Have you ever wondered why some people can complete tasks in minutes whereas for others it takes hours? Well, the reason behind their ability to complete tasks faster is not only because of their skills and time management but also about automating the tasks in the process. The same goes for many developers who speed up their workflow by choosing the right set of tools and resources to have their work cut out for them. In this article, you’ll get your hands on the best web developer resources to brush up on your skills, automate your workflow, and be at the top of your game.
Table of Contents
Browser Extensions
1. Wappalyzer
Wappalyzer is our first Chrome extension. It researches and analyzes any website and indicates what technologies were used to build the page. Wappalzyer will detect used web plugins, web frameworks, eCommerce platforms, and much more.
Pros
- API access;
- Simple, fast, and accurate;
- Got good insights about the used technologies.
Cons
- Doesn’t detect some technologies;
- Pricey if you want advanced functionality.
Pricing
Free
Starter - $149.00/mo
Team - $249/mo
Business - $449/mo
2. Githunt
One of the most popular platforms for web developers is GitHub. We found the best web developer resource for you to highlight all the trending projects on Github in repositories. Githunt lets you ”hunt” repositories in different languages, read project descriptions and bugs. To learn more about a new project you just need to select the project in the tab and inspect the wonderous world of new and inspiring open-source projects.
Pros
- Responsive;
- Easy to navigate;
- Multiple categories.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
3. BrowserStack
The next web developer resource is BrowserStack. The Chrome extension allows you to test the responsiveness of your web page on different browsers and desktops. Around 100.000 web developers trust BrowserStack to run visual, live, and automated testing across websites and mobile apps.
Pros
- Local testing is available for WIP (work in progress) apps without hosting them in public environments;
- Detailed logs and extensive devices;
- Excellent customer support.
Cons
- Difficult to have different sets of iOS devices;
- Pricey for small companies/startups.
Pricing
- Free
- Desktop - $29/mo
- Desktop & Mobile - $39/mo
- Team - $125/mo
- Enterprise team - custom
4. Clear Cache
Web developers often need to clear the cache that prevents checking modified settings immediately. Clear Cache is a great browser extension that will remove cookies globally in one click. You can always customize the size and data you want to be cleared. App Cache, Cache, Cookies, Downloads, File Systems, Form Data, History, Indexed DB, Local Storage, Plugin Data, Passwords, and WebSQL are the available options at the moment.
Pros
- Simple;
- Without any ads or pop-ups;
- Efficient and convenient.
Cons
- Doesn't clear tab history;
- Won’t work for certain domains.
Pricing
- Free
Our next small web developer resource is the HTML validator. The name speaks for itself. HTML validator is a simple tool for checking your HTML within the browser. We’re sure you already have other tools in hand for validating markups, but we highly recommend giving HTML validator a chance. Almost 30.000 users have already installed the browser extensions to check and correct their HTML errors.
Pros
- Finds HTML errors and classifies them into 3 categories (errors, warnings, accessibility warnings);
- Checks the code, syntax, of HTML 5 pages;
- Filters out warnings.
Cons
- Plugins are difficult to use.
Pricing
- Free
React Developer tools is one of the most popular web developer resources out there. Around 3 million software developers use it for the open-source React JavaScript library. After you've installed the extension, you should see two icons in your Chrome toolbar. The first is for Components, while the second is for Profiler. Profiler offers you performance metrics and Components shows you what React version is used on the page.
Pros
- Ease of use;
- Helps to debug ReactJS apps.
Cons
- Many users face constant crashes.
Pricing
- Free
Page Ruler Redux is a dynamic measurement extension. The web developer resource is highly accurate for getting pixel-perfect measurements of elements of any web page. You can create a ruler, resize it by dragging the mouse, track measurements of HTML elements of any website, and much more.
Pros
- Open-source software hosted on GitHub and GitLab;
- Has no adware or malware;
- Easy, secure, and advanced page ruler.
