The web design world is constantly changing to bring ease to designers. With this in mind, there are countless software out there for different purposes. Whatever you think you need, well it’s probably online somewhere.
For you newbies out there wondering what this software is all about, it is an application set up that enables you to build websites with the highest level of convenience possible. Gone are the days when you had to be a hardcore coder and write hundreds of code to have a beautiful website.
Most web design software are based on the ‘WYSIWYG’ principle meaning ‘What you see is what you get’. This means you can start designing your webpage without any coding knowledge.
Trying to decide which software is best for you might be a daunting task, which is why I have decided to help with your search by highlighting the best web designing software, its features, and why it may be the best fit for you.
Best Web Designing Software
1. Wix
Wiz is one of the most popular website builders that require little or no coding experience. It is easy to use and user friendly. It offers a diverse collection of 500 templates tailored to specific businesses and uses such as eCommerce sites, blogs, portfolios, etc. This cloud-based platform is great for small businesses, freelancers, and personal use.
The drag-and-drop editor is a great tool that ensures you have your website set-up and launched within a few minutes. Its features include an image editor, cliparts, animations, video backgrounds.
Wiz may be everything you need to create an online presence. This tool takes care of your SEO, email marketing, web hosting, security handling, and many more.
The newly created feature, Wix Turbo which is a major plus for the platform helps to accelerate the speed and performance of websites.
Pricing
Wiz provides a free plan that gives you access to 500MB worth of storage and 1GB bandwidth, however, this plan comes with the less desirable Wix branding and sponsored ads.
The paid plans include Combo ($13/month), Unlimited ($17/month), Pro ($22 per month), and the VIP ($39/month). The unlimited plan is a favorable choice amongst personal users and comes with no ads. The enterprise package cost $500 to build a website.
2. Weebly
Weebly is an exceptionally great tool for those looking to build an e-commerce store. This highly popular software may require a user to have HTML and CSS skills because of its limited templates and highly customizable features, however, beginners with no experience in coding will also benefit from it.
Weebly offers a defined number of templates with high flexibility. This means that you can personalize your website and tailor it the way you want with their built-in-editor. Their templates which are polished and professional are made easier using their smooth drag and drop tools.
They have mobile-optimized websites which means you don’t have to worry about having terrible looking designs on different devices. They also have an in-built SEO, free hosting, social media ads integration, great analytics, dynamic shipping pricing, welcome email features, and many more.
Pricing
Weebly’s pricing plan is comparably affordable and starts with a free plan offering basic services. The free plan comes with free SSL security, 500MB storage, domain with Weebly branding, search engine optimization, lead capture and contact forms.
If you are not satisfied with this, you can upgrade to Connect ($5 per month), Pro ($12 per month), and Business ($25 per month). For online stores, there are three pricing plans i.e. Pro ($12 per month), Business ($25 per month), and Business Plus ($38 per month).
The pro and business plan comes with unlimited storage, custom domain, site search, shopping cart, advanced site stat, phone support, and no Weebly ads.
3. SquareSpace
SquareSpace is a great fit for artists, photographers, restaurants, and creatives in general. The website builder is absolutely stunning and is the perfect choice if you are looking for seamless templates and artistic vibes.
This website builder is packed with 90+ easily customizable and highly flexible design templates. The number of templates is somewhat limited when compared to apps like Wix’s 500 templates, however, Squarespace values quality over quantity and every design has a beauty and poise that can’t be found anywhere else.
SquareSpace has other striking features such as its social media integration with over 20 social platforms, SEO, free domain, event planning, and many more.
Pricing
SquareSpace is a bit pricy when compared to competitors such as Weebly, however, you get value for your money when you pay for any of the plans.
There are four pricing levels. Squarespace pricing starts at $12/month paid annually and this comes with a free custom domain, SSL security, unlimited bandwidth and storage, SEO features for site visibility, mobile-optimized websites, 24/7 customer support, basic analytic metrics, and 2 contributors working on a project together.
