Top 5 tools for website designers
Having a key tool kit you can rely on when it comes to website design is vital for success. These tools will become your best friend, most of them to be used daily. Having a set of programmes that work well for you will help the design process run smoother and more enjoyable.
One of the least known facts about having a website that performs brilliantly is that it’s never truly ‘finished’.
This is the central pillar of your marketing, sales and communication, and it’s a true work in progress. The need for constant research and change is partly to keep your website fresh and dynamic, and working hard on SEO.
The continuous improvement of your website also keeps it synergistic with changing business aims and challenges.
However, constantly reviewing and revising website design is not all ‘digital housework’. It’s also an exciting way of embracing all the new tools and features that regularly appear in a website designer’s ‘toy box’!
The alternative is an unwieldy site that’s too clumsy to keep pace.
Factory Pattern has a vast design toy box! Here are the five best platforms for website design, which provide you with a constant supply of new features to ‘play with’.
Sketch for Macs
Sketch is a great tool to visual your design in any format size you find applicable.
Both freelance website designers and agencies use this great digital design tool; suitable for starters or advanced practitioners.
It’s an easy way to share initial designs and prototypes, and then to collaborate across teams or with clients. The Sketch dashboard is clean and easy to navigate.
Also, the downloadable Sketch app (not available for Windows) is agile and doesn’t take up lots of gigabytes. Though it’s light and nimble, it’s not ‘sketchy’, and offers an ever-increasing range of features and design options to craft excellent websites.
Adobe Xd
If you’re looking to create functioning apps, Xd have this sorted with all the tools you need.
This is another versatile website design platform that’s regularly updated, with impressive features.
One of the reasons it appears in lists of top apps for web design is that it draws together a lot of the steps to creating – and then updating – flexible websites. It’s part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite so that immediately offers digital tools and functions you can draw on.
Wireframing (the structural side of website design) and programming in graphics using vector design are constantly improving in Adobe XD, making it much simpler to keep up with User Experience (UX) demands. You can also design on a ‘device-specific’ artboard.
Marvel
Marvel is great to store your files and share easily with others allowing pin point commenting also.
No….we’re not recommending that you get a superhero to design your website. Marvel is another recommended platform for website design.
It offers a seamless process for wireframing, designing and prototyping your site, with all the tools you could need to build a high functioning site that looks excellent.
Marvel also offers the collaboration capabilities you need to work in prototypes in real-time with others – including large teams – and a very useful User Testing feature to gauge visitor interaction.
The constantly updated Marvel web design platform is online, so it doesn’t need to be downloaded and take up space.
Figma
A great option if you need to create a website in conjunction with other people, as collaboration.
Figma is another browser-based web design tool – though you can also get versions for Windows, Mac or Linux. It includes both paid for and free website tools.
It’s another great option if you need to create a website in conjunction with other people, as collaboration even across large teams becomes easy.
This platform to create a website – and keep it fresh – is relatively complex compared to some of the others, and perhaps best suited to experienced digital marketing teams. However, in confident hands, it’s possible to use Figma to create web designs for desktop, tablet and mobile very quickly.
Balsamiq
A great tool to use for wireframing your website whether this be for mobile or desktop.
This option’s brand statement is “Design the UX before the pixels”.
Balsamiq is an easy to use website design tool, to build the structure (low-fidelity wireframing) fast, and then add in the design elements including any codes you’re using. Balsamiq Wireframes also integrate well with other tools for design and UX.
Balsamiq’s drag and drop interface make it quick, and you can share and discuss with others effortlessly.
How to choose the right website design tool
New tools for website creation regularly become available, and the existing ones updated with new features and bolt-ons.
Your ability to keep your website functioning and looking superb largely hinges on the initial platform you use; something that needs a lot of careful consideration.
For more insights on how to build websites that perform well – and which develop and grow in line with your business aims – contact us at Factory Pattern.