Cons
- Sometimes it doesn't show the cursor on local files.
Pricing
- Free
Web developer checklist is an interesting Chrome browser extension that provides a checklist of all the things a web developer should complete before going live. Once you install the extension, a pop-up will appear with analyses of web pages, violations, and best practices to fix them.
Pros
- Minimalistic, easy-to-use UI;
- Convenient.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
9. Perfectpixel
Web developers often work with images in HTML and CSS. But it’s possible to lose some of the fidelity of the initial design. That’s where Perfectpixel comes to the rescue. The extension allows you to place a semi-transparent image overlay over the produced HTML and compare them pixel by pixel.
Pros
- Multiple layers support;
- Easy-to-use UI;
- Separate layers for each website.
Cons
- Doesn’t work with local files.
Pricing
- Free
Tools and apps
10. Domain Wheel
There will be many cases where you will need to build a website from scratch. One of the things you will need to take care of is choosing and even acquiring domain names. There are many tools that will generate a free domain name for you to use. One of the widely used domains name search engines is Domain Wheel. The tool allows choosing and registering a domain name. All you got to do is enter a word or, if you feel extra creative, a blub of words, and the tool will generate a number of domain names and categories you can go after.
Pros
- Ability to filter the domain name alphabetically, by length, or by popularity
- Generates faster results
Cons
- Shows only .com domain names
Pricing
- Free
11. Coda
It’s high time for us to talk about no-code development. No-code is the main key to simplifying your work and automating it. No-code tools, like Coda, allow non-techies and developers to build web apps, websites without writing a single line of code.
Coda is the first no-code tool we’re going to cover today. It’s an all-in-one doc that brings words, data, and teams together. The tool is great for web developers since they can edit, contextualize data quickly, group elements to create pivot tables or kanban boards, and much more.
Pros
- Storing documents in a neat and organized manner;
- Ability to share information with a wider user group;
- Integration with Gmail and Slack.
Cons
- Not very intuitive;
- Steep learning curve.
Pricing
- Free
- Pro - $10/mo
- Team - $30/mo
- Enterprise - custom
12. Gumroad
Our next no-code web development resource is Gumroad. You can sell your digital products with Gumroad, connect with your potential customers on any website you want. Simply add Gumroad’s widgets to your website and you’re good to go.
Pros
- Affordable;
- Great customer support;
- Getting customers' information and statistics;
Cons
- No Apple Pay payment processing;
- Poor organizational structure of listed products;
- No bump offers, upsells.
Pricing
- Pro - $10/mo and $108/yearly
13. Airtable
Airtable is by far one of the best and must-have no-code tools out there. Airtable is a modern spreadsheet tool with database functionalities. It makes it simple to create and collaborate on calendars, compile a customer list, and manage any other type of information. The tool is useful for web developers as well. You can build customizable and easy-to-work-with databases, create views for different use cases, integrate your workflow with hundreds of apps and platforms.
Pros
- Highly customizable;
- Offers apps, automation, and integrations;
- Collaborative.
Cons
- Poor mobile experience;
- Many face issues with importing and exporting Excel files.
Pricing
- Free
- Plus - $12/mo and $120/year
- Pro - $24/mo and $20/mo on the annual billing plan
14. Zapier
Zapier is your go-to no-code tool if you want to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks. It allows you to connect your apps and automatically transfer data across them. Instead of conducting repeated activities, you can concentrate on your most important work. The tool is great for web developers since you can auto-reply to Slack messages, send information from one service to another using webhooks, turn emails into Trello task cards, and much more.
Pros
- The automation platform with the biggest number of integrations;
- Great customer support;
- Works well on multiple integrated systems.
Cons
- Limited free version;
- Steep learning curve.
Pricing
- Free
- Starter - $19.99/mo
- Professional - $49/mo
- Team - $299/mo
- Company - $599/mo
15. Helix Core
Helix Core is a version control system, which is an important element of web development. It's best for tracking changes implemented in a website’s code over time. With Helix Core, you can always fix bugs by going back to an earlier version of the web page and tracking the issues.
