1. Web Development On Mac
2. Website Development Tools For Mac

It is always exciting for developers from all over the world whenever they get to showcase their best code editor at computer expos and tech conferences. On that note when we talk about free code editors for Windows and Mac to use in the year 2021, we cannot help but wait in anticipation for brand-new features to use right away.

Mobirise is available for Windows and macOS and comes fully free of charge. If you need a fully responsive website in the fastest way possible, ditch the code editors and head over to Mobirise. Some of the best HTML editors for Mac OS X are free or available as an evaluation version with no enforced time limit. A Software Installation Manager: Homebrew. Unarguably, Homebrew should be the first application you need to have on your Mac. Basically, its a package manager that lets you install software tools. Create apps for PC, MacBook, Surface & iMac without coding A powerful Windows and Mac app development tool to build executable and macOs applications without programming. DESKTOP APP Build apps for desktop PandaSuite is an intuitive no code development platform focused. A web application framework is a software framework designed to aid and alleviate some of the headache involved in the development of web applications and services. Ruby: Ruby on Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications, with the MVC pattern.

In this write-up, we will talk about the best coding software for multiple platforms. However, we will lay extra emphasis on Windows OS and Mac OS because they are popular operating systems out there right now.

Most of these best code editors are free; you do not have to buy any expensive licenses or whatever to start working on them. Just download a trial version of the said software and see if it fulfills your requirements. Afterward, you can convert to paid software for yourself or the company you are working for.

In addition, we will also fill you in on the most amazing code editors that you and your development team can use feature-wise. Since not all code editors are alike, some of them cannot be used for wide-scale projects.

Likewise, a basic version code editor can be used as a standalone application. If the app itself allows, it can be integrated into an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Let’s take look at our best code editor list and see what we have handpicked so far.

9 Free Best Code Editors for Windows & Mac to Use in 2021

Best Code Editors of 2021:

1. Notepad++

One of the most well-known code editors that developers all over the world have been using for quite a while is Notepad++. This amazing application was developed in C++. The initial launch version was very simple. It didn’t have a lot of functions back then, but Notepad++ garnered tons of positive reviews.

Not only developers but casual users also prefer using this tool over Windows’ native notepad application.

Using the pure win32 API, the Notepad++ has an amazing execution speed, which is great for the modern gen machines. Thanks to improved execution times, code compilation spans over a matter of few seconds. This helps programmers to get things done right away.

This application is only compatible with the Windows platform at the moment. It uses a GPL license to work. If you are a Mac fan, don’t worry. We have a couple of code editors appended down the list. Just keep glossing over it.

Key Features

• Auto-completion: Word completion, Function completion
• User-defined Syntax highlighting and folding
• Multi-view and Multi-Language support
• Support syntax highlighting for languages like PHP, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
• Macro recording and playback
• Entirely customizable GUI
• Autosave
• Guided indentation
• Macros
• Split-screen editing and synchronized scrolling

Pricing

• Free

Check out the best task management tools for Mac:

2. Atom

One of the most famous and useful code editors on this list is Atom. Used by millions of developers all over the world, it is an amazing application with a very simple UI that increases its usability.

One of the cool features of this best free code editor is that the developers can submit packages straight from the application. Atom is available for download at multiple platforms: Windows, Linux, and Mac devices. If you are a Mac OSX user, this is the perfect time for you to give this app a shot.

Key Features

• Package Manager Integrated for Plugins support
• Supports Command Palette
• The feature of smart autocompletion
• Cross-platform editing
• Built-in package manager
• File system browser
• Find and replace tool
• Smart autocompletion
• Multiple panes
• Packages and themes

Pricing

• Free

3. Visual Studio Code [VS Code]

Belonging from the Family of software developed by the tech giant Microsoft, Visual Studio Code is an excellent code editor we have on the list. The application is an amazing piece of software that offers deep built-in support for Node.js, TypeScript, and JavaScript.

One of the most effective and time-saving features of this application is its infusion with A.I.

That means that all of the code that the developer writes in the application is read by the software. As a result, it generates auto-responses for code writing. These responses are based on variable types, function definitions, and essential modules.

This application is available for download on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.

Key Features

• Code refactoring & debugging
• Easy working with Git and other SCM (Software Configuration Management) providers
• Easily extensible and customizable
• Visual Studio Code CLI
• Live Share
• Helpers (Intellisense, Context Menus)
• Plugins and Themes
• Debugging
• Split Views, Zen Mode
• Integrated Terminal

Pricing

• Free

4. Brackets

Although this list recommends some of the best code editors in the market, there is still no comparison to Brackets code editor. Yes, it is free, but what makes it really useful is the full barrage of extensive new features.

