Top Website Designs and Development Tools

[cesspadilla]

Hi guys!

I know you guys want really good stuffs you can use in your daily work. So I would like to share some of my own resources. You can add yours if you want.

IDEs

Aptana Studio - Aptana Studio 3.2.1 is our code base and complete environment that includes extensive capabilities to build Ruby and Rails, PHP, and Python applications, along with complete HTML, CSS and JavaScript editing.
Eclipse - Eclipse is probably best known as a Java IDE, but it is more: it is an IDE framework, a tools framework, an open source project, a community, an eco-system, and a foundation.
Zend Studio - Zend Studio is the only Integrated Development Environment (PHP IDE) available for professional developers providing the capabilities needed to develop business applications. Features like refactoring, code generation, code assist and semantic analysis combine to enable rapid application development on both the server side (in PHP) and the browser side (in JavaScript).

JetBrains IDEs (RubyMine/PHPStorm/PyCharm etc) -- all are built atop the same platform and feature EXCELLENT debugging tools and very smart code completion.
Sublime Text -- my go-to text editor these days. Very quick with a rich set of add-ons available. Also, is fully cross-platform. (Thanks To dgeneschi)

Firefox Addons

Firebug - It is a very useful tool if you ask me. You can view the code of a website with this Firefox addon.
Web Developer - again it also use to see the code of the website but unlike Firebug you can disable CSS stylesheets and stuff.
ColorZilla - you can actually know what color it is you want by using this tool.
CSS Usage - view which CSS rules are actually used.
Dust-Me - Dust-Me Selectors is a development tool that scans HTML pages to find unused CSS selectors.
NoScript - Allow active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Clickjacking attacks.
Pixl Grabber
Color Picker

Online Tools

Pingdom Full Page Test - Test the Load Time of a Web Page
Pingdom DNS Check - Test DNS servers and settings for a domain name
Pingdom Ping and Traceroute - Test network connectivity to a server
W3C Markup Validation Service
net2ftp - Web-based FTP client

Web Designing and Development Tools and Softwares:

Dreamweaver - good for coding and editing and designing a webpage. It can be integrated with Photoshop too.
Web Studio 5.0
Notepad - It's FREE because you can find it in your desktop.
Microsoft Expression Web

Shopping Cart Scripts
*Thanks to Sahil for this one*

Free Scripts
http://oSCommerce.com - It is free and very good but it won't have the features like that site.
http://zencart.com - It is also open source and it is created by the creators of oSCommerce but it has more features then it.
http://opencart.com - It is also good and easily customizable.

Paid Scripts
http://viart.com - It has paid and free both but I think you should check Paid they would have some of the features.
http://xcart.com - I used this but left it because it don't have our countries payment gateways but this script is extremely good.
http://livecart.com - It has very good designs and easily Customizable from Admin Panel.
http://magento.com - Multi Store (A Mall) making feature.

[stellaandreapark]

Thank you! CSS Usage is a very useful tool for me.

[mv5869]

The best add-on for Firefox I've ever used is called Dust-Me. It's a way of optimising your css by listing all the unnecessary css tags. Great for site performance.

Unfortunately it no longer works with the latest Firefox but the Opera version is still fine.

Apart from those, Yahoo slow is an essential Firefox plugin. Everyone should have it.

[mbitsol]

Pingdom Tools
Pingdom Full Page Test imitates the way a web page is loaded in a browser, showing you exactly how long it takes for each object, including images, CSS, JavaScript, RSS, Flash and frames, to appear. The load time of each object is shown as a series of colored bars for quick and easy visual comparison. Order each object into a hierarchy to identify any problem areas. The Test also uncovers useful, general stats, such as total number of objects and total load time.

Bespin
Bespin is a browser based code editor which attempts and succeeds to match the quality of traditional desktop editors.

[SebastianBerm]

The best add-on for Firefox I've ever used is called NoScript
It provides the best security you can get in a web browser by allowing active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Clickjacking attacks.

[smartkathy]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing great tools which is very useful to each and every designer who is very new in Web design. I am very thankful to you and hoping to get some more new updates from your side.

I want to share more tools.

Google Docs
W3C Markup Validation Service
net2ftp

[cesspadilla]

I added some of the tools above... I hope more of you will share some of the tools you are using.

[dothebusiness]

Thanks for sharing these good tools - it's always good to hear what other people find good.

[charm01]

I use Pixl Grabber and Color Picker and it's a great tool to use for web designing. Thanks for sharing anyway.

[qasexperian]

Cool, I like this Dust-Me add on. Thanks for the list!

[fjfe]

Used some of them. Thanks for sharing, good stuff.

Thanks.

[pawancarrot]

Dreamweaver is a powerful tool for desing the website.

[iqbalmtenit]

what is easiest way of designing website

[cesspadilla]

what is easiest way of designing website

I think you should know the basics firsts before jumping into the bandwagon. A good thing to start with is start with notepad. When saving an HTML file make sure that your extension is .html.

[JamesD4796]

You forgot to mention Aptana Studio, Eclipse, Zend Studio, which are great IDEs for Web development.
James D

You need the following:
- a good understanding of the purpose of the site
- a good the experience you want your users to have on your site
- Set up a information architecture for your site
- Decide on the main features of your site
- Create an wireframes illustrating the features and users behaviors on your site
- Perform some usability testing
- Design a graphic illustrating the look and feel
- Develop the features
- testing the features
- Releasing the site.