Pros
- Supports large file systems;
- Branching, merging, diffing, file locking are available;
- Version history.
Cons
- Doesn't detect local file changes automatically;
- Steep learning curve for new users;
- Minor glitching.
Pricing
- Free
16. Invision
At any stage of development, clients and team members want to be updated and aware of your progress. Invision is the web developer resource you should use in this case. It’s a platform with a great collaborative canvas interactive workspace and much more. Some of the best features on the platform are Freehand for real-time collaboration and wireframing, Inspect for collaboration with developers and design handoff, and Studio for interactive prototyping and screen design.
Pros
- Handy integrations;
- Guest permissions and public share links;
- Affordable.
Cons
- Poor animation features;
- Notifications and updates are not well executed;
- Can be complex for new users.
Pricing
- Free
- Pro - $9.95/mo and $7.95/mo annually
- Enterprise - custom
17. Kite
Our next web development resource is all about automation. Kite is an AI autocomplete tool that helps to offload repetitive programming and deal with more complex parts of your job. Kite adds AI-powered code completions to almost all code editors.
Pros
- Supports over 16 languages and 16 code editors;
- Documentation lookup for Python.
Cons
- Often crashes when working on large projects;
- Takes high memory use.
Pricing
- Free
18. Chrome DevTools
Chrome DevTools is a group of web developer tools that come pre-installed into the Google Chrome browser. These tools allow you to monitor your pages' rendered HTML (DOM) and network activity. It’s one of the features of Chrome Developers that helps you optimize your website, build Extensions, publish on the Chrome Web Store, and more.
Pros
- Shows the DOM structure interactively;
- Covers a wide range of front-end development tasks;
- Continuously integrates new tools and helpful features.
Cons
- Limited customization;
- Can be difficult to work with;
- Unintuitive UI.
Pricing
- Free
19. Grunt
Grunt is a well-known JavaScript task runner. The main purpose of Grunt is to reduce the number of repetitive tasks like minification, compilation, unit testing, linting. Tasks JavaScript developers have to deal with on daily basis. To automate your workflow, you need to configure your code to a Gruntfile, a task runner can handle the majority of the monotonous job for you and your team with little to no effort on your part.
Pros
- Speeds up the development workflow and enhances the performance of projects;
- Contains less infrastructure.
Cons
- Doesn’t perform well with larger files;
- The plugin takes up huge and lengthy data configuration.
Pricing
- Free
CODE STYLE GUIDES
20. Web Field Manual
A collection of resources, best practices, inspiration, and reference materials for modern coding. There are also sections filled with tools, additional resources, and language-specific information.
Pros
- Gets updated occasionally.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
A comprehensive web developer resource perfect for both new developers and those looking to improve their existing projects. The style guides highlight the latest Google innovations and modifications to assist you in learning about top-notch web development.
Pros
- What’s new section;
- Visual content and tutorials;
- Great guides on web fundamentals.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
This style guide is made to help you better understand how to work with deployments in your development workflow and provides best practices for it. Sometimes a bad production deployment can ruin all the effort you invested in a development process. Having a solid deployment workflow can become one of the greatest advantages for your team. So, check out these practices before launching a website or app to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Pros
Well executed guides on:
- The Workflow;
- Development Environment;
- Staging Environment;
- Production Environment;
- Permissions.
Cons
- Visually unappealing.
Pricing
- Free
This won’t be the last time we mention Github, since it’s the best-distributed version control and source code management platform Git for web developers and designers. GitHub also has well-executed style guides on primer design system engineering, brand, and even marketing.
Pros
- Comprehensive style guides;
- Best practices for writing with the GitHub voice.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
Apart from many other features, some even mentioned in the article, Google has also developed a Google developer documentation style guide for writing clear and consistent Google-related developer documentation.