This application has a lightweight framework designed by the people over at Adobe. Believe me, those people know what they are doing. It is one of the best code editors that is completely open-source and you can modify it to your liking.

One of the most amazing features of this application is that you can choose between a browser view to look at how your code is doing or you can view the source code in its original form and modify it from there.

This application is available to be used on Windows, Linux, and Mac devices.

Key Features

• Offers live preview, pre-processor support, and inline editors
• Especially developed tool for macOS
• Quick Edit UI feature puts context-specific code and tools inline
• Pleasant looking UI
• It comes with the inbuilt extension manager for fast & effective extension management
• Quick Docs
• JSLint
• Live Preview
• LESS support

Pricing

• Free

5. NetBeans

Another code editor on this list that as one of the most famous code-editors is NetBeans. It is open-source software that the developers can use to develop applications using programming languages like PHP, Java, and C++, among many others.

This software also contains features like code analyzers that can debug your code for you and also convertors to change anything that needs modification.

If your applications were developed in the recent past, be advised that NetBeans allows you to upgrade all your applications to benefit from the new and improved Java 8 language constructs.

This application is ready to be used on Windows, Linux, and Mac devices.

Key Features

• Offers fast & Smart Code Editing
• Helps you to write bug-free code
• Easy & Efficient Project Management
• Rapid User Interface Development
• Cross-platform support
• Visual debugger
• Static analysis tools
• Code editor
• Code converters
• Multiple language support
• NetBeans Profiler
• Project management
• Batch code analyzers

Pricing

• Free

6. Bluefish

If you are a fan of working on dozens of different software at once and not wasting time for the code editor to take its sweet time to run your code, then Bluefish is the code editor that was designed with you in mind.

It is an excellent cross-platform editor that can handle many files of code at once and run them simultaneously. One other feature that the developers love about this application is that they can edit their code from their remote working station, which can be anywhere in the world.

This application contains many different options for web developers and programmers that can help them write code, websites, and scripts for quality testing of their software.

This application is available to be used by Windows, Linux, and Mac device owners.

Key Features

• Auto-recovery of changes in modified documents after a crash, kill or shutdown
• Unlimited undo/redo functionality
• Loads hundreds of files within seconds
• Project support feature helps you to work efficiently on multiple projects
• Dialogues for many HTML tags, with all their attributes
• User-customizable toolbar for quick access to often-used functions
• Fully featured image insert dialogue
• Multi-thumbnail generation for easy creation of photo albums or screenshot pages

Pricing

• Free

7. Vim

Another software that is reportedly comprehensive and can be considered an IDE within itself is called: Vim. It is an extremely advanced code editor that is open-source which gives you the ability to modify the application to your liking as a developer.

With the help of Vim editors and UNIX systems embedded in the software, the application can manage all of the text-editing activities of the developers in no time at all, whether the application is used online or on the premises.

This application is available to be used by Linux Devices.

Key Features

• It is command centric which lets you perform complex text related task with few commands
• There are many plug-in available for Vim. Its functionality can be extended in a great manner using these plug-in
• Same as multiple windows, it also supports multiple buffers
• It supports recording features which allow to record and play Vim commands in a repeated manner
• Its memory footprint is exceptionally low
• It is highly configurable and uses a simple text file to store its configuration
• It supports multiple windows. Using this feature screen can be split into multiple windows
• It supports multiple tabs which allow you to work on multiple files

Pricing

• Free

8. Geany

Next on this list of amazing code-editors, we have the software Geany. This application is quite effective because it uses the GTK+ toolkit to accommodate all of the code that the developers push on the software.

An amazing feature of this application is that it has all of the necessary basic components that make up an effectively integrated development environment or (IDE).

The developers can use this application to produce applications thanks to the software’s library that is full of different filetypes and other important features.

Geany supports Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux operating systems.

Key Features

• Navigating through the source code is easy
• Show status message on attempt to execute empty context action
• Allows you to add a note for applying the indent settings in the project preferences
• Allows popup menu on message window notebooks and sidebar
• Syntax highlighting
• Autocompletion of symbols/words
• Auto-closing of XML and HTML tags
• Many supported filetypes including C, Java, PHP, HTML, Python, Perl, Pascal, and others
• Code navigation
• Simple project management
• Code folding for an overall organized approach to coding huge programs
• Construct completion/snippets
• Call tips
• Symbol lists
• Build a system to compile and execute your code
• Plugin interface

Pricing

• Free

9. Komodo Edit

The software Komodo Edit is an intuitive but immensely powerful code editor that can easily run those long codes that you spent your sprints on.

