We’ve come a long way from the text-riddled web pages from the 1990s. Today’s audiences expect beautiful designs, great functionality and fast page load speeds.
But developing a high-performing website requires great skill and tools. This is why the best web developers have several web development tools in their arsenals. Not only can these tools help you create projects like a portfolio website or a CRUD web app, but they can also help you keep up with rising expectations from business clients.
Here’s a roundup of some of the essential tools for web development that can help you design or code beautiful, functional websites with ease.
What Are Web Development Tools and Why Do You Need Them?
Web development tools are software designed to enhance productivity and efficiency for web development projects. They use various code languages (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) to achieve design and functionality goals.
With these tools, you can improve your workflow and benefit from more possibilities, especially in terms of responsive design. Then you can use ever-improving version control systems to build web applications in collaboration with your team.
Web development tools do the heavy lifting and automate repetitive, mundane and time-consuming work, thereby boosting your productivity organically. On top of that, these tools improve focus and align your tasks to ensure you reach project goals.
The Best Web Developer Tools of 2021
Here’s a look at the web development tools we think are must-haves in 2021.
1. React
React is one of the most popular JavaScript application frameworks. It allows you to use the same style of application code to create native user interfaces (UIs) on an app or website. The Facebook-supported JavaScript library powers most modern WordPress elements, including the Block Editor.
React uses the JavaScript extension (JSX) to create elements and build complex user interfaces, making it a strong choice for building web applications. Before React, developers had to use vanilla JavaScript to build UIs by hand or with jQuery, which is less focused on state management and life cycle. This meant plenty of opportunities for bugs and errors, uglier, less manageable code and longer development times.
React makes it easy to create reusable components, which saves web development time and reduces coding errors.
2. Node
Node is a platform that allows developers to write JavaScript code and create server-side apps and tools in JavaScript. The open-source server is intended to run directly on a computer or server operating system.
You get several benefits by using Node, including great performance and developer efficiency that comes from using the same language on both server-side and client-side code. Plus, Node has an active third-party ecosystem and developer community, so you won’t be stuck when you need help.
3. JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming and scripting language for implementing complex features on web pages.
The language consists of programming features that let you store useful values inside variables, run code in response to certain events on a web page and conduct operations on page elements.
Web browsers use JavaScript to create an interactive and dynamic experience for the user. So if you see elements like interactive maps, dynamic content updates and animated graphics on a web page, then it’s likely using JavaScript.
4. Express
Express is a fairly minimalist Node web framework that provides server-side logic for mobile and web apps. The free and open-source framework is used to design and build web apps that you can run on a browser without much effort.
Programmers and developers use Express to build single, multi-page or hybrid web apps. The framework supports JavaScript, which makes it easy for anyone who already knows the language to work with.
You can build different kinds of web apps in a short time period and enjoy the flexibility, simplicity, efficiency, scalability and minimalism the framework offers to programmers.
5. Strapi CMS
Strapi CMS is an open-source, headless content management system that lets you and your team use an application programming interface (API). An API is a software intermediary that allows developers to write, manage and access content across all your apps so the apps can talk to each other. The CMS saves API development time by providing a powerful customization dashboard and a low code framework for customization.
Using Strapi CMS for web development also offers enhanced security, since the CMS is self-hosted. Plus, it works with multiple databases including MySQL, MongoDB and PostgreSQL.
Strapi CMS uses JavaScript scripting language everywhere to help you build fast and easily manageable APIs. You can also extend its API through a plugin system. The tool even secures your endpoints by allowing or denying access to your API by user role.
6. WordPress
WordPress is the simplest and most popular way to create your own blog or website. Powering millions of websites, the open-source CMS is easy to use or modify at no cost, and you can manage important aspects of your site without programming knowledge or experience.
It’s important to note that there’s a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The latter is self-hosted, free and open source. You can install it on your own web host and create your own website. The former is a paid, for-profit service powered by WordPress.org that’s also easy to use, but not as flexible as its self-hosted counterpart.
7. Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud platform that’s a huge part of the Amazon.com Inc. business portfolio. It barely trails GoDaddy for the largest market share in cloud web hosting services and has a 35% market share for cloud computing.
The platform provides servers, security, storage, remote computing, email, networking and mobile development. All these functionalities ensure you can host dynamic websites and apps and help your business scale and grow.
How to Choose the Right Web Development Tools for You
Choosing the right web development stack for your project is crucial for building a solid backbone for your website. If you’ve not considered this before, it’s important to have an initial planning stage to help you settle on the tools you’ll use to avoid potential software-related hassles.
Specifically, you need to consider the complexity of your web project, along with its scalability, security and cost.
Need help picking out the best web development software for your business? You can do it on your own or you can hire Orpheus to help. Our team of software designers and developers can assist you with your choices, no matter how simple or complex.
Contact our experts today to see how we can help make your web development experience better for you and your clients!
