Top 10 Free Web Designer Tools 2024

Having access to the right tools can make a substantial difference in the efficiency and creativity of your work. Fortunately, there is an array of free web designer tools available that cater to different aspects of the design process.

These tools can elevate your creativity in programming, design games and will not cost you a penny. Let's explore the top 10 free web designer tools that can enhance your creativity and streamline your workflow.

What are Web Designer Tools

Web design, as the name suggests, refers to design a website. It is a way of presenting the website online. Websites should be created effectively that not only looks good but also functions properly as well as should rank at the top in search engine. Web Design tools simply refer to material or software programs generally used to develop effective, beautiful, and responsive websites. Nowadays, there are various web design tools available to be used by developers or designers. Choosing the best web design tool usually comes down to its main purpose and functionality. 

Best tools will make it simple and easier to develop the website as per requirement. One has to choose the most appropriate tool on basis of the size of the team, type of website, budget, all resources, and technical requirements.

There are basically 10 main tools by we will discuss in this article:  

1. Canva
2. Figma
3. ColorZilla
4. GIMP
5. Gravit Designer
6. Google Fonts
7. Pixlr
8. Bootstrap
9. Trello
10. Unsplash

1. Canva: Design Simplified

Canva is an online design and visual communication platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere. It's used for creating a wide range of designs, from social media graphics to presentations, and much more. Canva is also known for its acquisitions that have expanded its capabilities, such as Zeetings for presentations, Pexels and Pixabay for stock content, Kaleido for AI-based design tools, Smartmockups for creating product mockups, and Flourish for data visualization. Canva empowers designers to create stunning visuals effortlessly.

2. Figma: Collaborative Design Platform

Figma lets users collaborate in real-time to build and prototype user interfaces and web applications. Using vector graphics design tools, teams of designers can build complicated wireframe layouts for websites that can be resized to be optimized for screens of any given size. In addition, users can add interactive elements such as scrolling and hovering functionalities to their designs, letting them make sure that their webpages look and feel like modern designs. This lets users produce working prototypes of their webpages that can be easily tested, allowing designers to receive feedback quickly. Figma even allows users to export some amount of code from the prototype designs to hand off to developers once the prototype has been perfected.

Because Figma is such a potent collaboration tool, there is a massive community of designers and developers constantly creating new plug-ins, templates, and widgets for public consumption. Through Figma’s website and other forums, users can share new designs, provide feedback on templates, and improve on the functionality of interactive interface elements. Every day, more and more new Figma resources are being developed. The resources that are being developed can help users modify and re-purpose existing resources to fit their needs better. Thanks to the Figma community, users aren’t just able to collaborate with their team on a web design; they can collaborate with the entire community of Figma designers and developers on their web designs.

3. ColorZilla: Your Color Companion

This is a Google Chrome and Mozilla extension that assists web developers and graphic designers with color related and other tasks.

ColorZilla allows getting a color reading from any point in the browser, quickly adjusting this color and pasting it into another program, such as Photoshop.

ColorZilla extension allows zooming Web pages and measuring distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes. DOM spying features allow getting various information about DOM elements.

Features

1. Multiplatform - Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X
2. Eyedropper
3. Color picker
4. Page zooming
5. Palette viewer and editor (GIMP compatible)
6. History and Favorites palette
7. Page Pan
8. Displays element information (tag name, class, id, size)
9. Outline DOM elements
10. RGB, HSV, and HTML colors support
11. Auto copy
12. Launch DOM Inspector
13. Distance measurements

How do I use ColorZilla in Chrome?

Webpage Color Analyzer

1. Launch it from the main ColorZilla menu
2. Allows you to analyze DOM element colors on any Web page
3. You can locate elements on the page that correspond to a given color, by hovering on any color
4. Select any color as the current ColorZilla color by clicking on it and then on the "OK" button.

4. GIMP: The Open-Source Photoshop Alternative 

The Free & Open Source Image Editor

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a powerful open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for photo retouching, image editing, and graphic design. GIMP's extensibility through plugins makes it a versatile choice for designers on a budget.

GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes.

Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

Benefits of using GIMP

1. High Quality Photo Manipulation: GIMP provides the tools needed for high quality image manipulation. From retouching to restoring to creative composites, the only limit is your imagination.
2. Original Artwork Creation: GIMP gives artists the power and flexibility to transform images into truly unique creations.
3. Graphic Design Elements: GIMP is used for producing icons, graphical design elements, and art for user interface components and mockups.
4. Programming Algorithms: GIMP is a high quality framework for scripted image manipulation, with multi-language support such as C, C++, Perl, Python, Scheme, and more!

5. Gravit Designer: Vector Design Made Easy

Gravit Designer is a free vector design tool available both online and as a downloadable application. With a clean interface and powerful features, it's an excellent choice for creating vector illustrations, icons, and UI designs. Gravit can be used from within a web browser or as an installed application, making it compatible with any computer. Work can also be saved to a cloud account, allowing for easy access and minimal file management. When finished with a design, work can be downloaded and saved as a file (image, PDF, or vector) for web or print purposes. Graphic tools include options for drawing, shapes, text, and layering.