The application allows you to perform the following functions straight from the application. These functions are integrations with other technologies like Docker, Grunt, Vagrant, PhoneGap, and many others like them.

You can also perform unit testing for all your quality assurance processes, debugging to make your code error-free and code refactoring.

This application is available to be used by Windows, Linux, and Mac device owners from all over the world.

Key Features

• A lot of contemporary color schemes
• Easily integrates into the desktop environment
• Multi-Language Editor
• Native Unicode support and Unicode compatibility checking
• Track Changes
• Multiple selections
• Quick bookmarks
• Smart language detection
• Split view and multi-window
• Variable highlighting
• Symbol browser
• Autocomplete and call tips
• Soft characters and matching braces

Pricing

• A free trial is available

Conclusion

There you have it; these are the 9 best code editors available right now. They are free to download and use. They are designed and loaded with the best functionalities that developers need regularly.

Of course, our standard of a “best” free/ paid code editor may not be the same as yours. If you have a favorite software that wasn’t on this list, feel free to share your input through the comments section below. We will add that program for you in a follow-up extension write-up.

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The best and worst thing about being a web developer is that the web is constantly changing. While this is exciting it also means that web developers must always be proactive in learning new techniques or programming languages, adapting to changes, and be willing and eager to accept new challenges. This could include tasks such as adapting existing frameworks to meet business requirements, testing a website to identify technical problems, or optimizing and scaling a site to better perform with the backend infrastructure. We thought we would compile a comprehensive list of web development tools and resources that can help you be more productive, stay informed, and become a better developer.

Web development tools and resources

A lot of these web development tools below are ones we use at KeyCDN on a daily basis. We can't include everything, but here are a couple of our favorites and other widely used ones. Hopefully, you find a new tool or resource that will aid you in your development workflow. The tools and resources below are listed in no particular order.

JavaScript libraries

JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages on the web. A JavaScript library is a library of pre-written JavaScript which allows easier access throughout the development of your website or application. For example, you can include a copy of Google's hosted jQuery library by using the following snippet.

• jQuery: A fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library.
• BackBoneJS: Give your JS app some backbone with models, views, collections, & events.
• D3.js: A JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data.
• React: Facebook's JavaScript library developed for building user interfaces.
• jQuery UI: A curated set of user interface interactions, effects, widgets, and themes.
• jQuery Mobile: HTML5-based user interface system designed to make responsive web sites.
• Underscore.js: Functional programming helpers without extending any built-in objects.
• Moment.js: Parse, validate, manipulate, and display dates in JavaScript.
• Lodash: A modern utility library delivering modularity, performance, & extras.
• Vue.js: An open source JavaScript framework used for building user interfaces.

Frontend frameworks

Frontend frameworks usually consist of a package that is made up of other files and folders, such as HTML, CSS, JavasScript, etc. There are also many stand-alone frameworks out there. We are a big fan of Boostrap and the main KeyCDN website is built on it. A solid framework can be an essential tool for frontend developers.

• Bootstrap: HTML, CSS, and JS framework for developing responsive, mobile first projects on the web.
• Foundation: Family of responsive frontend frameworks that make it easy to design beautiful responsive websites, apps and emails that look amazing on any device.
• Semantic UI: Development framework that helps create beautiful, responsive layouts using human-friendly HTML.
• uikit: A lightweight and modular frontend framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces.

To learn more about the differences between popular frontend framework, check out our list of the top frontend frameworks.

Web application frameworks

A web application framework is a software framework designed to aid and alleviate some of the headache involved in the development of web applications and services.

• Ruby: Ruby on Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications, with the MVC pattern.
• AngularJS: Lets you extend HTML vocabulary for your web application. AngularJS is a framework, even though it's much more lightweight and sometimes referred to as a library.
• Ember.js: A framework for creating ambitious web applications.
• Express: Fast and minimalist web framework for Node.js.
• Meteor: Full stack JavaScript app platform that assembles all the pieces you need to build modern web and mobile apps, with a single JavaScript codebase.
• Django: High-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.
• ASP.net: Free, fully supported Web application framework that helps you create standards-based Web solutions.
• Laravel: A free, open source PHP web application framework to build web applications on MVC pattern.
• Zend Framework 2: An open source framework for developing web applications and services using PHP.
• Phalcon: A full stack PHP framework delivered as a C-extension.
• Symfony: A set of reusable PHP components and a web application framework.
• CakePHP: A popular PHP framework that makes building web applications simpler, faster and require less code.
• Flask: A microframework for Python based on Werkzeug and Jinja 2.
• CodeIgniter: Powerful and lightweight PHP framework built for developers who need a simple and elegant toolkit to create full-featured web applications.

