Coding Resources and Web Development Tools for Beginners

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Hello fellow coder! If you want to become a Web Developer, you need a go-to list of hand-picked web development tools and resources to help you achieve your goals. The good news is: you’ll find anything you need online. But it’s difficult to pick the perfect web developer tools from the bunch.

To help you save time and money, I’m sharing all the tools and resources I’m using for both learning to code as well as for building websites for my clients.

Go ahead and take a look around! You’ll find heaps of helpful tools like code and graphic editors, wireframing tools, and my favorite productivity tools.

Oh and I’ve thrown in an exclusive web hosting deal so that you can get your portfolio website or blog on its feet without wasting a dime.

Looking for a coding course instead? In that case, check out my Coding Course Recommendations for Beginners.

The best web developer tools for coding projects

  1. Hosting and Domains
  2. FTP Clients
  3. Text Editors
  4. Productivity tools
  5. Photo Editors
  6. Prototyping & Wireframing
  7. Content Management Systems (CMS)
  8. Email marketing tools
Find the best web development tools and resources for front end development and back-end projects for beginners. Build websites faster with the right tools for productivity, web hosting, and much more.

Please note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use and recommend. I may receive a small commission if you purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!


1: Hosting and domains

Bluehost

Website hosting with Bluehost

Bluehost is the best affordable provider you can choose for hosting your website or WordPress blog.

You will even get a free domain name for 12 months and a free SSL certificate to protect you and your website visitors – and to boost your rankings on Google.

The best part? Bluehost is 100% risk-free: they give you a full 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked.

Price: from $3.95 per month $2.95 per month

To get your website setup the right way from the beginning, check out this step-by-step tutorial on how to setup your hosting with Bluehost in 10 minutes (opens in a new window).

Namecheap

Namecheap domain pricing and registration

Namecheap is one of the most affordable domain name registrars out there, with a .com domain costing between $10–15 yearly. Keep an eye out for their frequent promotions for discounts of up to 75%.


2: FTP Clients

FileZilla

FileZilla FTP Software

The FileZilla FTP software is really easy to set up and use. I’ve been using FileZilla for quite some time now myself and it’s worked like a dream. FileZilla is an open-source software you can use free of charge under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Cyberduck

Cyberduck is another good FTP software available for both Windows and Mac. It’s easy to use and it’s well-suited for both beginners and more advanced users. With Cyberduck, you can choose your preferred text editor for your code files and then edit them simply with a click of a button.


3: Text editors / Code editors

Sublime Text

Text editor for coding: Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a cross-platform text editor for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It comes with a variety of great, helpful features. It’s easy to use, it looks great, and it’s fast to work with. Moreover, you can also change the appearance of Sublime Text to make it better suited for your personal preferences.

Sublime Text is my absolute favorite text editor for coding so far. I’ve been using it ever since I first started learning programming. And I haven’t looked back.

Brackets

Brackets - Text Editor for coding

Brackets is another great text editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux. In case you’re an Adobe user, Brackets might be a good choice for you. It is created by Adobe and it integrates nicely with their other software. For example, the Extract tool allows you to extract data directly from a PSD file. This could include information such as fonts and colors as clean CSS code. Pretty neat!

Another cool feature in Brackets for web developers is the Live Preview function. It allows you to see the changes you’re making in your code directly in your web browser.

Notepad++

Text editor for coding: Notepad++

Notepad ++ is an open-source text editor for Windows only. Along with Sublime Text, it’s also very well suited for beginners.

Notepad++ is easy to set up and to get started. It comes with some really great, helpful features. One of them is the built-in FTP plugin that allows you to open and edit your files directly on your web server.

Atom

Text Editor for coding: Atom

Atom is a text editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It’s developed by GitHub and it’s still quite a newbie in the realm of text editors for coding. What makes Atom interesting are the possibilities for customization, using the various open-source packages available for its users. Much like with WordPress themes, Atom users can create themes for the code editor.

The different customizations help you to improve the usability of Atom, adapting it’s features and interface to better suit your needs. Of course, the different themes also allow you to simply make Atom look nicer.


4: Productivity tools

Grammarly

Grammarly - The Best Web Development Tools and Resources

Grammarly is by far the best tool for proofreading and checking your grammar. Super helpful for any project where you need to write copy for the Web. Needless to say, Grammarly has saved my butt countless of times when I’ve had to write long-form copy for my clients.

You can start using Grammarly for free and access a bunch of helpful features. I’m 100% sure you’ll love it as much as I do. And if you do, you can always upgrade to a paid plan and get full access to all the premium features, too.

→ Use Grammarly for free

Trello

I use Trello about 24 hours a day. It’s an all-in-one coding project manager, to-do tracker, and so much more. When a mind map doesn’t do the job, you can use to gather your thoughts in lists and tables.

