Looking for the best Tools and Resources for Designers and Agencies? They’re in this article

An effective, well-organized workflow is an important web design asset. It can be a critical asset for a professional web designer. But less experienced designers and beginners also appreciate having design tools or resources at their disposal. It makes their work easier and more efficient.

There are many productivity-enhancing tools out there. Way too many in fact when it comes to trying to find one or more that would best meet your needs.

When we talk about web design tools and resources, we don’t often use the word “leverage”. If indeed we ever use it at all. But the word seems to apply here.

For a small investment in time or money any of these top 15 tools and resources for designers can make a major positive impact on time savings. It can improve the workflow and improve the functionality and/or quality of the end product as well.

Putting to use one or more of the following productivity-enhancing tools and resources could have the same effect on your mindset as when the sun breaks through the clouds after a prolonged period of wet, gloomy weather.

Let’s get started with –

1. Be – The Biggest WordPress and portfolio WordPress theme

This popular WordPress theme is the biggest WordPress and WooCommerce theme of them with its 650+ pre-built websites, more than 40 powerful core website building features, practically limitless design options, and 240,000+ customers.

BeTheme fosters productivity. You can build a complex, high-quality website in an amazingly short time.

Be Themes key features that make this happen include –

• 650+ customizable pre-built websites that make it super-easy to create almost any website type. They are responsive, UX ready, and can be imported with a single click.
• The fast, and powerful BeBuilder that features a host of impressive new page-building and editing capabilities. It is the most flexible WordPress builder ever which allows you to create more advanced and diverse layouts than you ever dreamed.
• An absolute gem of a BeBuilder Woo that enables you to create a limitless variety of shop or single product layouts.

BeTheme is loaded with valuable design options and settings, it is Elementor ready, and it is frequently updated.

Click on the banner to check out Be’s powerful core features in detail.

2. Total WordPress Theme

Whether you are planning on building your first-ever website or about to start on number 100 you’ll want to make sure you have the best tool for the job at your fingertips, which is why checking out the Total WordPress theme will be well-worth a few minutes of your time.

As its name implies, Total has it all in terms of flexibility. It is easy to use, and it does not place design limits on the page layouts you can create.

• Total’s users often start with one of the quick-import theme demos from the selection of 45+ demos that address business, portfolio, and one-page websites, personal, creative and blog websites, and eCommerce and shop sites.
• An extended version of WPBakery is the drag and drop page builder of choice.
• 90+ section templates, 75+ pre-styled post entry cards, and 500+ live customer settings are there for you as well.

Click on the banner to find out more.

3. LayerSlider

LayerSlider is an animation and website-building tool you can use on any website to enhance its look & feel with modern graphics, eye-catching animations, and interactive features. This tool is so easy to use that anyone can take a so-so website design and transform it into one that really grabs its visitor’s attention.

• LayerSlider has 150+ website, slider, and popup templates. Templates are a great way to learn as well as an ideal starting point for new projects.
• LayerSlider comes with a very easy-to-use and modern editor interface similar to professional desktop applications. Anyone can use it without prior experience.
• LayerSlider is not just for sliders. It can also create image galleries, popups, landing pages, animated page blocks, or even full websites.
• Plus: You get professional one on one customer support.

Click on the banner to learn more.

4. Trafft

Trafft offers a game-changing approach to what a business’s booking and appointment managing tasks should look like.

• With Trafft, you can schedule on-site or virtual appointments, meetings, and events, manage staff and services, send reminders, and accept payments, all from a single platform.
• Trafft also manages group bookings and bookings for multiple locations.
• Trafft integrates seamlessly with Google Calendar, Google Meet, Outlook Calendar, Apple Calendar, Zoom, and Mailchimp

5. wpDataTables

wpDataTables is a premium WordPress plugin that can create tables or charts in seconds or minutes from huge amounts of complex data taken from multiple sources and in multiple formats.

• Tables and charts are responsive, interactive, front-end editable, and easy to maintain
• wpDataTables features advanced data filtering and sorting capabilities
• Conditional Formatting features can be utilized to highlight or color code key data
• wpDataTables integrates smoothly with Elementor, DIVI, Avada, Visual Composer, and Gutenberg

6. Uncode – Creative & WooCommerce WordPress Theme

Uncode, an Envato top seller with 80,000+ sales, is a pixel-perfect theme for freelancers, businesses, and agencies. The best way to see what this creative and WooCommerce theme could do for you is to view its gallery of user-created websites.