The next plan, business starts at $18/month paid annually. The added features you get in this plan are unlimited contributors, premium integrations, complete customization with CSS and JavaScript, advanced website analytics, selling of unlimited products, and 3% transaction fees.
The basic commerce and advanced commerce plans which are exclusively for e-commerce stores go for $26/month and $40/month respectively. Both offers are paid annually. The added features are 0% transaction fees, products on Instagram, powerful e-commerce analytics and merchandise tools, abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping and commerce APIs.
4. WordPress
WordPress started as a simple blogging platform in 2003 and has now evolved into a content management system that powers more than 33% of the world’s website. This easy-to-use software can be used to build any website you can think of including e-commerce sites, homepages, magazine websites, or even to build your own portfolio.
With WordPress, all the codes that control it are open to you. This helps you to customize or develop new features whenever you please. This becomes very helpful when you have a complicated website that requires special tools or external features.
WordPress is an open-source platform which means templates, tools, plugins, and features for it can be developed by anybody with coding skills. This app currently has one of the biggest website builder plugin libraries in the world and this is what gives WordPress its versatility and is one of its main attractions
Pricing
WordPress offers a free platform to use. Despite the free service, the cost of building your WordPress website depends primarily on which hosting, plugins, and templates you choose which are priced averagely at $7.99 – $50, $5 – $150, and $0 – $500 respectively.
You also need a domain name which costs an average of around $14.99.
5. Bootstrap Studio
Bootstrap is one of the world’s most popular frameworks. It is a free and open-source CSS framework that focuses on responsive, mobile-first web creation. Bootstrap is developed to render elegant website designs with HTML, CSS, and JS for front-end developers. It is most liked amongst technical users as it gives room for fast coding of webpages.
The bootstrap studio is a versatile desktop software that helps to build responsive websites using the Bootstrap framework. It comes with a lot of great templates and widgets that include headers, footers, divs, slideshows, etc which you can easily customize to get your desired result.
There is a vast online library on the platform to help you find just the plug-in you are searching for. It is also Win 7+, macOS, and Linux compatible.
Pricing
The bootstrap studio comes in 2 packages, standard and lifetime. Both packages are paid once so this requires no monthly payments, usage limits, or ongoing fees. You buy once and own forever.
The standard plan for $29 is great for individuals, designers, and developers. It runs on Win7+, macOS, and Linux and you can install it on all separate computers at the same time. It comes with free web hosting and forms and one year of free upgrades.
The Lifetime plan however guarantees you get the latest upgrade of the bootstrap studio app as soon as it comes out and there is no time limit. It has all features that come with the standard plan. This package goes for $60.
6. Adobe XD
Adobe XD which was initially named Adobe Experience Design CC in 2016 during its beta stage is now one of the leading UX design tools and has gained popularity through the years. It is one of the many software apps in the Adobe Creative Suites. The software’s ease of use, simple workflow, and extremely fast tools is why it is a preferred choice amongst designers and developers.
This vector-based software can be used to build products at all levels, from prototypes and mock-ups to end-user testing designs. The highly impressive testing feature enables you to assess and analyze your design, user experience, and the functionality of your website or mobile app.
Adobe XD is an outstanding platform for individual developers and also collaborators. The app encourages developers to work on design projects together. You can keep all your coworkers on board and coordinated in a single project without losing track of your progress and required tasks to do.
Adobe XD will also help you refine your workflow to ensure that with as much structure as possible, you achieve your best job.
Pricing
Adobe XD offers a free plan that gives you access to unlimited designing and prototyping, one shared link, and 2GB of cloud storage. The free plan is a great way to test out the features before committing to a long term plan.
The paid plans give you more features such as 100GB of cloud storage, unlimited shared links, and editors and you can either choose to buy the single app which goes for $9.99/month or buy the Creative Cloud for all apps which go for $52.99/month.
