Front End Website Design Tools

List & Comparison of Top Web Development Tools with Features & Pricing. Select The Best Front End Tool For Web Development Based on This Detailed Review:

Web Development Tools help the developers to work with a variety of technologies. Web Development Tools should be able to provide faster mobile development at lower costs.

They should help the developers in creating a responsive design. Responsive web design will improve the online browsing experience, and facilitate improved SEO, lower bounce rates, and lower maintenance needs. Moreover, the Front End Development Tool that you choose should be Scalable.

Let's check out the list of the Top Tools For Web Developers in this article.

Web Development Tools

Fact Check: According to IBISWorld, the revenue of Web Design Services in the US is $38 billion. From 2014 to 2021 it has an annual growth rate of 6.6%. According to the research performed by Similar Web, most of the traffic coming to the top sites are from mobile devices.

What You Will Learn:

Dos and Don'ts While Choosing The Technology Stack
List Of The Top Web Development Tools
- Comparison Of Popular Front End Tools For Web Development
- #1) Angular.JS
- #2) Chrome DevTools
- #3) Sass
- #4) Grunt
- #5) CodePen
- #6) TypeScript
- #7) GitHub
- #8) NPM
- #9) JQuery
- #10) Bootstrap
- #11) Visual Studio Code
- #12) Sublime Text
- #13) Sketch
Conclusion
- Recommended Reading

Dos and Don'ts While Choosing The Technology Stack

While developing a web application, you should choose the technology according to the current project needs and not based on your competitor's experience or your previous projects. Even though your previous projects were successful, the technology stack used for those projects will not necessarily work for this one.

The selection of a website technology stack will have a great impact on the development cost.

The below image will show you the technology stacks for some of the popular web projects like Shopify, Quora, and Instagram.

Stats on Technology stacks

[image source]

Pro Tip: Technology stack should be selected by considering your project needs and not by considering the reviews and past experience. Study the pros and cons of various tools. A team of professional web developers can pick the right tools. Hence letting them decide will be a good decision. The correct set of tools will help you to deliver a successful project.

It is necessary to determine the budget for bigger projects and high-quality outcomes. The tools that you have selected should be able to give you the ROI. Hence, Cost-effectiveness, Ease of use, Scalability, Portability, and Customization are the factors that should be considered while choosing a Web Development Tool.

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List Of The Top Web Development Tools

Enlisted below are the most popular tools for Web Development that are used worldwide.

Angular.JS
Chrome DevTools
Sass
Grunt
CodePen
TypeScript
GitHub
NPM
JQuery
Bootstrap
Visual Studio Code
Sublime Text
Sketch

Comparison Of Popular Front End Tools For Web Development

Let's start!!

#1) Angular.JS

Best for small to large businesses.
Price: Free and open source.

AngularJS

AngularJS will help you to extend HTML vocabulary. HTML is good for static documents, but it will not work with dynamic views. AngularJS will give you an environment that will be expressive, readable, and quick to develop. It provides the toolset that will let you build the framework for your application development.

This fully extensible toolset can work with other libraries. It gives you the freedom to modify or replace the feature according to your development workflow.

Features:

AngularJS provides you the features of Data Binding, Controller, and Plain JavaScript. Data Binding will eliminate DOM manipulation.
Directives, Reusable Components, and Localization are the important features that AngularJS provides for creating Components.
It provides the features of Deep Linking, Form Validation, and Server Communication for Navigation, Forms, and Back ends.
It also provides built-in Testability.

Verdict: AngularJS will allow you to express the behavior in a clean readable format. As AngularJS is the plain old JavaScript objects, your code will be reusable and easy to test and maintain. Indeed, the code will be free from boilerplate.

Website: Angular.JS

#2) Chrome DevTools

Best for small to large businesses.
Price: It is available for free of cost.

Chrome DevTools

Chrome provides a set of tools for web developers. These tools are built into Google Chrome. It has the functionality to view and change the DOM and a Page's Style. With Chrome DevTools, you will be able to view messages, run & debug JavaScript in the Console, edit the pages on-the-fly, diagnose the problem quickly, and optimize the website speed.

Features:

You can inspect Network Activity with Chrome DevTools.
With performance panel functionalities you will be able to Optimize speed, Analyze Runtime performance, and Diagnose forced synchronous layouts, etc.
It has various functionalities for Security panels like understanding Security Issues and for Application panel, Memory panel, Network panel, Sources panel, Console panel, Elements panel, and the Device mode.

Verdict: These are the tools that can perform debugging of JavaScript, Applying styles to HTML elements, and Optimizing website speed, etc. You can get support from the active DevTools Community. Chrome DevTools can be used with one browser only.

