15 Tools and Resources for Designers and Agencies To Use in 2021
You take pride in delivering a project on time, but when unanticipated issues arise, meeting a deadline can suddenly become a challenge. Quite often the cause of the problem is that one of your tools simply isn’t up to the task at hand.
It doesn’t matter if it’s one of your favorites, you simply have to find one that will get the job done.
Fortunately, there’s an abundance of web design tools out there. They range from possibly OK to excellent.
You’ll find 15 tools and resources for designers and agencies that fit nicely into the latter category here. Tools that will help you and your team be more productive and put big smiles on your viewers and clients faces.
That said, let’s get started.
1. Be Theme
This premium multipurpose theme is hard to beat in terms of its huge array of features, tools, design options, flexibility, and ease of use. Add the fact that BeTheme’s sales have topped the 200,000 mark and there should be no doubt that you’ll be getting the maximum value for your investment.
- Be’s 40+ core design features provide all the flexibility you’re ever likely to need
- With Be’s powerful Muffin Builder page builder, Admin Panel, and Shortcode Generator combo you can design whatever you want without having to write a line of code
- Choose from more than 600 responsive and customizable pre-built websites that cover 30 industry sectors and all the common website types and styles to get any project or any page design off to a quick start.
- Be’s Layout Generator will come in handy should you ever decide to start a page from scratch, plus you’ll find all the grid, header, and color options and special effects you’re likely to need.
Click on the banner and discover what BeTheme can do for you.
2. Timezy Booking Software
Timezy is a brand-new booking application with a cool modern design. It features a game-changing approach to a business’s booking operations by speeding up the process by 75% and simplifying it from beginning to end.
Since Timezy is currently in an early phase, you can get a chance to take advantage of this software for as low as $5 by joining the Early Bird plan, additionally you can shape it by providing feedback at its early stage.
Timezy features include:
- Accepting and managing appointment bookings and scheduling and managing events
- Sending automatic email and SMS notifications
- Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Zoom integration are on the way
- Booking Form customization to conform to needs and brand
- Managing employee work and appointment schedules
- Managing both flat and variable pricing and online payments
The majority of the above features are currently in place. Others are on the way.
Click the banner to learn more and/or take part.
3. wpDataTables
While there are plenty of good table and chart-building apps and plugins on the market, your options quickly become limited if you are looking for one or more of the following features:
- Tables or charts can be interactive and responsive
- Tables or charts can be editable and easily maintainable
- Massive amounts of data can be processed to create a table or chart in seconds or minutes as opposed to hours or days
- Data including real-time data from various sources and in various formats can be processed
wpDataTables does all the above and more. wpDataTable’s conditional formatting feature allows key table and chart information to be highlighted or color-coded. Other features include front-end editing, powerful filters, and a useful collection of add-ons. Documentation is detailed and informative.
Click on the banner to learn more about this powerful tool.
4. Amelia Booking Plugin
This premier WordPress booking plugin manages appointments, events, and employee schedules with one tool.
- The number of appointments is unlimited, and customers or clients can book appointments 24/7
- The number of employees and clients is unlimited
- Amelia can service multiple business locations
- Amelia can be integrated with Google or Outlook Calendar, Elementor, and Zoom
Employees and clients have their own dashboards and clients can access Amelia without having to log into WordPress.
5. Uncode – Creative Multiuse & WooCommerce WordPress Theme
Uncode is a pixel-perfect multipurpose theme that has proven to be one of ThemeForest’s all-time bestsellers with more than 80.000 sales. Uncode is especially suitable for use by creative types, freelancers, agencies, bloggers, and businesses.
Features include:
- An enhanced Frontend Editor;
- 400+ Wireframe templates and 70+ demo concepts;
- A unique WooCommerce Custom Builder featuring the Single Product Builder, the custom Cart, Checkout, and more…
Visit the site. Uncode’s library of user-created websites is a must-see.
6. LayerSlider
In this day and age it’s crucial to have a website with a lasting impression. LayerSlider is one of the essential tools to impress your visitors with rich content and eye-catching animations.
- LayerSlider is perfect for giving new life to old websites
- Animation capabilities open up new ways to impress and interact with site visitors
- Professionally-crafted templates give users ideal project starting points
LayerSlider is drag and drop, SEO and mobile device friendly, and requires no coding.