7. Framer X
Framer X is quite similar to Sketch but equally as powerful. This fast prototyping tool offers free team collaboration features, multi-player editing, easy sharing, inline commenting, customizable templates, mobile-optimized preview, and developer handoff. It supports elaborate animations and produces code for React components on the go. It’s simple interface and extensive interaction abilities are why it is a favorite amongst developers.
Pricing
The free plan gives you access to unlimited viewers, 2 editors, and 3 projects.
The pro option priced at $20 per editor per month provides unlimited projects, private share links, offline editing, desktop app, local file access, and custom fonts. This is a great choice for teams and professionals.
The enterprise package entails a custom price and is a good pick for organizations with more than 20 team members.
8. Canva
It is a free, browser-based application used by both designers and non-designers for web graphics and image editing. It has a simple user interface and an easy-to-use drag-and-drop feature that is great for creating stickers, flyers, business cards, and social media posts.
Canva comes with a plethora of ready-made design templates and design styles for which is an excellent choice for freelancers, bloggers, and marketers to create stunning images for their websites.
Pricing
Canva starts with a free plan that offers 250k templates, 100+ design types, collaboration features and comments in real-time, and 5GB of cloud storage.
The pro plan for up to 5 collaborators starts at $119.40 billed years and comes with 420k free templates and daily new designs, one-click magic resize 75+ million stock images, 100Gb of cloud storage, and schedule of social media content to up to 7 platforms.
The enterprise plan which is $30 per month for a person comes with unlimited storage, a customized brand logo, and 24/7 Enterprise-level support.
9. Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is an essential tool every designer should have and is used by millions of designers all over the world. Photoshop offers a vast array of tools and options which makes it harder for beginners to get a hang of, however, due to its extreme popularity, there are tons of learning resources all over the web especially on YouTube, making it easy to learn its ropes quickly.
This tool was originally made for image editing but has expanded its reach by adding video editing and interface design which you can use to create and edit your web templates.
The platform uses a layer-based editing feature that gives the user the ability to create or attach images, apply filters to separate layers, add masks, draw boxes, add shadows and so much more. You can also show or hide a layer to effectively manage your web design elements
Adobe Photoshop is worth it if you have enough training and skills and the list is endless to what you can do with it.
Pricing
You can subscribe to Photoshop as a single package for $9.99 a month or opt to subscribe to Adobe’s complete Creative cloud for $52.99 a month. Adobe also gives a 7-day free trial on both plans.
10. Pixelmator
Pixelmator works similarly to Adobe Photoshop and is best for editing and making slight changes to images. You will find the basic photo editing options such as essential color adjustments like brightness, contrast, and exposure to advanced tools that include multi-channel curves and wheel-based color balance.
Pixelmator also uses AI to automatically enhance your photos which helps to optimize the time of the user.
Pricing
Pixelmator offers a 15-day free trial and the pro plan costs $39.99 available for macOS users.
11. Gimp
Gimp is a powerful alternative to Adobe Photoshop and great for those on a budget. It is an open-source photo-editor and is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux.
It works with images to create web pages and template designs. It does not have the same sophisticated functionality as Photoshop, but it comes with all the tools you need to create a stunning web design.
This tool will enable you to create icons, graphical design elements, and art for user interface components and mockups. It is great for graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers.
Gimp may not offer the best user interface and requires some time to learn its function but once you get it, it sticks with you for a long time.
Pricing
It is a completely free tool to use.
12. Vectr
Vectr is a cloud-based graphics editor software that is used to create vector graphics quickly and intuitively to render designs a reality. It is a good option for bloggers, freelancers, social media managers, and creatives. It’s a secure and cross-platform software that can be accessed on smartphones, and all modern browsers such as ChromeOS, Mac, Linux, and Windows.
Pricing
Free for all features
13. Webflow
WebFlow is an amazingly easy-to-use, interactive web design platform that has an elegant interface and is suitable for designing a website that looks good on all devices. This cloud-based software tool is best for artists, creatives, marketers, and freelancers. It is an all-in-one tool that combines its visual editor with CMS and a web hosting service.