Pros
- Contains highly important resources to get a full picture of the style guide.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
CODE VALIDATION
25. JSLint
JSLint is a JavaScript code quality and coverage tool. It is a static code analysis tool used in software development for checking if JavaScript source code complies with coding rules. It is provided primarily as a browser-based web application accessible through their domain, but there are also command-line adaptations.
Pros
- Get instantly notified of your mistakes;
- Save time;
- Safer code.
Cons
- Isn't intended for minified code
Pricing
- Free
26. Free Formatter
Free Formatter is a set of tools designed to help developers simplify their work. In the platform, you will find tools like formatters, validators, code minifiers, string escapers, encoders and decoders, message digesters, web resources, and more.
Pros
- Better coding flow.
Cons
- Poor UI
Pricing
- Free
JSON Formatter is a free tool that helps to format, validate, save and share your JSON data. The platform also offers an HTML validator which you can use to validate and format your HTML
Pros
- Supports w3c HTML;
- Shows errors with line numbers and is suitable for correcting HTML code.
Cons
- Contains ads
Pricing
- Free
Learning Resources
28. Roadmap
Roadmap is the first web development learning resource we’re going to explore. Roadmap is the perfect resource for beginners who often feel lost, don’t know where to start and what to do. The main goal of Roadmap is to create educational guides, roadmaps to help developers find the right track. You will find downloadable visual guides containing various topics, languages, tools, and much more.
Pros
- Video explanations and visual guides are available;
- Is an open-source project.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
29. Makerpad
No-code is a fast-growing development approach. You better be on track and learn all about it. Makerpad is a great community and an educational platform to learn all about no-code tools and all the ways you can use them to build the perfect web page. There are around 350+ tutorials and courses for different levels.
Pros
- Profile for tracking progress;
- An amazing community of no-code builders and enthusiasts;
- Tool directory available.
Cons
- Expenisve premium version.
Pricing
- Basic - Free
- Makerpad pro -$249/year
- Makerpad pro - $600/ billed once
30. Developer
Developer.com is the ultimate resource for any developer. The website features tutorials, news, and how-tos focused on topics relevant to software engineers, web developers. They also publish round-ups and reviews of developer tools and resources. This includes software management systems and project management software, all of which are targeted at shortening the software development lifecycle (SDL).
Pros
- Rich set of resources, categories, and dev languages.
Cons
- Contains ads.
Pricing
- Free
31. Codeacademy
Codeacademy is an online learning platform where you can find courses on a wide variety of programming languages like Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Kotlin, HTML, CSS, SQL, C++, Bash/Shell, and more. Codeacademy also offers free training for beginners on a few programming languages.
Pros
- Features well-structured paid pro courses;
- A rich set of free resources and courses;
- Affordable.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Basic - Free
- Pro - $13.99/mo
- Teams - custom
32. Scrimba
Scrimba is one of the best web development resources on the market. Many love the learning platform for its modern approach to learning web development. The core of the learning process is interactive screencasts and live events. What’s even better is it features free and low-priced courses fittable for all levels.
Pros
- Interactive tutorials;
- Peer-to-peer, project-based, job-focused courses;
- Self-paced.
Cons
- None detected
Pricing
- Free newbie access
- Become a PRO dev - $18/mo
Codepen is one of the most widely used platforms for front-end developers. Codepen offers an online text editor with support for JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. But there are more things you can do in Codepen. Codepen challenges is one of the many features the platform offers. It’s an entertaining opportunity to strengthen your skills by building various projects. Each week, you'll be given a new prompt to riff on based on a monthly theme. The best Pens are chosen and shown on the home page.
Pros
- Suitable for all the levels;
- Interactive and fun.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
34. W3School
W3School is one of the largest web development educational platforms. W3School offers tutorials, courses on various programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL, PHP. The free web developer resource also offers entertaining quizzes and exercises to make the learning experience fun.