System requirements for Gravit Designer

Gravit Designer runs best on a desktop computer in Chrome, Firefox or Safari, with at least 2 GB RAM and a CPU with 2.2 GHz. Operating system: Windows 10 or later, macOS High Sierra or later, Linux and Chrome OS: Chrome v8 engine version 7.2. 502 or later.

6. Google Fonts: Diverse Typography Choices

Google Fonts offers a huge collection of free, open-source fonts that can enhance the typography of your web designs. With easy integration into websites, this tool allows designers to experiment with a wide range of fonts to find the perfect fit for their projects. Google Fonts makes it easy to bring personality and performance to your websites and products. Google Fonts robust catalog of open-source fonts and icons, makes it easy to integrate expressive type and icons seamlessly—no matter where you are in the world.

How to use Google fonts

1. Go to the Google font website
2. Search for font you like (Roboto, Lato, etc)
3. Click "+" when you are ready to use
4. Repeat steps 1–3 if you are looking for more than one font to use

7. Pixlr: Quick and Accessible Photo Editing

Pixlr is an online photo editing tool that rivals desktop applications. It provides a range of features for quick photo adjustments, filters, and overlays. Pixlr's simplicity makes it an excellent choice for designers looking to perform rapid edits without a steep learning curve. 

Pixlr is also a cloud-based set of image editing tools and utilities, including a number of photo editors and a photo sharing service. It was acquired by Autodesk in 2011. The suite is intended from the range of simple to advanced photo editing.[1] It features three subscription plans which include Free, Premium and Creative Pack.

The platform can be used on desktop and also smartphones and tablets.[2] Pixlr is compatible with various image formats such as JPEG, PNG, WEBP, GIF, PSD (Photoshop Document) and PXZ (native Pixlr document format).[3] 

Benefits of using Pixlr

1. It can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, making it convenient for students to work on their projects from anywhere.
2. Using Pixlr can be a learning opportunity for students as they develop their design skills and learn how to use different features and tools.
3. Pixlr has a simple interface and offers a range of tutorials and resources to help students learn how to use the tool effectively.
4. Ability to work with layers allows students to add different elements to their designs and move them around as needed, making it easier to create complex designs or make changes to existing designs.
5. Pixlr is free to use, which means students don’t have to worry about purchasing expensive software or paying for subscriptions.

8. Bootstrap: Responsive Web Design Made Simple

Bootstrap is a front-end framework that streamlines the process of creating responsive and mobile-first websites. It offers a grid system, pre-built components, and a plethora of customizable styles, making it an indispensable tool for designers focusing on web development. As a framework, Bootstrap includes the basics for responsive web development, so developers only need to insert the code into a predefined grid system. The Bootstrap framework is built on Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), cascading style sheets (CSS) and JavaScript. 

Web developers using Bootstrap can build websites much faster without spending time worrying about basic commands and functions.

What makes Bootstrap so popular?

1. Components ( Dropdowns, Forms, Navigation Bars, Button, Tables, etc)
2. Responsive Grid
3. Time-Saving
4. Customizable
5. Compatibility

9. Trello: Project Organization and Collaboration

While not strictly a design tool, Trello is invaluable for project management and collaboration. Design projects often involve multiple tasks and contributors, and Trello's boards, lists, and cards provide an intuitive way to organize and track progress collaboratively. It also a popular, simple, and easy-to-use collaboration tool that enables you to organize projects and everything related to them into boards. With Trello, you can find all kinds of information, such as: 

1. What’s being worked on?
2. Who’s working on what? 
3. What progress the project is making

Advantages of using Trello

1. Trello can be used immediately after signing up. Trello offers a free sign-up, after which you get access to almost all of its features.
2. Trello follows the Kanban system, which is a popular methodology used to achieve lean management.
3. It also has a very popular mobile application that has the same features available in the desktop application.
4. Adding new members, creating issues, and assigning them is easy to do.
5. All project-related items can be seen on one page.

10. Unsplash: High-Quality, Royalty-Free Images

Unsplash is an online platform of high-resolution, royalty-free images contributed by photographers worldwide. Designers can use these images in their projects without worrying about licensing issues, adding a touch of professionalism to their designs. The platform features a diverse range of photographs contributed by a global community of photographers. Users can search for specific themes, subjects, or styles to find images that align with their needs. Additionally, photographers can showcase their work on Unsplash, gaining exposure and recognition for their talent.

How to obtain unsplash API

1. Go to the Unsplash website and sign up for an account.
2. Once you have an account, go to the developer section of the website and click on the “Register a new application” button.
3. Once you have submitted the form, you will be provided with an API key that you can use to access the Unsplash API.

Unsplash API Documentation

Conclusion

The Unsplash API is a powerful tool that makes it easy to find and use beautiful images in your projects. In this guide, you learned the 10 free web designer tools with their various aspect of the design process. You also learned how to use them, how to obtain their API keys, their advantages and others.

As a next step, you can build upon this and explore more options available in the Unsplash API such as pagination, download the photos of different sizes, download the photos of different orientation, and also you can use the photos for commercial and non-commercial use by following the guidelines provided by unsplash. You can also explore fore web designer tools online. I know there are numerous, but these ones I listed are just a few.

Good Luck on your web designer journey 🚀