Website: Chrome DevTools

#3) Sass

Price: Free

Sass

Sass is the CSS extension language that is most mature and stable. It will allow you to use variables, nested rules, mixing, and functions. Sass will help you with sharing design within and across projects.

Features:

You will be able to organize large Stylesheets.
Sass supports multiple inheritances.
It has features of Nesting, Variables, Loops, Arguments, etc.
It is compatible with CSS.
Sass has a large community.

Verdict: Several frameworks such as Compass, Bourbon, Susy, etc, are built using Sass. It will allow you to create your own functions and provide several built-in functions as well.

Website: Sass

#4) Grunt

Best for small to medium-sized businesses.
Price: Free

Grunt

Grunt is a JavaScript Task Runner that is useful for automation. It will perform most of the repetitive work such as minification, compilation, Unit testing, etc.

Features:

It provides various plugins.
Grunt will let you automate almost anything using minimum efforts.
You can also create your own Grunt plugin to Npm.
It is easy to install.

Verdict: You will require the updated Npm as it installs the Grunt and Grunt plugins. You can take the help of the"Getting Started" guide that is provided by Grunt.

Website: Grunt

#5) CodePen

Best for small to large businesses.

Price: CodePen offers four plans for individuals i.e. Free, Annual Starter ($8 per month), Annual Developer ($12 per month), and Annual Super ($26 per month). Team plans start at $12 per month per member.

CodePen

CodePen is an online tool that has the functionalities for designing and sharing front end development. You can use CodePen to build the entire project as it provides all the features of IDE in the browser.

Features:

It provides a customizable editor.
CodePen will let you keep your pens private.
It will allow you to drag-and-drop images, CSS, JSON files, SVGS, Media files, etc.
It has a collaboration mode that will allow multiple people to write and edit code in a pen at the same time.

Verdict: CodePen offers a front-end environment that will help you with testing and sharing.

Website: CodePen

#6) TypeScript

Best for small to large businesses.
Price: Free

TypeScript

This open-source programming language is a typed superset of JavaScript. It will compile the code to plain JavaScript. It supports any browser, any host, and any operating system. You can use the existing JavaScript code and call the TypeScript code from JavaScript.

Features:

Compiled TypeScript code can be run in Node.js, in any JavaScript engine that supports ECMAScript 3, that too in any browser.
TypeScript will allow you to use the latest and evolving JavaScript features.
You can define interfaces between the software components.

Verdict: You will be able to gain insights into the existing behavior of JavaScript libraries. It provides the features of Type annotations and Compile-time type checking, Type inference, Type erasure, Interfaces, Enumerated types, Generics, Namespaces, Tuples, and Async/await.

Website: TypeScript

#7) GitHub

Best for small to large business size.

Price: GitHub provides two plans for individuals i.e. Free and Pro ($7 per month) and two plans for teams i.e. Team ($9 per user per month) and Enterprise (Get a quote).

GitHub

GitHub is the Software development platform. It will help you to manage the projects. GitHub will allow you to create a review processes for your code and fit it into your workflow. It can be integrated with the tools that you are using already. It can be deployed as a self-hosted solution or cloud-hosted solution.

Features:

GitHub provides project management features.
It is used by developers for personal projects or to do experiments with new programming languages.
For enterprises, it provides the features of SAML single sign-on, Access provisioning, 99.95% uptime, Invoice billing, Advanced auditing, and Unified search and Contribution, etc.
GitHub provides security features like Security incident response, and Two-factor authentication, etc.

Verdict: GitHub has functionalities for Code review, Project management, Integrations, Team management, Social coding, Documentation, and Code hosting. For enterprises, it provides priority support.

Website: GitHub

#8) NPM

Best for small to large businesses.
Price: Npm is a free and open-source tool. Npm Orgs is available for $7 per user per month. You can get a quote for Npm Enterprise.

Npm

Npm will help you to build amazing things through essential JavaScript tools. It has functionalities for team management. There will be no need to configure anything. It provides security auditing features.

For enterprise-grade solution, it provides the features of security expertise, de-duplicated development, access control, and unrivaled support.

Features:

With a free and open-source solution, you will be able to publish unlimited OSS packages and discover & install public packages. You will get basic support and automatic warnings about unsafe code.
With the Npm Orgs plan, you will get all the basic features of the open-source solution plus you will be able to manage team permissions and perform workflow integration & token management.
With the enterprise solution, it provides additional features like industry-standard SSO authentication, dedicated private registry, and invoice-based billing.

Verdict: Npm Open-source is the best solution for public package authors. Npm Orgs can be used by small teams and organizations. Npm Enterprise is the ultimate solution for enterprise JavaScript.

Website: NPM

#9) JQuery

Best for small to large businesses.
Price: JQuery is free and open-source.

