7 Web Development Tools That Web Developers Can't Live Without

28 July 2020 at 12:00 by ParTech Media - Post a comment

Web development is an elaborate process. There is more than just coding a website or web app. Hence, web developers need to have their bags ready with all kinds of toys that they need to pull off a project, varying from code editors to scripting languages.

Here is our pick of the top 7 web development tools that web developers can’t live without:

1. Chrome DevTools

Type: Web development suite

Since: 2008

Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world. Therefore, it is inevitable for a web developer to restrain their projects from working on the popular web browser from Google. To make lives easier for devs, Chrome comes with a suite of developer tools dubbed Chrome DevTools that are instantly accessible from the Chrome web browser. Chrome DevTools allows:

  • Debugging JS code.
  • Editing web pages on-the-fly.
  • Optimizing website speed.
  • Styling HTML elements, and much more.

The Good

  • Ample documentation.
  • Comes pre-bundled with the Chrome browser. No need to install it separately.
  • Completely free.
  • Good level of support from the active DevTools community.

The Bad

  • Works only for one web browser, i.e. Google Chrome and not even for Chromium-based web browsers.

2. Grunt

Type: JS Task Runner

Since: January 2012

Web developers requiring a helping hand in the form of automation for their web projects must use Grunt. It is a task runner application for JavaScript that automates repetitive tasks like compilation, linting, minification, and unit testing.

Since Grunt is distributed using npm, the same is required to install and use Grunt and its plugins. Grunt is an excellent tool for smaller projects. As the project becomes bigger, though, the efficiency of the JS task runner decreases. Developers like to create their Grunt plugins.

The Good

  • Availability of plugins for extending the functionality.

  • CLI available.

  • Easy installation.

  • Lets you automate almost all of the tedious stuff.

The Bad

  • Suitable only for smaller projects.

3. Atom

Type: Code Editor

Since: February 2014

One of the most popular free and open-source code editors is Atom. Web developers love it for its out-of-the-box support for NodeJS. The code editor, nonetheless, can be used for a wide-ranging choice of programming languages, among which C, C++, PHP, and Python are some.

Endorsed as “a hackable text editor for the 21st Century,” Atom is a product of the popular software development platform GitHub. Atom is available for all 3 of the most popular operating systems, i.e. Linux, macOS, and Windows.

The Good

  • Completely customizable i.e. free and open-source.

  • Has many features as that of an IDE.

  • Intuitive to use.

  • Offers a smooth workflow.

The Bad

  • Consumes more RAM than competitors.

  • Unsuitable for handling bigger code.

4. Novi Builder

Type: HTML Visual Editor

Since: 2016

Expert web developers like to deal with HTML using the innovative Novi Builder. It is a visual HTML editor that offers an amazing drag-and-drop functionality that makes working with HTML much less of a slow, boring task.

Novi Builder lets users make many changes in design much faster than what can be achieved by using other code editors. It is not a free tool, and so, users are required to purchase the visual HTML editor, available in three pricing tiers:

  • Startup - Billed annually, $29
  • Advanced - Billed annually, $49
  • Developer - One-time fee, $149

The advanced and developer subscriptions of Novi Builder comes with free, ready-to-use HTML templates.

The Good

  • Advanced code editing capabilities.
  • Excellent community and developer support.
  • eCommerce-oriented.
  • Intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
  • Supports plugins.

The Bad

  • No free version.
  • Not beginner-friendly.

5. jQuery

Type: JavaScript Library

Since: August 2006

jQuery is a lightweight, fast, cross-platform JS library that simplifies the front-end development leveraging JavaScript. It adds an abstraction layer for much of the complex JavaScript functionality to make web development easier and convenient.

By May of 2019, over 70% of the top 10 million most popular websites leveraged jQuery. Compared to other JS libraries, jQuery is estimated to have almost triple to quadruple times more usage. Hence, it is easily the most-used JavaScript library.

The Good

  • Free and open-source.
  • Provides broader scope for adding plugins, creating animations, and traversing documents.
  • Quick and lightweight.
  • Simplifies: AJAX, CSS animation, Event handling, and
  • HTML DOM tree traversal and manipulation.
  • Superb community support.

The Bad

  • Abstracting complex JS makes learning JavaScript difficult.
  • Its humongous size.

6. TypeScript

Type: Web scripting language

Since: October 2012

Full-stack developers like to leverage the power of TypeScript, a strict, syntactical superset of JS. It makes the JavaScript code easier to read as well as debug. Developed and maintained by the tech mogul Microsoft, TypeScript is an open-source web scripting language that is designed specifically for developing full-scale applications.

TypeScript trans compiles to JS and can be used to build apps intended for client-side as well as server-side execution. Although the built-in TypeScript Checker is available for trans compilation, the Babel compiler is a popular option for accomplishing the same.

The Good

  • Allows adding static types to the JS code.
  • Free and open-source.
  • A great degree of portability.
  • Provides support for a galore of JavaScript libraries.

The Bad

  • Features an overly complicated typing system.
  • It requires a longer time to compile than JS.

7. MongoDB

Type: NoSQL database management system

Since: February 2009

MongoDB is a document-oriented database management system used for performance-focused applications. It is a faster database that follows a schema-less approach to storing data. MongoDB is written in C++, and its source code is available on GitHub.

MongoDB is usually used for catering to the data needs of web apps and is a part of the popular MEAN stack. It is currently used by major global organizations, including Facebook, Google, IBM, and Twitter.

The Good

  • Distributes data across various nodes in a cluster.
  • Faster data retrieval.
  • Free and open-source.
  • Lengthy feature list, includes file storage, load balancing, and server-side JavaScript execution functionalities.
  • Suitable for storing large amounts of unstructured data.
  • User-friendly.

The Bad

  • No provision for stored procedures.
  • Unsuitable for applications necessitating ACID compliance.

Conclusion

That sums up our list of the seven essential web development tools. Your opinion, of course, might be wary as one man’s trash is gold for some other. Hope you like the list! Which web development tools you can’t live without and why? Let us know via the comments.

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