As web development evolves every year, it is becoming more innovative. Five or ten years ago, it seemed impossible that we would be able to build such robust and performant applications in the browser as we can today - like Netflix, Facebook, Spotify, or Airbnb. So, to keep up with rising expectations from browser apps, web developers increasingly need better and more versatile tools.
To complement their technical work, developers need the right design, prototyping, and collaboration tools. Therefore, in this article, we'll discuss the most commonly used and loved web development tools in 2021.
Web Development Tools Covered In This Article
The following are the most popular Web Development tools used worldwide.
- Visual Studio Code
- Angular.JS
- Sublime Text
- Github
- Bootstrap
- Sketch
- TypeScript
- Chrome DevTools
- NPM
- CodePen
- JQuery
- Sass
- Grunt
- Framer
- Yarn
So, let's get straight to the web development tools.
Visual Studio Code
Even though it's a Microsoft product, Visual Studio Code (or VScode) is quite popular among developers. From its marketplace, users can download an array of packages and free extensions to extend its features - as well as customize the editor itself.
Features:
- It allows you to debug code from the editor.
- It provides extensions to add new languages, themes, debuggers to gain the asset of supplementary services.
- It offers Smart Code completion based on variable types, imported modules, and function definition.
Angular.Js
AngularJS will help you extend your HTML vocabulary. HTML works well for static documents, but it won't work with dynamic views. With AngularJS, you'll be able to create an expressive, readable, and quick-to-use development environment. By using the toolset, you can create a framework for the development of your applications.
Features:
- It provides built-in Testability.
- Navigation, forms, and back ends are supported by deep-linking, form validation, and server communication.
- AngularJS includes Data Binding, Controllers, and Plain JavaScript. DOM manipulation will be eliminated with Data Binding.
- For creating components, AngularJS provides important features like Directives, Reusable Components, and Localization.
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a widely used code editor useful for web design. With Sublime Text, you can edit codes and access a rich set of extensions called Packages. These packages extend the syntax and editing features. It is available as a small download for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Features:
- Ability to highlight syntax.
- Administer UTF8 BOMs in .gitignore files.
- Display badges for files and folders to signify Git status.
- It comes with command Palette implementation that receives text input from users. The changes to a file are interpreted by markers available in the gutter.
GitHub
GitHub is the software development platform that helps you to manage projects. As part of your workflow, you can seamlessly integrate GitHub into your code review process. It can be integrated with the tools you already use. You can either deploy it with self-hosting or with cloud hosting.
Features:
- GitHub offers project management features.
- Developers use it for personal projects or for experimenting with new languages.
- It provides enterprises with features such as SAML single sign-on, Access provisioning, Invoice billing, 99.95% uptime, Advanced auditing, Unified search, and contribution, etc.
- GitHub offers security features such as security incident response and Two-factor authentication.
Bootstrap
One of the most popular open-source CSS frameworks is Bootstrap. It was developed by Twitter developers and released in 2011. The Bootstrap framework includes HTML, CSS, and JavaScript components for creating responsive websites of any complexity and size. Also, it is very accessible to those who are just getting started with web development.
Features:
- It provides a responsive grid system.
- It offers robust plugins built on JQuery.
- Bootstrap includes Sass variables and mixing.
- It has many pre-built components.
Sketch
A great website embodies great design elements, including images and logos, so it's more than code alone. With Sketch, you can handle all aspects of design, as this program is marketed as a "toolkit." It has many features, including the option to add simple animations or create clickable prototypes. Additionally, it lets the user design a master symbol that can be reused anywhere in the document and can be resized for icons or avatars. Text and images can also be manipulated to create dynamic designs.
Features:
- Using Sketch, you will be able to turn wireframes into UI elements.
- Sketch offers powerful vector editing, pixel-perfect precision, non-destructive editing, code export, and prototyping tools.
- Team members can share prototypes and designs through its collaboration features.
TypeScript
Developed by Microsoft, TypeScript is a programming language. It is a strictly syntactical superset of JavaScript that includes optional static typing. TypeScript is a programming language for developing large applications that transcompiles to JavaScript. It works with any browser, any operating system, and any host. Using JavaScript, you can call TypeScript code from JavaScript.