Add comments, track your progress with your to-dos, give them a timestamp and see how everything just falls into place.

If you’re just starting out with coding, you can easily build lists with ideas for what to learn and how to achieve your long-term goals. Create a note for each step you need to take and organize them into separate tables like “Ideas”, “To-dos”, “In progress”, etc.

Dropbox

Dropbox lets you store and backup your files easily. Trust me, that day will come when your laptop just doesn’t want to cooperate anymore.

If you’re not using Dropbox yet, here’s the good news: it’s 100% FREE to use. Having your files somewhere safe will save you heaps of time, money, and grey hair. What’s even better is that you can access your files anywhere, anytime.

Coggle

Coggle is the best mind mapping tool available. It’s free, easy to learn, and you can access your mindmaps on any device.

Use it to gather ideas, plan your projects, and structure your thoughts quickly. If you are a visual person, you will love Coggle as much as I do. 

Evernote

EverNote is just about the best tool for managing your notes and entire projects (with all your devices, that is).


5: Graphic and photo editors

Adobe Photoshop

Photo Editor: Abode Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is often the most praised and used tool available for managing your images and designs. Whatever it is you wish to do with your graphics, Photoshop will offer you the tools you need.

The software used to be a standalone product, but nowadays it is available as a subscription-based service at Adobe’s Creative Cloud (CC). If you’re looking for a powerful media design kit, I’d recommend going with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

GIMP

Free photo editor: GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an awesome alternative to Photoshop. It is a free, open-source software for all sorts of graphics editing and most importantly: it is easy to use.

To get started with GIMP, check out the wide selection of tutorials on how to use the program on Youtube, for instance. I’ve been using GIMP for quite a while now and I can fully recommend it to everyone.

Affinity Photo

Professional photo editing software: Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo has all the tools and functionalities you will need for managing and editing your images and graphics. It is a professional photo editor that is designed much like Adobe Photoshop.

Affinity Photo comes with a single one-time payment, so it’s a more economical solution than a Creative Cloud subscription at Adobe, too. You can purchase Affinity Photo directly at their website or if you’re a Mac user, directly in App Store.


6: Wireframing tools

Adobe XD

Prototyping and wireframing with Adobe XD

Adobe XD is an easy-to-use and powerful user experience (UX) design software. It lets you create wireframes and interactive prototypes for your websites and applications.

You basically design and construct the individual pages or screens that your web project or app should have and link them together. After that, you can test your prototype as an interactive, clickable first version. Adobe XD has been my go-to prototyping tool for a while now – and I haven’t looked back.

InVision

Wireframing and prototyping with InVision

InVision is a free, web-based tool for quickly creating mockups and prototypes for web projects and applications. You can create your designs and manage the entire project by yourself or with your entire team easily and intuitively with InVision.

Simply sketch, draw, and build a design, send it over to your team or your client to get feedback and quickly implement the necessary changes afterwards. Since InVision is a web-based application, it is really easy to exchange thoughts and ideas on projects with your team and your clients.


7: Content Management Systems (CMS)

WordPress

WordPress Content Management System

WordPress is the world’s most popular Content Management System (CMS) – and my #1 recommended tool for setting up a blog or a website of pretty much any kind. I use WordPress for 99% of my website projects, both personal and professional ones.

Simply get a web hosting plan and a domain and you’re all set! At Bluehost, for example, you can easily install WordPress on your webspace with just one click.


8: Email Marketing Tools

MailerLite

MailerLite - Free email marketing tools

MailerLite is an all-in-one solution for email marketing and opt-in forms for your web projects. Especially if you’re starting a blog, you should be building your list of subscribers from day 1.

But whether you’re running a blog, a portfolio website, or an online shop, MailerLite allows you to build and manage your mailing lists quickly and easily.

What sets them apart from alternatives in a similar price range are their advanced features for automation: automation, tagging, and segmenting etc.

Set up MailerLite for FREE today

MailChimp

MailChimp is my second go-to solution for email marketing automation at the moment.

What’s great for beginners is that MailChimp offers a free plan for up to 2,000 subscribers when you’re just starting out. You can easily segment your lists and customize your outgoing emails to your heart’s content.

MailChimp comes with a bunch of powerful reporting tools that help you track and improve your emails easily.

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About Mikke

Hi, I’m Mikke! I’m a blogger, freelance web developer, and online business nerd. Join me here on MikkeGoes.com to learn how to code for free, build a professional portfolio website, launch a tech side hustle, and make money coding. When I’m not blogging, you will find me sipping strong coffee and biking around town in Berlin. Learn how I taught myself tech skills and became a web dev entrepreneur here. And come say hi on Twitter!
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