You can use Webflow to create responsive websites by using its very intuitive drag-and-drop tool, even with no prior coding knowledge. It also offers great templates, SEO, and e-commerce features.
Pricing
The basic plan at $12 per month (billed annually) gives you a custom domain, 100 pages, 25k monthly visits, 500 form submissions, and 50GB worth of CDN bandwidth.
The CMS plan at $16 per month (billed annually) gives you 2k collection items, 100k monthly visits, 1000 form submissions, site search, and 200GB CDN bandwidth, and 3 content editors.
The business plan which goes for $36 offers 10k collection items, 1 million monthly visits, unlimited form submissions, 400GB CDN bandwidth, and 10 content editors,
There is also an enterprise plan for those who would prefer custom pricing.
14. Sketch
This is an extremely popular tool and a favorite amongst UX designers. Sketch is one of the best software for designing, prototyping, and collaborating with other designers, however, it is only available for Mac users.
Sketch is loved by artists because its uncluttered and simple interface makes it easy to easily construct stunning designs without the steep learning curve often connected to other design software. It also offers several plugins such as Material Theme Editor, Bitmap compressor, Pexels and this makes it easy to integrate sketch into your workflow.
It functions with vector images so the best highest-resolution results can be obtained. The toolbar and options are very clear and simple to use as well. Sketch provides you maximum flexibility to build and handle your web design projects and share them with others.
Pricing
Sketch provides a generous 30-days trial that comes with all the features available for the paid plans. For individuals, they provide a pay-once option for $99 that comes with one year of mac updates and saving to the cloud. You can renew this plan to extend your update and storage time by paying $78 for the next year. This is totally optional.
The paid plan for collaborators comes at $9 per contributor seat or $99 for the whole year.
15. Google Web Designer
Google Web Designer gives you the ability to build elegant, appealing HTML5 content. It is a perfect choice for online marketers and to create diverse products such as 3d images, motion graphics, and static cue cards. You can decide to build from scratch or choose from the numerous templates available.
It is cross-platform and supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. It also offers smooth integrations with other Google apps, such as Google Ads, Google Drive, and others.
Pricing
It is free to use and Install.
16. Adobe Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is one of adobe’s creative cloud that combines an intuitive visual interface with direct coding. It is one of the most trusted in the industry. This advanced web design software comes with a screen for you to write code and create your web template. It also includes a drag and drop section to enable a live preview while you design your website.
Many of the features of a conventional, text-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) are included in the Adobe Dreamweaver software, such as syntax highlighting, automated code completion, and the ability to collapse and extend code parts.
It is available on both Windows and macOS and is best for web developers and designers with knowledge of HTML, CSS, and HTML.
Pricing
Adobe Dreamweaver offers a free trial for the product, giving you a chance to test out its awesome tools before deciding on a paid plan. You can subscribe to Dreamweaver as a single package for $20.99 per month or pay for a subscription to Adobe’s full Creative Cloud for $52.99 per month.
17. Figma
Figma is relatively new compared with the other design apps on the list but is one of the most powerful and popular. It has an intuitive, vector-based interface that makes it easy to design websites.
Figma is a software that basically encourages team members to work together in real-time. It helps you to connect with your design team to work on a project at the same time. This means that more than one team member can edit a file simultaneously while also giving room for comments on a specific element. Designers and developers can also copy code parts to create websites at a faster rate.
Pricing
This is one of the most affordable software tools as the free plan is completely adequate for personal usage. You gain access to unlimited viewers and 2 editors, 3 working projects, 30-day version history, and unlimited cloud storage.
The paid plan is available for professionals at $12 per editor per month billed annually and comes with unlimited projects, unlimited version history, custom file or user permissions, invite-only private projects, and shareable team libraries.
For organizations, the pricing is $45 per editor per month billed annually and offers everything in the professional plan, plus Org-wide design systems, centralized teams, private plugins, plugin administration, shared fonts, SSO + advanced security, and design system analytics.
