5 Helpful Website Design Tools For Your Next Web Project

Website design tools are essential for anyone looking to create a compelling and functional website. In this guide, we’ll explore five free tools that can significantly improve your web design workflow. These tools range from icon sets to color accessibility tools, and they’re all incredibly useful for both beginners and seasoned designers.

1. Icones: A Versatile Icon Repository

Navigate to Icones website

Icones offers a wide range of icon sets, including the popular Phosphor collection. Unlike other icon repositories, Icones allows you to copy SVG icons without hardcoded color values. This feature enables you to easily customize the icon colors directly in Generate Blocks or any other design tool.

Steps to Use Icones:

1. Open the Icones website.
2. Choose an icon set and variant (e.g., Phosphor, Duo tone).
3. Click on your desired icon.
4. Copy the SVG by clicking on the SVG button at the bottom left corner.
5. Paste the SVG into your design tool.

Tip: Stick to one icon set throughout your project for a cohesive design.

2. Accessible Color Matrix: Ensuring Color Accessibility

Navigate to Accessible Color Matrix

This tool helps you create a color matrix that adheres to accessibility guidelines. It shows which color combinations pass the contrast ratios, helping you make informed decisions about text and background colors.

Steps to Use Accessible Color Matrix:

1. Open the Accessible Color Matrix website.
2. Click on ‘Edit Palette’.
3. Input your color hex codes.
4. Save the changes to generate the matrix.

Tip: Use this tool early in your project to set ground rules for color usage.

3. Closest Accessible Color: Fine-Tuning Your Color Choices

Navigate to Closest Accessible Color

If you find that your chosen color doesn’t meet accessibility guidelines, this tool will find the closest color that does. It’s particularly useful for ensuring that your text is easily readable on various backgrounds.

Steps to Use Closest Accessible Color:

1. Open the Closest Accessible Color website.
2. Input your color hex code and background color.
3. Select the accessibility guidelines you want to meet (e.g., AA).
4. Copy the suggested color that passes the guidelines.

Tip: Use this tool to fine-tune your color choices, especially for text.

4. Vivid Gradient Generator: Create Stunning Gradients

Navigate to Vivid Gradient Generator

This tool helps you create more vivid and visually pleasing gradients, avoiding the gray dead zones commonly found in standard gradients.

Steps to Use Vivid Gradient Generator:

1. Open the Vivid Gradient Generator website.
2. Input your starting and ending color hex codes.
3. Copy the generated CSS for the gradient.
4. Paste the CSS into your design tool or code editor.

Tip: Always use this tool when you’re planning to implement gradients in your design.

5. Tint & Shade Generator: Mastering Color Variants

Navigate to Tint & Shade Generator

This tool generates tints and shades of a given color, providing you with a comprehensive range of color variants for your project.

Steps to Use Tint & Shade Generator:

1. Open the Tint & Shade Generator website.
2. Input your base color hex code.
3. Click on ‘Make Tints and Shades’.
4. Copy the generated colors for use in your project.

Tip: Use this tool to expand your color palette, especially when you need lighter or darker variants of your primary colors.

5 Helpful Website Design Tools – Conclusion

These five website design tools can make your design process smoother and more efficient. From choosing the right icons to ensuring color accessibility, each tool offers unique features that cater to different aspects of web design. Incorporate them into your next project and experience the difference they can make.