You might be heading up a web design team or freelancing, or you’re a professional. You’re always looking for ways to do better.
Self-improvement involves refining existing skills as well as learning new ones. The latter is imposed upon you by the latest design trends and changes in digital technology. Learning new tips and techniques will take you a long way. But you’ll inevitably encounter situations where the tools you have aren’t up to the task. Your store of resources might be limited or outdated.
There’s no lack of good tools and excellent resources. The problem is, there are so many that finding the best ones to suit your needs can take considerable time.
This selection of 15 of the top tools and resources for 2019 should take care of that problem for you.
1. Elementor
Elementor, with more than 2 million active installs to its credit, its ability to operate with any theme and any plugin, and its total lack of the constraints and limitations endemic to many themes has acquired the justly deserved reputation of being the world’s leading website builder.
Elementor enables its users to streamline and speed up their workflows while allowing them to take full advantage of their creative instincts and abilities.
It’s ability to work with any theme and any plugin gives it unmatched flexibility and extendibility.” If you can visualize it, you can build it” isn’t just a cliché as far as this tool is concerned; it’s a reality.
Elementor’s powerful page builder/editor coupled with its large and varied selection of widgets allows web designers to proceed without any need for coding, plus contributions by large numbers of developers to its functionality make this tool a developer friendly one as well.
Cool new features are constantly being added with a WordPress pop-up builder, hover and scroll animations, and advanced forms being among the latest.
2. Be Theme
Be Theme is the biggest multipurpose WordPress theme of them all, and it shows no signs of leveling out anytime soon. It’s 40+ core features provide all the functionalities, website performance tools, and design aids you’re ever likely to need. Your finished products are guaranteed to be fully responsive, pixel perfect, and SEO friendly.
The highlight is Be’s library of 400+ professionally designed pre-built websites. They cover 30 different industry sectors, a variety of business niches, and all the usual website types – portfolios, one-pagers, blogs, etc.
The pre-built websites are customizable and provide the basic layouts and functionalities you need to create UI and UX designs of the highest quality. They also help you get projects off to such a fast start that creating a complex within 4 hours is often quite achievable.
3. wpDataTables
Even relatively simple tables and charts can take time to build. If the data is complex or the amount of data becomes difficult to manage, the time it takes to produce a professional looking table/chart can grow exponentially.
If you’re tasked with managing thousands or millions of rows from a SQL database, you might start looking for another way to make a living.
The wpDataTables plugin will change all that. This premier table and chart building tool can accept huge amounts of data in any common format and in minutes if not seconds create responsive, interactive, and editable tables or charts that are professional looking and easy to read. Key data can be highlighted and even color coded.
For a limited time, you can get the wpDataTables plugin at a 30% discount when you use coupon code WPDTJUN8413.
4. Nutcache
Project management tools are generally designed with teams or agencies in mind; which makes sense when you consider the multiple tasks that have to be tracked and managed.
Freelancers can profit from using these types if tools as well, and Nutcache was created with both freelancers and teams in mind. Nutcache will take care of your task, time, and budget tracking and invoicing needs from project start to project finish.
5.Amelia
This automated appointment and booking management system can save a business a ton of time and help customers and employees alike avoid the frustrations of missed appointments, playing phone tag to make appointments, and managing changes and cancellations. Amelia works on autopilot to book appointments and events 24/7, manage changes and cancellations, match customers to employees, send reminders and collect payments online. Get your copy at 30% off with discount code AMELIAJUN5235.
6. Uncode
There are two simple ways to determine if Uncode is the right creative multiuse theme for you. One is to take into account the fact that this WordPress theme has sold more than 50,000 copies to date, making it one of ThemeForest’s top all-time best sellers,
The other way is to visit the Uncode website and browse their selection of user-created websites. Prepare to be impressed when you see the wonderful things Uncode can enable you to accomplish.
7. Dr. Link Check
Leave a website alone, and after some time has passed bad things can begin to happen; mainly in the form broken links or malicious links. You could constantly check your website yourself, but a far easier way is to let Dr. Link Check periodically crawl through your web looking for those broken or malicious links.
You’ll get an analysis of the results along with recommended fixes by email – daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever you choose.
8. Houzez
If anyone could make good use of an all-in-one tool to manage their daily work, it would be a realtor. Houzez is a drag and drop specialty theme that has all the features and functionality real estate agents need.
It’s easy to use, and it can be customized to fit an agency’s business model. Features include advanced search capabilities, property showings scheduling, a property management system, property listings options, and much more.
9. Mobirise Website Builder
Mobirise is fast, powerful and free. This offline website building tool is mobile friendly, it features more than 1,500 modern templates and website building blocks and it’s free to use without restrictions for commercial use as well as your personal use.
This versatile website-building tool allows its users to create websites on both their desktops and their mobile devises, without coding, and without being tied to a specific host.
10. goodiewebsite
Web designers or small businesses looking for a competent, cost-effective software development service will find an ideal solution to their problem with goodiewebsite. This digital developer specializes in 1 to 10-page websites.
More than a dozen years of experience goes into the programming expertise and quality results they consistently provide at competitive prices.
11. 8b Website Builder
This brand-new, futuristic website builder is delightfully easy to use, it provides crazy-fast performance (as will your websites) thanks to Google AMP, your websites will be 100% mobile friendly, and with a single click you can have them listed in Google.
You can do your website building at home, in your office, or on your mobile device, and host your website wherever you want. There are many good reasons to give 8b a try – one of which is that it’s 100% free.
12. Stockfresh
Stockfresh could be the last place you’ll ever have to look for a royalty-free stock or vector image. Its inventory is in the millions, new additions are constantly being added, and templates and other design aids will soon be added as well.
Everything offered is on a “you get what you see” basis except Stockfresh watermarks will always be deleted prior to downloading. Pick a plan and use code BLKFRD17 for a 30% discount.
13. Savah App
Savah App is an advanced prototyping tool that’s more than just a prototyping tool. A built-in design workflow and approval system makes this software application an even more valuable addition to the web designer’s toolbox.
Savah App prototypes can be auto-synced with Dropbox to share visual information and get visual feedback on prototypes from anyone. Several plans are available.
14. Rank Math SEO
If you’re never quite sure how SEO-friendly your website will be, Rank Math SEO will take the guesswork out of it. This Swiss Army knife of SEO tools will check your website content from every angle, analyze the SEO characteristics of the various content types, and let you know where improvements are called for.
Its built-in Content Analysis tool will also come in handy as an aid in creating SEO-friendly content.
15. WP Review Pro
Check out the most well-known and most successful online stores and you’ll find many have two things in common; they have a product rating system and they offer product comparisons – two features customers love.
WP Review Pro can boost your online sales with its choice of ratings types, including the popular 5-star rating system, and the design elements necessary to incorporate a product comparison feature in your website.
Conclusion
Pick just one of these items and it could make your day given the positive impact it could on your next project. Pick several. Who knows the boost in sales, productivity, or product quality you might experience.
A quality website builder together with a specialty plugin or two could make the difference.
Don’t neglect the free items either. You always have the opportunity to realize a fantastic ROI when you try something that’s free.
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