As a web developer, I’m always on the lookout for tools that will make my life easier. Below is a short list of the tools I use on a daily basis.
1. Foundation
Foundation is a must if you are looking to build responsive, mobile friendly websites. This JQuery and CSS based library is packed full of features, including the easily to use grid based system for building a responsive site. It has a host of other important functions and abilities like an Off-Canvas menu system, Top Bars, breadcrumbs, pagination, JQuery image carousel, flex video players and more.
2. Font Awesome
Font Awesome is…well, awesome. This tool will give you some pretty awesome scalable vector icons to use for your responsive website while also providing the flexibility to change size, color, etc. using CSS. It’s 100% free and doesn’t require any other JavaScript to run correctly.
3. Custom Box
Custom Box is pretty much like every other modal JavaScript except it has a ton of built in animations to make your website more visually appealing.
4. Tota11y
Tota11y is a little JavaScript file that allows you to test your website for accessibility for the visually impaired. This is a must if you are working on a website that is required by law to have full accessibility and is a pretty good idea for any website.
5. Browser Stack
Ugh, the bane of every web developers existence, cross-browser compatibility. Browser Stack offers an easy way to test every version of every browser. While not free, it is a life saver when working on that obscure IE6 bug.
6. Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure offers a multitude of great features at a great price. Auto scale is one of the better ones. It also has the ability to plug directly into your visual studio for rapid deployment, and great performance monitoring.
7. Amazon Web Services
I cannot say enough good things about the flexibility and pricing of Amazon Web Services. Their S3 Storage and Cloudfront CDN are, to say the least, excellent and easy to use. You can even secure your content using Cloudfront Signed URLs.
8. Firebug
Firebug is great. It easily lets you debug your JavaScript and edit your CSS without having to change any code on the page until you get your CSS just right.
9. Dropzone JS
Looking for a drag-n-drop file upload with an image preview? look no further! This tool is real easy to setup and they even give you the code you need to get started with AngularJS, NodeJS, Ruby of Rails, PHP, Symfony2 and Amazon S3, and .NET MVC.
10. Plural Sight
While not really a tool for development, Plural Sight is a great place to take a quick class on pretty much anything you want to learn. Are you switching from PHP and looking to get into some .NET development? Plural Sight’s got it! Want to learn how Drupal works? Looking to get started with AngularJS? Plural Sight has all the classes you could want or need.