18. Design Wizard
Design Wizard lets you can create videos and picture templates within minutes. The free features allow you to resize your designs magically. You can also upload fonts, images, logos, and build palettes of custom colors. About one million luxury images and thousands of high-quality videos are contained in the library.
Pricing
The free plan allows you to resize images, add text, convert images and shapes to designs, custom color palette, gives you reseller rights, and a lifetime license.
The pro plan at $9.99 per month and offers all the features in the free plan plus 60 image design downloads per month, image uploads, font uploads, free previews, and 1GB cloud storage.
The business plan which starts at $49.99 per month gives you the features in the pro plan plus unlimited standard video downloads, 1 premium video per month, unlimited image design downloads, video uploads, add text and images to video, and 10GB cloud storage.
19. Atom Text Editor
This is an open-source text editor from GitHub that is compatible with windows, OSX and Linux. It is a strong editor for many coding fields ranging from web development to software scripting. One of the main selling points of Atom is its simplicity and customization readiness. This tool offers a vast library of resources and themes. Whatever you need has probably been made by a designer already.
Pricing
100 percent free.
20. Constant Contact Builder
Constant contact builder is perfect for beginners and enables a user to build a responsive website that looks great across multiple devices. This software is free and offers a drag-and-drop editor and layout designs that are very easy to use.
Constant Contact is fully automated and by taking a short survey, it will accurately create your website on the go. All you need to do is personalize it to your taste. It also offers great e-commerce service, social marketing integrations, contact list management, tracking tools and sign up forms.
Pricing
Constant contact gives you a 30-day free trial. The paid plan starts at $20 per month for the starter plans and $45 per month for the business plus.
21. Divi
Divi is a common theme and web design app for WordPress. It comes with a drag and drop builder, allowing you to quickly construct personalized web templates. Divi also provides hundreds of pre-built designs for restaurants, cafés, and fitness. It offers you a sophisticated graphic editor that enables you to add images, videos, contact forms, and sliders.
This design tool provides professionals and beginners with ease and effectiveness to create breath-taking designs and more importantly, the interface updates are completely flexible and can adapt to mobile devices automatically.
Pricing
Divi offers a yearly package for $89. This gives you full access to WordPress themes, hundreds of website packs, product updates, premium support, and unlimited website usage. You can also pay for the lifetime package which goes for $249.
22. SiteBuilder
SiteBuilder is an application for web design that comes with hundreds of perfectly crafted templates that help you to create a website conveniently. With the drag and drop designer, you can either modify the web templates or create the layouts from scratch. To help you get started faster, it provides a free domain name and web hosting for each package.
No coding is required to build a website, all you need to do is answer a few questions and it will automatically do the work for you. It also includes excellent customization options for creating a mobile-optimized web page, launching a blog, or running an eCommerce shop. It also gives you access to full customer support and analytics tool.
Pricing
The most popular choice, the pro plan is priced at $5.20 per month billed biannually. You gain access to free web hosting, customizable layouts, mobile-optimized designs, custom domain, website analytics, and Ad credits Included.
The premium and e-commerce plan are given at $6.30 and $9.40 respectively.
23. Gator Builder
Gator builder is a fast website builder that uses smart technology to access your needs and create a personalized website in minutes. It is created by HostGator and comes with a full hosting service, a customized domain, and an SSL certificate.
This builder grants an elegant drag-and-drop interface with several templates that are fully functional on all mobile devices. Using a simple point and click tool, each design is completely customizable.
Other features include analytics, access to Unsplash images, a logo creator, search optimization social media integrations, and 24/7 customer support.
Pricing
Gator builder has 3 pricing levels. The start, site, and store plans are priced at $3.84, $5.99, $9.22 per month, respectively.
24. InVision Studio
Invision started as a cloud-based tool that integrates seamlessly with software like Sketch and Photoshop, It has not extended its reach by creating a studio platform that literally offers all the prototyping and collaborative design features you need to work in just one place.