JQuery

This JavaScript library is created for simplifying HTML DOM tree traversal and manipulation. It is also used for event handling and animation. It is rich in features.

Features:

JQuery provides an easy to use API that makes tasks like Ajax and animation simpler. This API can work in a multitude of browsers.
JQuery is 30/kb minified and gzipped.
It can be added as an AMD module.
It is CSS3 Compliant.

Verdict: It can be used with Chrome, Edge, Firefox, IE, Safari, Android, iOS, etc.

Website: JQuery

#10) Bootstrap

Best for small to large businesses.
Price: Bootstrap is free and open-source.

Bootstrap

Bootstrap is the toolkit that will let you develop with HTML, CSS, and JS. Bootstrap is used to develop responsive mobile-first projects on the web. This front-end component library is an open-source toolkit.

Features:

Bootstrap has the features of Sass variables and mixing.
It provides a responsive grid system.
It has extensive pre-built components.
It provides powerful plugins built on JQuery.

Verdict: Bootstrap is the tool for web projects. It provides several templates.

Website: Bootstrap

#11) Visual Studio Code

Best for small to large businesses.
Price: Free.

VisualStudioCode

Visual Studio Code can be run everywhere. It has features of IntelliSense, Debugging, Built-in Git, and extensions to add more languages, Themes, Debuggers, etc. It supports Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.

Features:

Visual Studio Code Editor will allow you to debug the code from the editor.
You will be able to debug with breakpoints, call stacks, and an interactive console.
It will allow you to review diffs, stage files, and make commits from the editor.
It is extensible and customizable. You will be able to add new languages, themes, and debuggers through extensions.

Verdict: Visual Studio Code will not only perform syntax highlighting and auto-complete but will also perform smart completions based on Variable types, Function definitions, and Imported modules.

Website: Visual Studio Code

#12) Sublime Text

Best for small to large businesses.

Price: You can download and try the product for free. For personal use, the license will cost you $80. For businesses, 1 license ($80), >10 licenses ($70 per license), >25 licenses ($65 per license), >50 licenses ($60 per license), and >500 licenses ($50 per license).

SublimeText

Sublime Text is a text editor that can be used to code, markup, and prose. It supports split editing mode. With the help of this feature, you will be able to edit files side by side. It can be the same file for editing at two different locations.

It provides many more features like customize anything and instant project switch. Sublime Text supports Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.

Features:

It will allow you to open files using Goto Anything command. For this, it will allow you to make use of a part of a file name, symbols, line number, or use the search within the file.
Using multiple selections feature you will be able to make ten changes at the same time.
Through Python API, Sublime Text will allow the plugins to provide more built-in functionality.
Functionalities that are not used frequently like Sorting and Changing indentation will be available in the Command Palette.

Verdict: Sublime Text will provide the best performance through powerful, custom cross-platform UI tool kit and unmatched syntax highlighting engine, etc. It supports Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. The only con that it has is that it doesn't support mobile platforms.

Website: Sublime Text

#13) Sketch

Best for individuals as well as small to large businesses.
Price: Sketch has two pricing plans i.e. Personal License ($99 per device) and Volume License ($89 per device).

Sketch

Sketch provides a smart layout to help you create responsive and reusable components that can automatically get resized to fit the content. It provides hundreds of plugins. It supports Mac OS. It can be used to create timeline animations.

Features:

Sketch has the features of powerful vector editing, pixel-perfect precision, non-destructive editing, code export, and prototyping.
It provides collaboration features that will allow your team members to share designs and prototypes.
With the help of Sketch, you will be able to turn wireframes into UI elements.

Verdict: Sketch has the functionalities for transforming your designs into user flow diagrams, turn screenshots into perspective mockups, and for creating, customizing, and sharing your own material theme.

Website: Sketch

Conclusion

From the above list of the top Web Development Tools, Sketch, Sublime Text, GitHub, and CodePen are licensed tools. GitHub and CodePen offer a free plan too. AngularJS, Visual Studio Code, TypeScript, Grunt, Sass, etc. are available for free.

AngularJS, Chrome Dev Tools, Sass, Grunt, and CodePen are our top picks as web development tools. Grunt is the task runner and can perform repetitive work such as minification, compilation, unit testing, etc.

Various frameworks available with Sass will help you to kick start your design. CodePen is the social development environment that provides you with the perfect platform to experiment and share your ideas.

Web Development Tools should be selected based on your unique project needs. I hope, this in-depth review will help you choose the right tool.

Review Process: Our writers have spent 22 Hours. in researching this article. Initially, we have selected 20 web development tools but later filtered out the list to the top 13 tools based on the popularity, features, and reviews of the tool.

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