7. Total WordPress Theme
Although Total was designed with perfection in mind, its developers made certain that this WordPress theme would be fast, friendly, and super-flexible.
- Features you are not working with will not slow you down
- The Dynamic Template Function and Theme Customizer are two of the reasons behind Total’s extreme flexibility
- Total is WooCommerce and WordPress plugin friendly
Simply click on the banner to learn more about this popular theme.
8. Dr. Link Check
Broken website links can frustrate owners and visitors alike and can hurt a site’s search engine rankings. Dr. Link Check saves you the time and trouble of having to periodically check all the links in your site manually by performing:
- Broken link checks including for proper URL formatting
- Blacklist checks for potential malicious content hosts
- Parked domains for detecting placeholder sites devoid of meaningful content
9. Mobirise Website Builder
If, when it comes to creating a website, you prefer a fast and easy approach, keep the Mobirise Website Builder in mind.
- Since Mobirise is offline you have full control over your project
- Everything is drag and drop; there is no need for coding
- Bootstrap 4 and Google AMP frameworks ensure outstanding performance
- 4,000+ cool website templates are included
Mobirise can be downloaded to Windows or Mac at no cost.
10. 8b Website Builder
8b is brand-new, it’s super easy to use, and you can download a full site copy of it for free and host it anywhere you like.
- 8b can be used on any device at home or on the go
- Google AMP ensures your site will be crazy-fast and 100% mobile-friendly
- There are no page number or bandwidth limitations
- You can link your own domain or use 8b’s
11. Heroic Inbox
Heroic Inbox lets customer support, sales, and other business organizations manage their email inboxes right inside WordPress.
Heroic Inbox, with its exceptionally friendly UI:
- helps staffs collaborate on email assignments and responses
- enables staffs to achieve the coveted Inbox Zero status – in no time
- tracks key metrics to help better understand team performance
12. WHATFONTIS
WhatFontIs quickly identifies fonts from images you upload. This tool’s amazing search capabilities are based on AI font-finding algorithms and its 700K font database (commercial and free).
- 60+ fonts can be shown for every uploaded image
- WhatFontIs success rate exceeds 90% (close enough matches approach 100%)
- Cursive fonts can be uploaded as long as the letters are separated
No more need for exhaustive searching to identify a font you simply must have.
13. Litho – The Multipurpose HTML5 Template
This Bootstrap 4 responsive multipurpose HTML5 template with its ready-made template blocks and premium in-built inner pages provides a perfect website-building starting point for startups, design and art agencies, travel agencies, and other businesses.
Litho’s many features include:
- 36+ home pages and 230+ ready templates
- Page styles for portfolio, blog, shop, and galleries
- Hero sliders, interactive banners, contact forms, and other creative elements.
Litho provides detailed documentation and you can expect 5-star professional support.
14. XStore – The Most Customizable WooCommerce Theme Ever
If building an eCommerce website is on your to-do list, doing so couldn’t be any easier than making XStore your tool of choice.
For an investment of only $39 you’ll have at your fingertips –
- 100+ good-to-go shops to customize to meet your requirements
- $510 worth of premium plugins
- A single-product page builder together with a powerful header builder
- Built-in Woocommerce Email Builder
- Full AJAX Theme & Multi-Vendor Marketplace
Creating an eCommerce website needn’t be difficult.
15. Goodiewebsite
GOODIE is dedicated to help web designers, agencies, and business owners to connect with web developers to get their site reliably coded and quickly up and running.
GOODIE is ideal for –
- Small businesses looking to establish and amplify an online presence
- Web designers seeking assistance from a reliable web development partner
- Startups looking for ways to test their business ideas
GOODIE specialties include WordPress websites, 1-10 page websites, eCommerce websites, and responsive email templates.
Like most other designers, you probably have a toolbox filled with industry tools, tips, and tricks. And like the others, you no doubt have a few favorites you would be reluctant to set aside.
Still, you have to stay up-to-date, something that is not always easy to do. Trying to keep tabs on all the latest and greatest web design tools and resources can be time consuming and more than a little frustrating.
That is why we are happy to share these top 15 tools and resources for designers and agencies with you. Choosing one or more should help you stay on top of your design game.
Icon in featured image made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com.