3 key Uncode features:

• the new WooCommerce custom builder
• the Wireframes plugin and 450+ section templates that enables users to create any page layout
• a powerful frontend editor that makes creating pages quick and easy

7. Get illustrations Stock Illustrations Bundle

With this library of premium illustrations, you can take on an entirely new approach to how you go about designing your website UIs, apps, or presentations.

• GetIllustrations 10,000+ illustrations is by far the world’s biggest bundle of its type
• Vector AI, PNG, Sketch, SVG, Figma, and Adobe XD formats are featured

Any illustration you purchase is yours to keep and use and comes with a commercial license.

8. Slider Revolution

If a gap exists between what your clients really want and what you are capable of providing, the Slider Revolution plugin could be precisely what you need to close it.

Not for sliders only, Slider Revolution is packed with sleek features like –

• a selection of more than 200 impressive website and slider templates
• ultra-cool WebGL slide animations
• 25+ powerful addons

Plus, you can import dynamic content from YouTube, Facebook, and other social media outlets.

9. WHATFONTIS

WHATFONTIS combines powerful AI-based search algorithms with its database of more than 850K fonts to identify a font from an uploaded image.

• You can use WHATFONTIS when you see a nice font and want to know what it is.
• Or you can use it to search for a font regardless of its publisher, price, or foundry.
• WHATFONTIS also identifies cursive fonts once you use the advanced image editor to separate the letters.

10. Mobirise Website Builder Software

Mobirise is the best offline website builder on the market today.

• Mobirise is fast and easy to use
• You’re not tied to a specific platform and you can host your site anywhere you want to
• 4000+ website blocks and 300+ elegant home page templates combine to make website building short and sweet.
• Your Mobirise-built website will be crazy-fast and 100% responsive

Mobirise is free for both personal and commercial use.

11. Essential Grid

Essential Grid is a premium WordPress gallery plugin created by the developers of Slider Revolution.

Essential Grid’s collection of plug-and-play aesthetic templates are so easy to customize that you’ll have no trouble at all creating an eye-catching portfolio

• Your galleries will load with rocket-fast speeds
• Your galleries will display perfectly on all devices
• Choose from even, masonry, and cobble layouts plus you can mix and match grids.

12. Pixpa – Portfolio Websites for Designers

Pixpa is an all-in-one platform that allows creatives to manage their entire web presence (portfolios, blogs, galleries, eCommerce) from a single location.

• Choose the Pixpa mobile-friendly templates that best fit your needs and customize them to make them look exactly as you want.
• Use Pixpa’s drag and drop website builder to create your website; no coding needed.
• Add content and connect with your custom domain and your social profiles and you are good to go.

13. XStore – Best WordPress WooCommerce Theme for eCommerce

XStore is a power-packed WooCommerce theme that has acquired an enthusiastic following, and is ridiculously simple to use.

• XStore’s selection of 110+ customizable shops is reason enough to invest in this product
• XStore is designed to work with the best page builders in the market – WPBakery and Elementor
• The package includes $510 worth of “must have” premium plugins picked by web design and WooCommerce experts.

14. Amelia

Amelia is a feature-rich and affordable WordPress booking manager that doesn’t require any training to use, is easy to set up, will save your business time and money, and your clients and employees will love it.

Amelia –

• enables clients to make and manage appointments online 24/7
• easily manages bookings and employee assignments and schedules at multiple locations
• integrates smoothly with WooCommerce, Zoom, and Google Calendar
• manages grouping and event bookings.

15. 8bio – Link in Bio Tool

With 8bio you can upgrade your social media link from one people might click on to one they will WANT to click on.

 Your 8bio link can – 

• present a brief biographical profile of your business or yourself
• spice things up with an image or catchy animated background
• showcase a product or service without paying a hefty cost or commission
• use your own domain or a “yourname”.8b.io domain.

***** 

It is almost always possible to find a tool or resource that is in some way better than what you are currently using. There are so many of them already out there and new ones are always popping up over the horizon.

What can be much more difficult is finding one that, for a small investment, will markedly improve your productivity. Also to significantly enhance the quality and capabilities of your finished projects at the same time.

That is precisely the reasoning driving this selection of 15 top design tools and resources. Pick one or more and you should be in for a pleasant surprise.