Over the past few years, the internet has expanded and has become an irreplaceable part of our lives. The impact that the internet has on our day to day dealings does not need telling. We rely on the internet for pretty much everything, and this makes big organizations seek firm control in the online space. This means that developers and designers are under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines and to submit quality projects. There are many tools that can be made use of to make a web developers life easier. Here we discuss the top 15 web tools.
1. ExpressionEngine
Created by EllisLab, ExpressionEngine is an elastic content management tool. What it does is that it aids you in managing the content of your website. It helps distinguish between the content and design, this leads to freedom in expressing them individually, displaying them anywhere and in any way that you may want to. Also, the application does not require any alteration in any way so as to make it fit any particular website; this is because it works perfectly for anything, ranging from tourism to e-Commerce. Also, this tool is fairly simple to install and use.
Moreover, if you’re a programmer, you will find this tool to be one of the most influential and extensible Tools that is out there. Also, if you come across any issues when using ExpressionEngine, you can always refer to ExpressionEngine answers at StackExchange. Here you will find solutions to all things ExpressionEngine. For further details, you can always check out the EllisLab website.
2. Argento
Argentotheme.com is quite possibly the finest Magento template that you will come across. A template that is both attractive and high on functionality, it works as a great means of giving your online store a new touch. Another great thing about Argento is that it has been optimized for SEO with tags and HTML characteristics. And SEO’s importance for eCommerce cannot be stressed on enough. This also puts to light the fact that Argento was developed keeping in mind the best eCommerce store practices and guidelines of Magento developers. Argento runs hinder free on any device, and that’s because of its responsiveness which lets it scale to adapt to any screen sizes. It works uniformly across all platforms, be it iOS, Blackberry or Android, this spares the developer the headache separate application for separate stores. Another addition to its growing list of features is the service that is provided to you. The team will have the template installed for you in less than 24 hours. This means that you won’t be out there wasting time, on the whole, installation process.
3. VIRTUEMART
VirtueMart provides you that one key solution that makes sure you stay on top of your eCommerce website. A content management system that makes sure that you can have an infinite number of customers, prices, orders and of course, customers. VirtueMart serves as an Open Source eCommerce solution for Joomla! It provides you ease of use as it may be run in catalogue mode or as a shopping cart. No matter if you’re a beginner or an expert, you will find it equally useful and gainful.
VirtueMart provides you a host of features. It lets you display different prices for the same product as per the shoppers group and/or time zone. Another thing worth mentioning here is that VirtueMart offers you smart tools. One such smart tool is the Dynamic Calculator. Based on the shoppers’ group, state, country, and time, this tool will help you calculate tax and discount. Adding to that is the big news of the launch of VM3 or the VirtueMart 3 cores. The aim of VM3 is to bring about changes to the existing users of VirtueMart. The new VM3 offers reduced dependency on Joomla!(hence making VirtueMart a lot more robust), an advanced cart. The structure that is offered is a lot cleaner and has fewer codes and provides other improvements that developers will find helpful. The core version has been run through quite a few tests to make sure that user’s experience is not hindered by bugs.
4. TEMPLATES MASTER
Templates master is a tool that provides you with complete functional Magento templates. A great advantage that this tool provides you is that their team is constantly working towards providing you updates, this leads to their products being compatible with all recent or upcoming Magento releases. The development emphasizes on SEOs and comes up with great templates based on improving HTML.
Another attractive feature is the Magento Page Cache that has been developed by them so as to make your store work more smoothly. Also, it reduces the cost involved in hosting packages. Based on core Magento architecture, the installation of this tool is very simple and it also provides you with some additional extension settings that help you attain flexibility in cache rules. And what’s great is that the core Magento architecture supports static as well as dynamic blocks.
Its free support runs up to a year. Their team of professional developers is there at your aid so that you are not held at any hurdle that you may encounter when working on the Magento Page Cache. You can always pay their website a visit to learn more about this fantastic tool.
