An Expert’s Guide to Easy Web Development: Tools That Come Handy
The internet has undeniably become a major part of any business. With this, the number of websites popping up every day on the web is on the rise. Web developers, thus, have found themselves in demand. And more often than not, as a web developer, we’re sure you have more tasks on your hands than you can handle. So, wouldn’t it be nice to use some latest web development tools of 2018 that can boost your productivity and save time?
Well, you’re in luck. We’ve taken the pain of incessant research and experimentation on your behalf. Now, all you have to do is go through this list and find tools that can help you with your everyday tasks.
But before we get to the tools, here’s some basic knowledge of web development and its process. This, because we like to help the pros, beginners, and aspirants alike.
What is Web Development?
The process of developing a website meant for the internet is called web development. It includes creating a webpage, a commercial website, a social media networking site, and everything in between.
How is Web Development done?
A web developer programs codes which, when stacked together, build up a platform like a web page, web application, or a website. Usually, there are plenty of front-end tools for web development available to help the web developer excel at their job.
Against popular understanding, web development differs strikingly from web design. So, if you’re looking for web design tools, refer to one of our previous posts. In fact, web development is the area that focuses on the non-design aspects of a website. These include writing markups and coding.
Content management, information systems, and web design are, however, all entwined with web development. In fact, all these areas combine to give you the final product as none of them are standalones.
Let’s get to business now.
A helpful web development tools list to ease your web development journey
As evident, the job of a web developer is anything but easy. They sure could use some ease and luxury, which is provided by these unique tools. Above all else, we’ve seen developers complain about the lack of time the most. So, why not incorporate platforms that help you save time while also making work simpler?
Come, have a look at our carefully curated list.
GitHub
If you’re a web developer, we’re sure you’ve heard of GitHub. A favorite amongst the web development team, it is deployed by companies like IBM, Facebook, and Walmart. It allows hosting and reviewing codes, managing projects, and much more.
Benefits
- Makes teamwork possible in coding. The ‘Pull Requests’ feature allows conversations and reviews on codes, thus allowing multiple people to work on the same code.
- You can involve teammates to manage issues and projects.
- The native marketplace allows you to buy the tools you need for web development, by using your account.
- You can create your own tools by using the available data without having to change the API.
- Offers code security by providing protected branches, compulsory status checks, and more.
- Permissions are required within the tool, thus controlling the access of your personal work.
Chrome DevTools
A set of tools built directly into the Google Chrome browser is collectively known as Chrome DevTools. With an aim of saving developers’ time, Google Chrome has come up with some ingenious tools that can be used on-the-go.
What’s interesting to know, is that the tools allow you to modify any page, including Google’s own homepage. With freedom like that, developers can happily let go of all web restrictions, don’t you think?
Benefits
- Lets you view the style and design of a webpage. You can also alter it.
- Helps in debugging of JavaScript without the need of any mediator platform.
- Inspection of web pages and making minute changes in them is possible on the browser.
- The Console Panel allows viewing messages and running JS from the Console tool.
- Lets you view network activities and perform debug actions.
- Allows simulation of mobile devices to access viewports and emulate sensors.
- Website speed optimization is possible by creating a baseline and following the provided instructions. The editor for the same is shown in the image below.
Postman
Postman comes as a boon to API developers. A very popular and one of the best web development tools out there, it supports individuals and industries alike. It also claims to be the only complete API development environment for designers.
Offering integrated tools for all stages of the API lifecycle, the development tasks can be done in considerably lesser time with this tool. Used by giants like Microsoft, Adobe, and Twitter, the tool allows companies to access 130 million APIs every month.
Benefits
- Allows design and using the mock service for testing those designs.
- Enables testing of APIs, the addition of scripts, examination of responses, and general debugging.
- The automated testing tool saves the time of manual testing processes.
- Monitors APIs automatically for the response, corrections, and more.
- Allows collaboration on the platform amongst members.