- Compiled TypeScript code can run in Node.js and in any JavaScript engine that supports ECMAScript 3, regardless of the browser.
- You can define interfaces between the components of the software.
- Using TypeScript, you can use the latest and most evolving JavaScript features.
Chrome DevTools
Chrome is a popular browser for web surfing and has refined developer tools that you can use to develop websites. The tools include debugging JavaScript, applying styles to HTML elements, displaying messages about how a page is running, and speed optimization. In addition, it gives you a view of and control over the pages' DOM and style.
Features:
- Chrome DevTools allows you to inspect Network Activity.
- With Performance Panel functionality, you can optimize speed, analyze runtime performance, diagnose forced synchronous layouts, etc.
- Security panels include understanding Security Issues, Application panels, Memory panels, Network panels, Source panels, Console panels, Elements panels, and a Device mode.
NPM
Using JavaScript tools, you can swiftly build incredible applications with NPM. It has team management features. No configuration is required. Additionally, it includes security auditing features. In terms of enterprise-level solutions, it provides security expertise, de-duplication development, access control, and unrivaled support.
Features:
- You can publish unlimited open-source packages and discover and install public packages with a free and open-source solution. Besides getting basic support, you will be warned about unsafe codes automatically.
- The enterprise solution provides features such as industry-standard SSO authentication, a dedicated private registry, and invoice-based billing.
- With the NPM Orgs plan, you'll get all the basic features of the open-source solution, plus the ability to manage team permissions and perform workflow integration & token management.
CodePen
CodePen is an online tool for designing and sharing front-end development. Since CodePen provides all the features of an IDE in the browser, you can use it to build the entire project. Additionally, you can write code in the browser and see the results as you build.
Features:
- Customizable editor
- You can keep your pens private with CodePen.
- Drag-and-drop is available for images, CSS, JSON files, SVGS files, etc.
- Multiple people can write and edit code simultaneously in a pen using the collaboration mode.
jQuery
jQuery is a JavaScript library that simplifies HTML DOM tree traversal and manipulation, event handling, CSS animation, and Ajax. It is free, open-source software licensed under the permissive MIT License. It is the most widely used JavaScript library by a wide margin, with at least 3 to 4 times more usage than any other JavaScript library.
Features:
- CSS3 Compliant
- Minified and gzipped JQuery is 30kb.
- It can be added as an AMD module.
- With JQuery, you can easily perform AJAX and animation tasks. A variety of browsers can use this API.
SASS
Sass (syntactically awesome style sheets) is a preprocessor scripting language that is interpreted or compiled into CSS. The language itself is SassScript. You can work with variables, nested rules, mixing, and functions. SASS allows you to share designs within and between projects. Also, it is used for building frameworks such as Compass, Bourbon, Susy, etc.
Features:
- Large Community
- Compatible with CSS.
- It supports multiple inheritances.
- Large Stylesheets can be organized.
- It has features such as nesting, variables, loops, arguments, etc.
Grunt
A JavaScript Task Runner, Grunt is useful for automation. During the unit testing phase, it handles the majority of repetitive tasks, such as minification, compilation, and so forth. Grunt uses a command-line interface to run custom tasks defined in a file. It was created by Ben Alman and is written in Node.js.
Features:
- Easy to install
- Several Plugins
- You can also create your Grunt plugin for NPM.
- Almost anything can be automated with Grunt with very little effort.
Framer
For designers and developers looking to create advanced high-fidelity prototypes based on real UI React components, Framer is a great option. It allows the design and development teams to collaborate and experiment quickly in a shared space, bridging the gap between them.
Despite its ability to combine development and design in powerful ways, Framer remains primarily a design and prototyping tool, optimized for designing and creating prototypes, rather than a tool for building production websites or applications.
Yarn
Facebook's Yarn is one of the newest package managers available. Compared to most other package managers, it is faster, more reliable, and more secure. Developers from around the world can access, share and use (e.g. JavaScript) code on this website.
This lets you make use of other developers' solutions to solve different problems, which simplifies the process of developing software. Yarn allows you to keep track of issues and contributions as they are solved. Once a problem is resolved, you can report it or contribute back.
That's all for this article! Let us know in the comments which web development tool you liked the best. I'd love to hear about any important ones I missed!