5. GRIDGUM
Here is one of the few tools that you’ll come across on the internet that is both visually appealing and at the same is responsive. A web tool that aims at delivering quality rather than quantity, Gridgum provides you with themes that are responsive and look spectacular. Their objective is not just to satisfy and please the sellers, but the buyers as well.
Your orders on Gridgum earn you points that are further redeemable whenever you next buy something from them and unlike other typical marketplaces, they do not have additional PayPal surcharges on the purchases. Another cool thing is that you have the option to directly communicate with the author in the instances that you require technical help with the theme. So, when you browse through the lists of themes and templates you can rest assured with the knowledge that Gridgum has got you covered.
As a seller, you are offered a certain fixed commission. It can be broken down into two categories, if the theme that you’re selling is exclusive then you get 75% of the earnings, whereas in the case of non-exclusive themes the commission received is 45%. What this does is that it lets the seller add installation package offers which act as a bonus charge for buyers. Whether your theme is created with Bootstrap, Skeleton, Gumby frameworks or even if it is self-made, they’re all accepted.
Gridgum makes available for your amazing WordPress themes and Bootstrap themes. And in case you’re shopping for your new website, it even provides you with Admin Panels. It surely is your one-stop destination for all your needs regarding themes and templates.
6. MOTOCMS
When aiming to get a sophisticated looking website that does not require programming or coding skills, then MotoCMS is the perfect tool. A content management system that lets the user update their websites, they can implement the changes and can immediately view them. It has tons of attractive features, such as a quick addition of search fields, subscription button, photo gallery and along with that, every other will look polished as well.
Its features such as The Image Editor and Media Library help you in keeping the media systematized and makes sure your posts will look sharp. You will be able to build sites that are SEO friendly. It also boasts of a helpful admin panel that helps you in customization and management of the minute details. Developed in such a fashion that they comply with Good Webmaster guidelines, MotoCMS’ websites keep everything updated at all times.
7. XQUAL
Imagine an integrated test management solution that handles the customer business requirements, tests, The tests reports, the versions, and defects the projects. XStudio serves to be exactly that. It lets you design, log and carry through manual tests. It lets you run fully automated test campaigns and schedule them. By making use of a bug tracking database, it enables you to deal with the defects and link them to your tests, requirements, products, and specifications. Another great thing about XQual is that since it uses MySQL, SQL Server or Oracle for data storing it can be used for Windows, Mac or Linux.
8. CoffeeCup
Here’s presenting to you a responsive layout maker that helps you with all your content motivated layout needs. It provides you with a special layout maker that helps the user come up with their own designs easily and with great results. Using CoffeeCup you’ll be able to analyze over 70 factors that determine your website’s effectiveness and efficiency and its search rank.
9. THEMIFY
If you’re out looking for a wide range of templates to choose from that are functional as well, then Themify.me is the place.
The theme is building is made easy for you with the help of the Drag&Drop Builder, shortcodes, and custom widgets. Shortcodes make sure that you don’t have to deal with the writing of codes over and over. Recently, there was an addition to the set of tools that they offer in the form of the Builder Addons. Helping in extending the Builder Plugin, the Builder Addons can be used with any of the themes and the Builder Plugin. Here’s a quick look at a few of the add-ons provided.
WooCommerce module helps the user in customizing the shop pages. The pointer tool puts animated text boxes on the image, this helps in getting more attention to that particular image. Alongside this, you also have the Timeline tool using which you can timeline graph layouts or list views.
10. OPINION STAGE
Another great tool that helps you get quick feedback from your users is Opinion Stage. Not just this but it offers a lot more to you, such as helping you in increasing the daily number of views etc.
This is an opinion polling service built for websites. You can create your own polls that will aim at social sharing or will boost user engagement. A simple, spontaneous and quick to use the tool, it helps you build an online from scratch in a matter of minutes. From the time you register to generating a poll that is ready for use, all this can be done in a jiffy. It gives you an alternative between picking from a multiple choice question or head to head questions.
You may as well making the profit from these polls by adding advertisements.
