When it comes to web design, it can take a lot of work to know where to start. What should your website look like? How do you put it together? Does web design have to be expensive? What is SEO, anyway? There are tools out there to make web design simple. Nowadays, building a website is really just dragging and dropping the elements you need! Alternatively, there are also coding platforms designed to make coding simpler. 

1. Adobe Dreamweaver

Packaged with the rest of the creative cloud as a ubiquitous piece of software found in many a classroom, Adobe’s Dreamweaver software has to be one of the most straightforward software for web design. You can have a decent website put together in just a few clicks, even with zero knowledge of HTML!

Using a mix of both visual and HTML editing, Adobe Dreamweaver is an easy piece of software to pick up. You can also easily create a responsive design and even use multiple monitors for designing. Adobe Dreamweaver even supports the Chromium Embedded Framework. This means it works with CSS grids and HTML5 elements. On top of this, the software even features support for Git, meaning you can edit source code directly.

What else does your website need? Check out our guide.

2. Weebly

A content management system (CMS) aimed at e-commerce, Weebly is another brilliant option for anyone with little to no coding experience. A free site, you build your website using simple drag-and-drop tools. 

Admittedly, Weebly does have limited themes available. However, they are all professional, mobile responsive, and customisable themes, allowing you to build a brand aesthetic across devices. In addition, Weebly has SEO, analytics, and a unique feature that will enable you to post ads directly on Facebook. Read more about it here.

3. FireAlpaca

Okay, so this isn’t a CMS or a code editor. Instead, it’s something just as important – a graphics program. Yes, it’s easy to overlook, but a good graphics program is something you will need now and then in web design.

Lightweight and simple, FireAlpaca boots up quickly for those little logo touch-ups or background colour changes. You can edit Photoshop files, create PNGs and JPEGs, add text and use all the same tools and brushes you are already used to, but without waiting the decade it takes for Photoshop to boot up. Oh, and it’s free!

4. Compare Broadband

Another imperative tool you’ll need as you develop your website is good broadband. After all, you don’t want to be sitting around waiting for software to download or website changes and content to upload! So, compare broadband today to find the right deal for you.

5. WordPress

Another content management system aimed at blogs this time, WordPress is an exciting way to design a site. In mere minutes, you’ll have a fully-functional site. 

The software offers a very user-friendly backend, whether you install WordPress through another web hosting package or by itself. There’s plenty of choice, too – the option of both the existing WordPress design templates or another template. Either choice takes no time at all to implement.

If you’d rather use your own design, a downloaded design with a built-in framework and drag-and-drop functions work together to make creating a professional website without any programming knowledge possible. 

No matter what you want to do on WordPress, it’s all just a free add-on away. Customising your site is easy and doesn’t need any skills. The only problem is spam comments, which you can prevent by turning off the commenting option.

What else is important for your business, SEO-wise? Take a look at this.

6. Bluefish

Another small, simple web design tool, you can set up the free-of-charge Bluefish in no time. Unfortunately, its interface isn’t exactly aesthetically pleasing, being text-only. That said, Bluefish is still obviously designed with novice users in mind, with its user-customisable menus, syntax highlighting and toolbars.

Of course, this software’s primary focus is HTML. However, Bluefish also supports plenty of other languages. This list includes CSS, XML, PHP, Java, and JavaScript, amongst others. 

Bluefish can handle hundreds of documents simultaneously with ease. The tool also has a fantastic search function that can track down text across multiple projects. Bluefish does allow working with remote files but doesn’t yet support direct upload of a web page through FTP.

7. Webflow

This unique tool is cloud-based. Again, Webflow opens web design to people with no programming knowledge. Letting you work from whatever device you like – just as long as it has a browser – the web-based Webflow places emphasis on codelessness. What does this mean? Webflow has a beautiful drag-and-drop interface that allows you to drop elements like images or text right into your page. It, too, has free templates and generates well-written CSS and HTML for you to use. You can even make changes to individual elements with the right panels. 

After you use Webflow’s free feature demonstration, its free Starter package will let you produce two projects.

8. Visual Studio Code

Microsoft’s text editor Visual Studio Code (VScode to its fans), is a bare-bones web design product. However, VScode is a customisable platform with plenty of free downloadable extensions and packages. But the one big downside? Visual Studio Code is exclusively a code editor. This means there is little in the way of graphics or other tools to help you out. That said, at some point in your web development journey, you will eventually be experienced enough to want to quickly touch up your code in an editor without any training wheels. 

When you’re ready for it, Visual Studio Code features its own terminal, a debugger, and code linting and can integrate with all kinds of source control tools. On top of this, it supports Python and Javascript.

9. Stock Photos

You might think you won’t need many images on your site besides your logo. But whether it’s blog posts, backgrounds or a news update, blog posts help your content to stand out across the web. You can use free photo sites, but a subscription may come in handy if you can’t find what you’re looking for.

10. Google Web Designer

If you want to create ads and graphics that stand out, go for Google Web Designer. This program works across Windows, Mac and even Linux, allowing you to produce brilliant animated graphics. What’s more, this tool even integrates with Google’s other products!

Top 10 best software for web design – your guide to the best

Want to create a website but need help figuring out what to start? Check out our guide to the best software for web design for some great web design ideas!