Design your way

Finding the perfect sidekick to build websites as a designer is not easy. There are a lot of tools that a designer can choose from to make his life easier, some better than others, useful and time saving tools that other designers and developers have created for the rest of the community.

We’ve compiled a helpful list of 15 platforms that impressed us this year, so you can assess what each of them has to offer, and make up your mind faster.

IM Creator

You must have heard of IM Creator by now. It’s a universal website builder that both experts and amateurs can rely on to create new websites for free, or modify existing ones.

This is the most accessible tool by far, as it offers every type of user – from designers to retailers to law firms – an easy-to-grasp shortcut to set up a delightful online presence, without the time-consuming process of manual coding.

However, just because it’s easy to work with, don’t think for a second that this site-building platform isn’t fit for professional use. In fact, the first thing that any creative will notice is how good-looking the entire collection of responsive site templates is.

Besides, the design studio is more than ready to help anyone who wants to create a website from beginning to end, single-handedly.

IM Creator also has a talent for introducing new concepts to the market. It was the first website builder to use HTML 5, and now it has launched a mobile app called IM Self that combines the freedom of expression of personalized site-building with social networking.

Soon, people all over the world will be able to create and develop their social profiles into shapes reflecting their true selves.

Webydo

With Webydo, users can add any file type to the media library, and then incorporate videos, shapes, texts, and even eCommerce widgets for online stores in their site design. A brand new feature enables hovering elements that always stay on screen whenever scrolling down.

This platform is heaven for designers who want to achieve great results working solo. Nonetheless, if anybody wants to get involved with coding at some point or another, they are free to add to or edit their website’s CSS, as well as to modify its < header > and < body > sections.

Besides, the CMS allows the website owners to edit their site’s content whenever they want to. Designers can decide which areas are editable, and which are better left untouched, so that updates don’t damage the design integrity.

What’s more, Webydo users can place their own brand logo on their dashboards, and send brand-customized invoices to their clients straight from there.

Theme X

We’ve found a great theme that is currently making a lot of noise across the WordPress ecosystem (and for good reasons). X was built in conjunction with leading internet marketers, who shared their best tips and insights on building the perfect website.

Its features are too many to list, but we will state that the most noteworthy feature is the ingenious option called Stacks – it allows you to change the complete look of your site in seconds. It’s like a theme within a theme.

There are currently three Stacks built into X with the 4th slated for release in the next six to eight weeks. Finally, X has built all admin options for this incredible theme into a Live Customizer so you can instantly see how each change, tweak, and modification will look in real time.

Startup Design Framework

Startup Design Framework is based on Bootstrap 3, and uses HTML, CSS3, and LESS. The general idea is that designers can create a fabulous startup site very fast by choosing their favorite items from a wide variety of components, and piecing them together into any shape, using a flexible block model.

Also, there are 25 ready-made samples to look through. All the blocks used in these samples are ready for markup. Furthermore, it’s possible to use a generator that helps you create your landing page with little effort – just drag-and-drop blocks, consult with any eventual partners, and then get them automatically translated into code.

Presently, a demo version with 2 samples is available to introduce you to Startup Design Framework.

DIY themes

DIY themes gave us a particularly neat WordPress theme named Thesis 2. This design and template manager boasts three distinctive features: boxes, skins, and site tools.

A visual template editor allows users to easily dictate their website’s functionality without having to resort to handwritten code. As such, you can drop anything from customizable MailChimp/AWeber forms to social network buttons in your templates. In addition, depending on your plan of choice, you can also gain access to the advanced Thesis Developer Tools.

On top of everything, there are three different skins to choose from if you don’t feel like taking the trouble to drag-and-drop every single element into your final site design. Finally, this theme opens the path to higher rankings in search engines.

Light CMS

Light CMS has a colossal selection of cross-device responsive website designs that are so easy to transform, one of them will no doubt embody your own vision of a wonderful site.

Resellers will be thrilled to learn that they can enlist a plan accessing every Light CMS feature, unlimited pages, storage, and number of products for online stores – but pay 80% less than the standard monthly price (in other words, $19 per each website).

Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes has 88 spectacular themes that you can use to make your WordPress website. The crowned leader of these themes is Divi, a masterpiece released very recently to popular acclaim.

The Divi theme is highly responsive to cross-device displays, and its Page Builder is exceptionally easy to operate. Simply work on an already-established layout, or create one from scratch by first setting up horizontal sections, and then adding horizontal rows and modules.

Moonfruit

Moonfruit gives its users an easy way to drag-and-drop various elements in the process of sculpting their sites. This tool offers a vast collection of images, backgrounds, and entire templates.

Lastly, the price of its packages is appealing – from $10.80 to $31.50 per month, depending on your type of business – and a 10% discount to all plans stands until May 31st.

Onepager

Onepager is a quick and easy platform for small-business websites not intended to be complex installments, but that can grab customers’ attention in their first five seconds on the site.

A one-page website makes most sense when it is accessed via mobile or tablet, because it’s much easier for the visitor to scroll down than to click on multiple site categories and wait for other pages to load.

Webzai

Sites created with Webzai always have great cross-browser and cross-device functionality. Users can go about building their websites through one of the many methods consecrated in this post: starting from zero; customizing a template; uploading all types of content and widgets. Once published, you don’t have to worry about where to host your website, as Webzai has got you covered without charging a single dime.

Wix

In the case of Wix, it’s possible to designate certain pages of your finalized website that only you and/or other specific members are at liberty to access.

Additionally, this site-building platform is rich with hordes of flawless designer-made templates, not to mention thousands of images, clipart pieces, and icons that are yours to customize and make part of your online store/blog/portfolio/business website, for free. Or, you may choose to start with a blank canvas and work towards your goal.

Site Sumo

A free 14-day trial awaits you at Site Sumo, and you are not compelled to submit a credit card before embarking. Once you’ve used the point-and-click website editor to knock out a website according to your taste, with the help of a variety of splendid templates, you can restrict specific areas of the site, so that customers have to pay in order to gain access to your most limited content.

Pixpa

Pixpa also has a free trial lasting for 15 days. This platform is engineered to launch excellent portfolio websites, and as you may have guessed from its brand name, photographers are more than welcome to showcase their works online through this channel.

If they choose to, they can strike up a handsome-looking portfolio in just a matter of minutes, assign private galleries for client feedback, and sell pictures via Fotomoto.

Two Way Resume

Turn to this tool if you want to create such an impressive online presence that potential employers rush to hire you. In other words, Two Way Resume gives you the chance to build a resume and portfolio that looks like a true work of art, and is published on a separate domain to send a message of professionalism. Start from one of the 5 lush templates, upload images, and embed Youtube or Vimeo videos – whatever gets your point across.

SnapPages

The final installment of our top 15 site-building platforms of 2014 is SnapPages. With the drag-and-drop HTML 5 page editor, it feels like you need only snap your fingers, and, voila!

Your website is up and running. You also sign up for rock-solid cloud hosting, and a built-in spam filter for comments, if you are in charge of a blog and want to keep it clean with a minimum amount of effort.

The following examples are websites created with some of the best platforms in our top 15:

IM Creator