11. TICKERA
As the name suggests, this is a simple and easy to use event ticketing system. It helps you create and sell tickets directly from your website.
This commission free WordPress plugin comes with a bar code reader that has a major impact on the check in process and shortens the waiting queue. Another amazing feature is that it supports over 85 payment gateways that too in over 50 countries. And because they’re all built in, it gives you a lot of control over which gateway to choose from and to make significant changes as and when you like. It also gives you added feature of creating any number of discount codes that can be made available for all the tickets or a select few, as per your requirement.
This is a plugin that goes well with every WordPress theme, both visually and technically.
12. UPTIME ROBOT
Uptime Robot is an online service that helps you in keeping a check on Ping, Port, HTTP(s) and Check Keywords. This proves to be useful for both websites and for servers. It keeps you updated with details about your downtime, uptime and response times by giving you access to 50 monitors. Email, SMS, Mobile Push Messages etc.; you can pick any particular way that you like for it to notify you. Since it makes use of modern and intuitive interface, this tool is easy to setup. It will be up and running in no time and it’ll run a check on all the websites and servers you ask it to check. It will run a scan every 5 minutes and will report back to you in case it comes across any problem.
All the data that UptimeRobot has gathered for you will be accessible to you within the interface. Plus, it also offers a full-featured API for developers too, so that you can integrate Uptime Monitor inn your apps.
13. ICON MAKER
A website where your creativity can run wild, FreeIconMaker.com enables you to design numerous icon sets in a matter of seconds. It saves you the time of having to search everywhere for that perfect icon that will go to the site. Icon Maker lets you make the perfect customized icon just as you like it.
Here’s how it works. You go through the gallery of icons that has diverse icons and you can pick the one you like. After this, you can fool around with the color, the size, inner shadow and gradients. Resizing can pose to be a big threat for the icon, but you don’t have to worry about it because all Icon Maker’s files are vector based. This means that they manage to keep the fine look regardless of dimensions. And what’s the best part about this? You can create any number of icon sets for absolutely no cost.
14. THE HTML5 MAKER
In the present world, presentation is everything. If you present a thing right, you can sell it to just about anyone. Advertising, imagery and getting people’s attention have become the prime focus. And one of the simplest ways to enhance the presentation of your website is through animation. HTML5 Maker is one of the leading web tools that provide you online animation services. It helps you in coming up with your own animated multimedia content, it may be banners or sliders. This means that you don’t need any special designing and development skills for the same. HTML5 Maker makes it easier than ever to create content for ad campaigns, or come up with stylish new banners for your blog and make it trendier.
This tool comes with a bagful of features that are guaranteed to make your life a lot easier. You can get creative and come up with brand new content using the Online Animation Editor or the Online Image Editor. If you do not feel like sitting and coming up with new ideas you may as well pick something from the ready-to-use templates that are provided by default. Another thing to note is the compatibility, your designs will be compatible with Google Double-Click and Google AdWords.
Another feature that is seen as crucial in the modern day is the embodiment feature. You can embed your animations into your website or share them through the cloud.
15. BUGMUNCHER
Apart from marketing and advertising, what else goes in the long run for making your site popular among people? Communication and feedback, they are two of the most crucial aspects of a website.
When you’re looking for feedback from your users, then BugMuncher serves as the ideal tool. The way it works is fairly simple. If users encounter any issue with the website, they can take a screenshot highlighting the problem and mail it to you directly. BugMuncher also lets you feed in information regarding the users, and this data can then be saved with the feedback report. This serves as a helping hand to you as now you will be able to fix the problem much more quickly. Also, the tool will generate the crucial data, such as name version of the user’s browser, the browser plugins, operation system they are using. A quick to install and user-friendly, this is a must have web tool.
Author Bio: Maggie Sawyer is an experienced website developer by profession as well as a blogger by hobby. She works for MarkupHQ, the Best PSD to WordPress Conversion service that provides complete WordPress solution with 100% guaranteed result. She likes to write and share tutorials on WordPress customization services.