Invision Studio lets you prototype, design, and animate characters speedily. It has an easy-to-use interface with flexible layers and infinite canvas that enables you to create amazing vector drawings, responsive designs that scale to any screen size, and fast animated transitions that brings your imagination to life.
Pricing
It is free to download and use and also compatible with Windows and Mac platforms.
25. Bluefish
Bluefish is an open-source project released under GNU GPI license. It is a simple yet powerful editor for programmers and web developers that enable users to write front-end, scripting, and other programming codes. Bluefish runs on various platforms such as Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, macOS-X, OpenBSD, and Solaris.
Bluefish is a fast editor that enables you to work effectively on multiple projects and automatically adapts the settings for each project. It integrates seamlessly with external programs such as make, lint, weblint, xmllint, tidy, javac, and has an intuitive In-line spell checker that is programing language aware. It also has an autocompletion and auto-tag closing function for many programming languages and also gives you the ability to bookmark and highlight text as you like.
Pricing
This tool is free to use and download.
27. Mobirise
Mobirise is an offline application that is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses to build portfolios, landing pages, online resumes, and promo sites. It works well with Windows and macOS.
It offers over 4000 templates and themes to help to fasten your website creation and is the perfect choice for non-techies who are not knowledgeable in HTML and CSS or design in general as it does not require you to code on the platform. It is also a great tool for designers and provides awesome prototyping tools.
Mobirise has a drag-and-drop editor with good customization features and lets you preview your end product to see how your website will look on various devices.
Pricing
The windows and mac application is free, however, you have to pay for the website builder kit which goes for $5128. Mobirise is giving out all themes at a 97% discount today.
27. RapidWeaver
Rapidweaver is a software built by Realmac software and works exclusively for mac. It is a powerful and simple to use application that gives you total control to build responsive and catchy websites without having to write a line of code. It is an ideal choice for novice to start with.
Rapidweaver is also great for developers as it allows you to effortlessly customize your website using HTML and CSS. You can also attach your PHP or Javascript code file to it.
Page management has never been easier with RapidWeaver as it allows you to manage files in the finder by using click buttons to create new files and rename them. You can also drag and drop to create new subpages and arrange them.
This platform has a large user community so there is a new plugin or theme released regularly. It also has integrations with Unsplash and provides great SEO tools.
Pricing
Purchase of rapidweaver8 is $84.99 for up to five macs.
28. openElement
openElement is a reliable and affordable website editor that helps you to create a website that is above standard. It has an easy-to-use interface and automatically generates the necessary codes after your website has been created so it functions and displays properly.
openElement is useful for coders who have knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Javascript and lets you personalize your website without much stress. It also provides SEO features and supports multilingual websites.
This is a large library of resources and tutorials available on this platform and is a great option for small-sized and medium-sized enterprises.
Pricing
It is free to use and download.
29. Flutter
Flutter is an open-source, cross-platform toolkit that enables you to write code once and use it on both iOS and Android. It is built on Dart language and retains the app’s native experience and feel, and you don’t have to worry about its performance on any device. Flutter is however not a framework but a software development kit that enables you to have everything you need to build cross-platform apps.
Flutter uses ready-made widgets that are easily customizable to create amazing layouts that function above standard.
Pricing
It is free and open-source and can be used directly on Windows, macOS, Linux, and ChromeOS.
30. Marvel
Marvel is a prototyping tool that lets you create stunning mockups, wireframes, and websites for any device. This design engine allows you access to all the key features you need to create digital content in one place.
With just a click you can freely generate your CSS, Swift, and Android XML code for your models which stays connected to your recent design changes. Marvel encourages developers to collaborate by providing a platform where they can design, test, and edit projects together.
Pricing
The free plan is a basic plan for beginners offering you a space to edit just one project.
The pro plan which is also for individuals starts at $12 per month billed yearly, offers unlimited projects, 2 results per user test, downloadable prototypes or designs, and the ability to remove Marvel branding.
The Team plan comes with a 7-day free trial to test out its features before paying a $42 per month subscription billed yearly. This plan supports up to 3 users, 5 results per user test, and premium support.
