Every web designer needs a good tool palette consisting of the essential tools to assist him or her in creating a great web design. If those tools are free, then even better. Here is a list of 9 essential and free tools that every web designer should have in their tool box.

1) Firebug

Firebug is a powerful, extension for Firefox which allows you dissect and troubleshoot any website. You can view and modify just about every aspect of the site including HTML , JavaScript and CSS. Ever wonder how a certain feature of a site you like is constructed, get this tool and you can find out how.

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2) Adobe Kuler

 

 

 

 

Adobe Kuler is an online tool that helps you create color themes for you web design. You can even use a picture online and create a color scheme from that. There are also color themes created by others that you can use and modify to meet your needs. There are also plugins that you can incorporate into Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

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3) PX to EM Conversion

PXtoEM.com is px to em conversion made simple. Choose your body font size in pixels (px)and out comes a complete pixel (px) to em conversion table, making elastic web design with CSS a snap. The once daunting challenge of converting pixels (px) to the elusive em has now been reduced to a booger eating pipsqueak. Thanks, PXtoEM.com!

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4)HTML to Ipsum

 

 

 

 

HTML to Ipsum is a nice tool that allows you to grab some dummy text that is already formatted in HTML. There are a variety of examples to choose from and you simply select the tab above the example you want and it is automatically copied to your clipboard. How cool is that!

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5)Adobe Browserlab

 

 

 

 

Adobe Browserlab is a great online tool for previewing your website across many different web browsers. You just need to create an Adobe account if you don’t already have one. Don’t worry if you do not have an account, it’s free.

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6) W3C HTML and CSS Validation

 

 

 

 

For those designers who actually care if their code validates, then these two online tools are for you. You just enter the URL of the page you want to test and you get instant feedback on whether the code is validated or not. This works for CSS and HTML. It automatically recognizes your DOC type and checks based upon this. It also offers suggestions for the fix if you check the HTML Tidy box.

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7) DaFont

 

 

 

 

As web designers we are limited to the fonts that are on the viewers computers. You can actually use any font you want it just doesn’t mean it will display on the person viewing your site. However, some of us like to create nice graphics which have cool fonts contained within. DaFont gives you those cool fonts. Browse the selection and download what you want. Make sure to view the usage rights.

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XAMMP

 

 

 

 

Ever test some of your client’s web pages on your site and come to find out later those pages were indexed in Google because you forgot to take them down? Use a locahost next time and test those files on your computer. XAMMP gives you the power to do just that. Download the software and follow the instructions and in minutes you are set up.

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9) Xenu Link Checker

 

 

 

 

Xenu Link Checker is a tool that allows you to test the links on your site to ensure there are no broken or missing links. If you have a site that has a large amount of pages, it could be very time consuming to go through and check all of the links. With Xenu, you enter the URL of the site and it will check all of them and provide you with a detailed analysis of your links.

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What other tools do you use?

This is a list of only 9 essential tools. What other free tools or services do you use for your web designs? Don’t hold out on us.

Comments or Suggestions? We love comments so let us know what you think about this post.