tool, theme, or resource. The improvement in your website design could make your day. Pick more than one, and who knows what the results might be, except they would be very good indeed.

A quality WordPress theme, a specialty plugin, and a productivity tool might be all that you need. You can turn out one stunning, award-winning website after another.

And, don’t forget to try the freebies.

 
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