While Sketch has recently added some features focused on prototyping and collaboration, the program isn’t as advanced in these areas as some of the other tools on this list. Build and launch sites quickly — and safely — with powerful features designed to help large teams collaborate. We recommend professional website designers check out Wix, Adobe Dreamweaver, WordPress, and Figma. They all offer different tools and experiences, so you’ll find one that matches your needs, skills, and workflow. Visual Studio Code sports its own terminal and debugger, supports linting, and has integration with all manner of source control tools. It especially offers good support for JavaScript and Python, making it potentially useful not just for coding the frontend of a website but also potentially some backend functions as well.

If you’re totally new to web design or if you’re looking for design inspiration, we also offer a library of over 100 different responsive web design templates to get you started. For experienced coders, openElement is a great free option for website design. In addition to all the code you need to build a functional website, various integrations are available through Code Blocks. It also features support for all of JavaScript’s newest features so your website design can have the most up-to-date features. Available for Linux, Mac and Windows, this is an ideal coding engine for a variety of website designers.

Best for multimedia sites

Learn the fundamentals of web design and development through this comprehensive course. Launch with peace of mind thanks to Webflow’s robust security and compliance features and reliable hosting infrastructure. From implementation support to in-the-moment troubleshooting, we’re here to offer personalized help. Scale your traffic, content, and site performance to match your business — without worrying about reliability. Design scroll-based and multi-step interactions and easily work with Spline, 3D, Lottie, and dotLottie files — all without even thinking about code.

• Get a headstart on your journey with 900+ free, customizable website templates, strategically researched and tailored for every industry — or start from a blank canvas on our website builder.
• As a whole, WordPress (either .com or .org) is not as easy to use as the other options in this roundup.
• From threat prevention to real-time detection and rapid response, security is fully managed by our dedicated team of experts—24/7.
• Of course, if you want to go all out for sales, you need to move up to a dedicated web shopping cart service like Shopify, but that’s a step you might not be ready to take.
• Figma is a fantastic platform for any web developer who wants to work on designing and prototyping skills without worrying about how they’d code them.

Divi includes a free 30-day trial but requires a paid plan after that. However, you can use the tool to design your website, then export it. Marvel’s design tool also integrates with tools like Microsoft Teams, YouTube, Maze, Jira, Confluence, Lookback, and Dropbox Paper. This makes it perfect for people who want to enhance their website with these tools. To help you weigh up potential design tools, we’ll review some possible design tool options in the following section. When weighing up different design tools, make sure you select a tool that gives you the essential features you highlighted in step two.

Which steps are included in the process of designing a website?

This includes data encryption in transit using HTTPS, TLS 1.2+ and an automatic SSL certificate. By following these steps, you’ll build a powerful online presence that drives business growth. Get a headstart on your journey with 900+ free, customizable website templates, strategically researched and tailored for every industry — or start from a blank canvas on our website builder.

While still a strong choice for basic users, Duda is pivoting toward teams and agencies needing custom, expensive enterprise software as a service. However, there’s no need for smaller organizations and individuals to go to that kind of expense. For about $10 per month (or around $25 if you’re selling products) and a few hours of your time, the DIY services included here can help you create a unique, eye-catching website. Squarespace is another well-known website builder, and for good reason.

Google Web Designer

The better ones use templates that automatically reformat your site for viewing on mobile devices. Squarespace, in particular, has many useful and attractive templates. These services web design programs also offer specifically targeted templates based on your site’s purpose, such as for promoting a bakery’s sales, getting gigs for a musician, or keeping wedding guests informed.

TemplateToaster includes several fully customizable templates to choose from. To future-proof your website, make sure you select a design tool that allows you to export your website. This will save you from redesigning your website from scratch if you switch hosts. Here’s a list of both free and paid tools to help with your photo editing process.

The Best Website Builders for Small Businesses

You’ll give up some premium features and must tolerate on-site ads, but Wix is far and away the best option for anyone looking to build great sites without paying monthly fees. Paid plans start at $12 per month and include advanced options like custom user permissions. You don’t need anything too expensive or fancy unless you’re chasing a career in graphic design or illustration.

You’ll also find the app packed with tips and tutorials to help improve design projects and workflows. The design tool is currently used on over 5 million websites and offers a free website builder. Elementor is also a “visual editor,” making it perfect for beginner designers. Elementor operates through WordPress, making it suitable for Windows, Linux, and Mac users. Justinmind is an all-in-one app prototyping platform designed to help web designers create user-friendly and intuitive apps for all devices.

Because seasoned web designers have been using Photoshop for years to create prototypes and design mock-ups, Adobe released XD in 2019 as a fully-fledged vector-based web design software tool. If you’re already familiar with Photoshop, chances are you’ll get along great with Adobe XD, but surprisingly for an Adobe product, it doesn’t have a massive learning curve for new designers. Sketch is another fantastic drag-and-drop web design software tool that helps web designers to build stunning designs and prototypes without needing any coding knowledge. Secondly, you should consider whether a web design software tool will fit in with your workflow. Since it’s free, building websites with openElement means starting from scratch. You can optimize the website through the interface for high search rankings, and also optimize all the images.

And if you know you’re going to be using the program for a long time, you can save yourself money by paying a one-off fee for the desktop version. And if you don’t know JavaScript but want to design element interactions, we’ve also got you covered. Webflow makes it easy to design interactions and animations without needing to add any custom code at all. Adobe XD has a wide range of tools to help you create low and high-fidelity prototypes and designs on your own and collaboratively. In short, the best web design software tool for you is one that has all the features and support you need, and one that fits within your budget. Although HTML is the basis for all static web pages, most websites now use CSS for style and JavaScript as well as other enhancements.

You should look for robust e-commerce options, like Wix’s, to sell products. Generative AI tools, such as Hostinger’s, may help save valuable time for other important tasks. And the marketing and SEO tools in GoDaddy Website Builder can help spread the word about your brand.