Organizations can also request a custom price quote and get extra features such as unlimited users on a project, unlimited user test results, invite-only projects, advanced security settings, and Single Sign-On (SSO).
31. Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is an extremely easy-to-use and efficient graphic design tool. It is an excellent tool for beginners and professional users and has an easy to navigate user interface. Affinity Designer is equipped with all the tools you would like in a graphic design tool.
Affinity Designer is optimized for the latest technology on Mac, Windows, and iPad and sets a new industry standard in the world of design.
It is a favorite amongst web designers, artists, professional illustrators, game developers, and other creative people who love the feel of an elegant and smooth combination of vector and raster design tools to create concept art, UI designs, print projects, logos, icons, and mock-ups.
Pricing
Affinity Designer is offering a generous 90-day free trial and a one-time payment of $49 is available for you. This is a very affordable tool and is most loved amongst beginners.
What is Web Design Software?
Web design is what produces an overall look and feel when you use a website. It’s the method by which the components of your website are designed and built, from configuration and architecture to pictures, colors, fonts, and graphics.
A website design software is, therefore, a tool used to create a website by either eliminating the need to enter manual code or making it easy to customize web code such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript. It is essentially a means to make the creation of websites easier for beginners and even adept designers. The website design, page layout, and structure are done using the user interface that comes with the tool.
While they differ in simplicity, the purpose of a website builder is to help the typical user create a site without the need for or at least with limited involvement from a web developer or designer. Using drag-and-drop software and the WYSIWYG editor, users can create a site by organizing block elements or replacing prototypes and themes with their copy and pictures.
Different Types of Web Design Software
There are numerous web design software available to you however whether you are working with a template-based editor or a ‘WYSIWYG’ software app, you can choose an offline or an online application to work with.
An offline website design software is basically an app that can be downloaded and installed on your computer, laptop, or smartphone. This would be a great option for you if you wish to work independently on your website from wherever you are and save your project in whatever location you choose. It is also handy as you will not be reliant on internet connection and the browser type. A good example of this is the Adobe Dreamweaver app.
The online web design program is a fantastic option if you have a secure internet connection and are happy to work on your browser. It is also great because you get to access your designs on any device of your choice as it is always stored on the cloud.
Now that you understand what an online and offline design app can do, let’s dive into the two main types of website design software.
• The ‘WYSIWYG’ Editors: WYSIWYG is an acronym for ‘What you see is what you get’. This type of builder is a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) builder that helps you to create websites using layout, blocks, and grids. In other words, when designing a website, what you see on your computer is precisely how the website would look on the user’s screen.
No coding knowledge is required to use this type of editor and you can rapidly create responsive and fluid layouts by simply dragging and dropping the feature you want.
• Template-based web editors: This type of software offers already made themes and templates which you can easily personalize to your style. It is a good way to build a standard website with little to no technical expertise.
• Textual web editor: This tool is mostly used by professionals and may require a user to have detailed knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It offers the highest level of flexibility as you can build your website from scratch and add whatever feature you want to it.
Benefits of Web Design Software and Tools
Your website represents your online brand and is important to have one particularly in this era when the whole world is online. Creating a website for your business may however seem very intimidating especially when you have limited time on your hands and lack the expertise required for it. With the help of a website builder, you can eliminate the stress that comes with coding a website by yourself. Therefore you don’t have to be scared of owning one, you can get started now.
Here are some benefits of using a website designing software:
• No coding is required to build a website
This is probably the most common reason for choosing a web design tool. Many website builder solutions today need little more than drag-and-drop, WYSIWYG, copy-paste features that can easily create a website even for those with no coding skills. These solutions also offer several themes and models that help you easily launch a website by simply replacing the photos and text while retaining the layout structure.
• Full control of design process
You have total control over the design of your website. If you need to alter a specific element or make a tiny change to the way the front end looks, all you have to do is log into your design app and make those changes work yourself. This prevents the constant back and forth that comes with a design team and relaying out your specific requirements.