Pros
- W3Schools Spaces tailored to build your website;
- Code Editor;
- Visual content is also available.
Cons
- Not a resource for pro web developers
Pricing
- Free
35. The Odin Project
Next up is the Odin Project. The Odin Project is an open-source learning platform that features resources and a full-stack curriculum to help you expand your web development mastery. There are around 9 different topics on programming languages with different difficulty levels. The Odin Project also has a great community of around 50,000+ developers and enthusiasts.
Pros
- Self-paced curriculum;
- Up-to-date courses and tutorials.
Cons
- Not visually appealing;
- Some lessons contain outdated content.
Pricing
- Free
36. Frontend mentor
Our next web development learning resource is quite peculiar and way too much fun to avoid. Frontend mentor is a great online learning platform that features challenges for frontend newbies, juniors, and even seniors. You can level up your web development skills through a set of frontend resources available on the platform.
Pros
- An active community of learners;
- Online courses are also available.
Cons
- None detected.
Pricing
- Free
- Pro - $12/mo
- Pro- $96/year
37. Dev Challenges
Dev Challenges, like Frontend mentor, is an online learning platform based on interactive challenges. Dev challenges also has a great community ready to help you learn and grow. To start your journey, all you got to do is choose a challenge, work alone or with a team to complete the project, and then submit your solution.
Pros
- Real-time projects and practices;
- Easy to use.
Cons
- None detected
Pricing
- Free
38. Freecodecamp
Freecodecamp is a free and open-source coding Bootcamp that offers free training and certification on web design, front-end development, Data Visualization, Back-end development & API, Machine Learning, Quality Assurance, Data Analysis, Information Security, and more. By joining 40.000 Freecodacamp users and graduates you get full access to thousands of videos, articles, and interactive coding lessons curated to help you level up your coding skills.
Pros
- Free certification on a wide range of web development skills;
- Easy to use
Cons
- None detected
Pricing
- Free
Communities
39. StackOverflow
If you have any questions concerning web development, StackOverflow is the platform where you'll find your answers. StackOverflow is a community-based platform to create a complete database of dev-related questions and answers to help developers of all backgrounds and levels obtain comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of web development.
40. GitHub
One of the top choices for developers is GitHub. It’s better than words to describe how must-have Github is for any developer, so we have it mentioned twice in the article instead. The free platform uses the open-source Git version control software to allow teams to collaborate and manage their code/code versioning. GitHub also allows developers to simultaneously collaborate on the same project and reduces the risk of duplicative content.
41. Dev
Dev is a community that covers a wide range of development topics, from beginner-friendly subjects to more advanced topics like JavaScript, CSS, and web development. There's a lot of emphasis on tutorials and support, so whether you're just getting started or are a seasoned programmer, Dev is the place you need to be.
42. CoffeeCup
CoffeeCup is a fun and welcoming community for programmers of all levels of experience. You'll discover resourceful and interactive communities here, all of which are free to join. The covered topics span from daily conversations to programming languages, responsive design, CSS, Bootstrap, and more.
43. IndieHackers
Indie Hackers is a global community that brings together entrepreneurs and developers. It's a platform where successful startup founders share their experiences. You can also connect with other developers not only to help each other with code, but also to receive tips, tricks, and strategies to help you achieve your goals.
Final Thoughts
Keep in mind, to use the latest technologies, it's important to do your research and stay knowledgeable in your field. We hope the article will help to stay updated on the latest trends in web development and make the most of your time with extensive education and doing what you find more valuable daily.
About Softr
Softr is an easy-to-use no-code platform that turns Airtable bases into powerful web apps and client portals. Softr offers a way for you to authenticate your end-users, control access to your content and data based on conditional rules like roles, logged-in status, subscription plans etc. If you're using Airtable as a product catalog you can use a Softr template to build your e-commerce website. Or maybe you'd like to build a custom website for your travel journal, there's a template for that too!
