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Inspire Awesome

Designing and building a modern frontend in any web project can be a long and arduous process. Here's a collection of links to help you. Enjoy!

Concept

These sites are good to get a general idea of possible layouts and style paths to take.
  • Awwwards - More awesome sites of various styles.
  • CodeMyUI - List of code snippets for fancy CSS/JS that make an awesome UI.
  • CodePen - Central repository of user submitted code concepts/snippets. Great for experiments.
  • Codrops - Web design/development blog that publishes articles/tutorials about the latest web trends.
  • CodyHouse - Tutorials and showcase of awesome UI elements.
  • CSS Winner - Reviewed list of great websites.
  • Designer News - The best design / development links from the 'net.
  • Dribbble - Snaps of icons, doodles, sites, and more from a talented group of people.
  • Httpster - A curated list of the best sites around the Internet.
  • Landings - Find the best landing pages for your design inspiration based on your preference.
  • OnePageLove - Great influence for one page and general website design.
  • SaaS Pages - An inspection of Netlify's page made especially to bring you inspiration.
  • Siiimple - Another list of sites, but on the much simpler side.
  • SiteInspire - Get inspired.
  • TheBestDesigns - General list of hand picked sites from across the web.

Creation

These sites are good for building a basic framework for the site.
  • Colors 🎨
  • ColorsWall - Place to store your color palettes.
  • Coolors - Super fast color scheme generator.
  • Kuler - Easily create or view a custom color swatch for your site.
  • uiGradients - Gorgous gradient generator.
  • Spectral - Minimal color swatch creation.
  • Fonts
  • Google Fonts - Tons of free, easy to use webfonts.
  • Frameworks
  • Bootstrap - Very popular framework for building modern websites and web apps.
    • Bootswatch - A list of free themes for Bootstrap.
  • Icons
  • Icon Scout - Get high-quality Icons, Illustrations and Stock photos at one place.
  • Iconmonstr - A collection of free, simple icons.
  • Ionicons - Another great collection of free icons.
  • Images
  • AllTheFreeStock - All the Free stock mmages, videos, sounds and icons in one location.
  • TheStocks.im - A collection of great stock photo websites.
  • Unsplash - Free, high quality stock photos.
  • Resources
  • CSS3 Animation Cheat Sheet - A collection of CSS3 animation snippets.
  • MDN - Documentation for HTML, CSS, JS, etc
  • User Inter Faces - Get ipsum images for user images.
  • YMNNJQ - See jQuery functions in natural JS. No libraries.

Tools

Every painter needs a brush. Well... Most do.
  • Design Tools
  • Figma - Web-based vector graphics editor
  • Sketch [macOS only] - A professional vector graphics editor
  • IDEs
  • DevSession - Open a collaborative online IDE from a local directory.
  • FileZilla - For those who fear FTP in the terminal
  • Hyper - Beautiful, extensible command-line interface
  • Taskade [macOS only] - Create beautiful task lists and outlines.
  • Text Editors
  • Atom - A hackable text editor for the 21st century.
  • Brackets - Modern, open source editor with live preview.
  • Nova [macOS only] - Gorgeous, native text editor.
  • Sublime Text - A very popular text editor for developers.
    • Themes
    • Flatron - It's flat, purple, and hella sexy.
    • Predawn - Gorgeous dark interface and syntax theme.
  • VSCode - Free text editor
  • WinSCP - Upload files to a MEAN stack or VPS server.

Collaborate

  • Cloud9 - An awesome, zen way to work with others in the cloud.
  • Gist - Share code and text with others fast. Like a mini repository.
  • Invoice Ninja - Open source invoicing platform.
  • Red Pen - Share your design and get feedback seamlessly.
  • Scratchpad - A simple, RTC tool for coding and previewing websites.

Backends

Every awesome web app needs an awesome backend.
  • Auth0 - Authentication, done for you.
  • DigitalOcean - A cheap and quality VPS hosting company.
  • Firebase - A real-time front-end database for your sites.
  • Hasura - Platform to build and deploy app backends fast.
  • Heroku - Cloud application platform; very easy to scale.

Testing

Before you launch, these are good tools to make sure your site is ready for stardom.
  • Browserling - Cross-browser test your website.
  • Checkbot - Browser extension that tests your website follows 50+ SEO, speed and security best practices.
  • CodePen - A free web editor in your browser.
  • Hurl.it - Make HTTP requests in the browser.
  • Localtunnel - Open localhost ports to the world.
  • Placehold - Generate custom placeholder images of any size.
  • Postman - A tool to make HTTP requests, generate mock servers and make API documentation.
  • WooRank - A review tool for SEO elements, W3 validation, and numerous other variables. Free basic service.
  • Yslow - Tool for analyzing and finding fixes for multiple causes of slow site loading.

Good Reads

Need something to read in your spare time?
  • 1stWebDesign - A good, simple blog on web development and design.
  • A List Apart - Guest bloggers and full books on topics from coding to business practices.
  • Codrops - Great collection of design techniques for modern web developmers and designers.
  • CSS-Tricks - Awesome blog on anything and everything related to CSS
  • GoodUI - It's definitely not bad.
  • Insert HTML - A blog covering current and upcoming techniques and technologies for web developers.
  • Mentor - Get random advice from other designers and developers.
  • Smashing Magazine - A magazine for all things digital design.

License

CC0

To the extent possible under law, Noah Buscher has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.

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