• Reduced cost
With the help of a website builder, you can completely remove the cost of a web designer from your budget. Professionals in this field cost roughly between $3000 – $6000 depending on your needs. Many web designing tools come free with amazing features while the paid plans range from $5 – $500 which is still a lot cheaper than hiring a pro.
• Professional Designs
Web design software offer a variety of templates and themes that are constantly optimized to meet up with the trends and standard. This means you don’t have to spend years learning the web design best practices to follow. A good web design software will give you a baseline to start from. There are hundreds of templates you can choose from to suit your company or purpose.
Most design platforms give you room to customize your template’s layout, use plugins, add or remove objects, and gives you the style that feels just right for your brand.
• Update content anywhere you are
Web design apps allow you to always keep your website updated without much hassle. You don’t need to rely on a web developer to update your site especially if you are running one that depends on trendy topics. You or your team can bring in fresh content from any device available to you.
• Reduced time
Optimize your time by using a software design app. These apps are specifically made to make the design process faster. By providing templates, drag and drop editors, plugins, SEO, and several integrations, everything you need is at your fingertips. All you need to do is click on the features you want and your website is done in minutes.
What Features Should You Look For in Web Design Software?
Every web design app should have key characteristics that enable fast and optimized end products. These are the major features you should look out for.
• Templates and themes
Web design apps usually come with a variety of templates and themes spanning over different categories to accommodate the most common types of businesses. They should offer professional, clean, and mobile-optimized designs. Templates should also contain pre-designed layouts for the inclusion of more pages.
Depending on the design software, you should be able to personalize the templates with ease by using a drag-and-drop editor to readjust or replace an element. You should be able to adjust the overlook and style of your website as well.
Most website builders allow you to change the website’s color, font, structure, and background quickly through the editor; some even allow you to view the HTML/CSS codes of the template for more sophisticated customizations
• Image Gallery and image editing
Photos are the key feature of many websites, and many website builders let you view them in different ways. Your web design software should offer a remarkable image gallery with great customization options. You should also be able to easily crop, resize, rotate and apply effects from your editor
• Social sharing
This helps to increase your reach and customer base. Most site builders let you insert social media buttons like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Such buttons either share the web data to the social network of the visitor or direct visitors to your social sites.
• Forms
Your website builder should allow you to build contact forms quickly and smoothly. You should also be able to personalize the form fields to create templates that suit your needs. It could be an opt-in form, a contact form, or a registration form. Depending on the type of software, the level of customization offered comes in various degrees. Some tools are incredibly flexible, allowing you to generate as many form fields as you want; while others provide very limited customization, only
• Integration
Integration is an important aspect of a website builder as this gives you an all-in-one marketing package. It should integrate with systems such as CRM, e-commerce platforms, analytics, and many others. This will ease your job and of course, take your marketing scheme to a whole other level.
What are the best web design software?
Recommendations from website builders can differ based on the purpose and designated use of the website. It’s worth taking a few minutes to read our in-depth reviews in full to find out what software best satisfies your demands.
The best web design software is those that enhance your brand and tailors the need of your company properly. If you are an absolute beginner, Wix and constant contact builder would be a great fit for you. If you are a creative or an artist, Squarespace is the absolute best. Graphics designers love Adobe Photoshop and Sketch is great for mac users.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Best Web Design Software
What is the easiest website design software to use?
What are the requirements for a web designer?
Which Web design software is best for beginners?
Which Adobe software is best for web design?
What software do Web designers use?
Summary
Web design software tools have taken over the tech industry. Gone are the days when you had to learn how to code for months or hire an expensive designer to build a website for you. While there are some benefits to employing a professional to do the job for you, Website design tools offer an all-in-one package that gives you total control of your design process and a wide range of awesome integrations.
We have carefully researched and brought out the best web design software for various purposes. In terms of total efficiency, ease of use, Pricing, and versatility, we believe that Wix should be our top pick of the year.
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