The following is a list of my top 10 favorite online website design tools. Best of all, they are all free services. Let me know if I’m missing something special here.

Note: I intentionally left-out validation and testing type services. They will be covered in another post later.

• Em Calculator
  Converts pixels to ems. Great for converting fonts from px to ems without reducing the base font size to 62.5%.
• Lorem Ipsum Generator
  Generate paragraphs of classical Latin literature from 45 for use as “dummy text” for your mock-ups and layouts.
• The Hivelogic Enkoder
  The Enkoder helps protect email addresses by converting them into encrypted JavaScript code, hiding them from email-harvesting robots while revealing them to people.
• Kuler
  Color inspiration from Adobe Labs. Quickly find, create or share harmonious color themes online, then download the colors as swatches to be used in PhotoShop.
• XML Sitemap Generator
  A fast and easy to use online sitemap generator that creates not only an XML sitemap (to be submitted to Google), but also a sitemap in text format (to be submited to Yahoo!).
• FavIcon Generator
  Easily create a favicon (favorites icon) form most image formats. A favicon is a small, 16×16 image that is shown inside the browser’s location bar and bookmark menu and is a good way to brand your site and increase it’s prominence in your visitor’s bookmark menu. This generator by Dynamic Drive even supports transparency when using a gif or png.
• hCard Creator
  A simple form from Microformats.org to create hCards. hCards are a type of vCard in semantic XHTML that enables applications to retrieve its information directly from web pages without having to reference a separate file.
• StatsCounter
  A reliable, invisible and highly configurable hit counter that offers tons of real-time detailed web stats. Through your own profile, manage all the sites you create and setup profiles/permissions so your clients so they can analyze and monitor their own stats too. I find this to be even more informative then Google Analytics!
• IconFinder
  A search engine that queries icons to use on your website with “Creative Commons” or similar type licenses. Not sure if this constitutes as a tool but it sure is a handy time saver.
• TypeTester
  A tool for selecting type primarily for screen as PhotoShop mockups are rendered somewhat different when you slice your PSD into a HTML/CSS layout. TypeTester enables you to see how type will look in its’ natural environment – a web browser.

Categories: Website Design ~ Tags: tools, website design ~ Trackback