- Detailed documentation of API which can be viewed on the web easily can be executed on this platform. The image below shows a snippet of the same.
All in one messenger
For custom web development companies in India as well as singular web developers, this tool is a must-have.
Switching between 7 messaging apps for 7 different clients can work only for so long. A long-lasting solution to save time while also using all your messaging apps is the all in one messenger tool. The image below shows all the messaging platforms it supports.
Benefits
- Allows including unlimited accounts of each messaging app mentioned above.
- Gives desktop notifications with the feature of one-click reply, so you don’t have to access the tool every time you need to respond or check a message.
- You can manually select and mute any of the platforms you like.
TypeScript
A platform dedicated to JavaScript, TypeScript is an open source tool that compiles all browsers, OSes, and hosts to JS.
Benefits
- Runs entirely on JS, so you don’t need to learn a new programming language or write the code all over again.
- Tools allow code refactoring and static checking, thus making the process highly efficient.
- Supports all kinds of JS features, thus increasing the sphere of creativity for web developers.
- It is an open source and can be used for all kinds of platforms as long as you’re using JavaScript.
Redash
Ever been frustrated over the complications of not being able to organize your data satisfactorily? It wastes your time, gets on your nerves, and ultimately, decreases your work quality. Well, Redash is an answer to just this nightmare of yours. What’s more interesting, is that it is a free web development tool.
Benefits
- The SQL editor is quite robust and comes with cloud-based services. Thus, you can work online and save the data automatically.
- Allows visualization and creation of dashboards as well as their sharing
- Minimum run-time on results due to cache availability.
- It is API compatible.
- You can enable alerts on events and tasks for your data.
Sass
Sass is a CSS extension language with many benefits for web developers. Supported and developed by hundreds of developers and tech companies around the world, it is a powerful language that was written 12 years ago.
Benefits
- Compatible with CSS, you can use any CSS library in this programming language.
- It lets you write codes in such a way that repetition is not required. Thus, it proves to be very time-saving.
- It provides nesting, mix-ins, and variables which aim at simple coding. Thus, when you finally compile the code, it is easy for you to understand.
- Its open source feature lets you access it through any platform.
Dabblet
An interactive playground for CSS, Dabblet allows you to write code and implement it instantly n the same window. With real-time reviews, Dabblet proves to be a great platform if web development companies in India want to learn to code or experiment with programs.
Benefits
- Snippet code testing is possible, thus saving time and hassle of compiling entire codes and running them every time.
- It supports CSS, HTML, and JavaScript languages.
- The tool monitors code constantly, so that quick testing is possible.
- The tool allows your language to be rid of prefixes, thus eliminating unnecessary complications.
- Associated with GitHub, it allows you to save code on the latter as a 3rd party API.
Waypoints
For web developers involved with scrolling animations and interactions, Waypoints is highly recommended. If you’re not into animations, here’s a tip for all web development services in India. Animations are now a trend in websites, so you should keep this tool in mind nonetheless.
Benefits
- With its administration interface, you can directly include JavaScript files to your website when using this tool. Two functions in one tool, that’s some time saving right there.
- It hosts tools which allow easy implementation of UI patterns like Sticky element and In-view Detection.
- It is free of cost.
Conclusion
Web development can leave you pulling at your hair in the middle of the night. So, why not take some extra help when you easily get it? With the help of these latest tools, work will be easier and more fun. And most importantly, it will save you so much time for other things.
If you access any of the tools we’ve mentioned and find them useful, do let us know. And if you already use any great tool that we’ve missed out on, feel free to mention it in the comments. We love exploring new tools and experiences.
About us
We at RareDevs are a web development, design, and branding agency based in Ahmedabad. We take interest in all things digital and help our clients do the same. If you’d like to hire a web developer in India, we are here to help you with every step of the web development process. To know more about our services and how we can help you make the best website for your business, drop a message. We will reach out in a jiffy.
Originally published at raredevs.weebly.com.