Also, make sure to check out KeyCDN's framework integration guides to see how you can implement a CDN with the solutions mentioned above.

Task runners / Package managers

Tasks runners are all about automating your workflow. For example, you can create a task and automate the minification of JavaScript. Then build and combine tasks to speed up development time. Package managers keep track of all the packages you use and make sure they are up to date and the specific version that you need.

• Grunt: JavaScript task runner all about automation.
• Gulp: Keeps things simple and makes complex tasks manageable, while automating and enhancing your workflow.
• npm: Pack manager for JavaScript.
• Bower: A web package manager. Manage components that contain HTML, CSS, JavaScript, fonts or even image files.
• webpack: A module bundler for modern JavaScript applications.

Languages / Platforms

Behind all the web development tools is a language. A programming language is a formal constructed language designed to communicate with a computer and create programs in which you can control the behavior. And yes we realize some of these might not always be referred to as a language.

• PHP: Popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development.
• NodeJS: Event-driven I/O server side JavaScript environment based on V8.
• JavaScript: Programming language of HTML and the web.
• HTML5: Markup language, the latest version of HTML and XHTML.
• Python: Programming language that lets you work quickly and integrate systems more effectively.
• Ruby: A dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity.
• Scala: Scala is a pure-bred object-oriented language allowing a gradual, easy migration to a more functional style.
• CSS3: Latest version of cascading style sheets used in frontend development of sites and applications.
• SQL: Stands for structured query language used with relational databases.
• Golang: Open source programming language that makes it easy to build simple, reliable, and efficient software.
• Rust: Systems programming language that runs blazingly fast, prevents segfaults, and guarantees thread safety.
• Elixir: Dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and maintainable applications.
• TypeScript: Open source programming language that is a superset of JavaScript which compiles to plain JavaScript.

Databases

A database is a collection of information that is stored so that it can be retrieved, managed and updated.

• MySQL: One of the world's most popular open source databases.
• MariaDB: Made by the original developers of MySQL. MariaDB is also becoming very popular as an open source database server.
• MongoDB: Next-generation database that lets you create applications never before possible.
• Redis: An open source, in-memory data structure store, used as a database, cache and message broker.
• PostgreSQL: A powerful, open source object-relational database system.

CSS preprocessors

Web Development On Mac

A CSS preprocessor is basically a scripting language that extends CSS and then compiles it into regular CSS. Make sure to also check out or in-depth post on Sass vs Less.

• Sass: A very mature, stable, and powerful professional grade CSS extension.
• Less: As an extension to CSS that is also backward compatible with CSS. This makes learning Less a breeze, and if in doubt, lets you fall back to vanilla CSS.
• Stylus: A new language, providing an efficient, dynamic, and expressive way to generate CSS. Supporting both an indented syntax and regular CSS style.

If you are just getting started with a CSS preprocessor you might want to make the transition easier by first using a third party compiler, such as the ones below.

Text editors / Code editors

Whether you're taking notes, coding, or writing markdown, a good text editor is a part of our daily lives!

• Atom: A text editor that's modern, approachable, yet hackable to the core. One of our favorites!
• Sublime Text: A sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose with great performance.
• Notepad++: A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.
• Visual Studio Code: Code editing redefined and optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications.
• TextMate: A code and markup editor for OS X.
• Coda 2: A fast, clean, and powerful text editor for OS X.
• WebStorm: Lightweight yet powerful IDE, perfectly equipped for complex client side development and server side development with Node.js.
• Vim: A highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing.
• Brackets: A lightweight and powerful modern text editor; written in JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
• Emacs: An extensible, customizable text editor with built-in functions to aid in quick modifications of text and code.
• Dreamweaver: Not your typical code editor, however, Dreamweaver can be used to write code and build websites through a visual interface. Learn more in this simple Dreamweaver tutorial.
• SpaceMacs: A text editor design to operate in both Emacs and Vim editor modes.

Markdown editors

Markdown is a markup language in plain text using an easy syntax that can then be converted to HTML on the fly. This is different than a WYSIWYG editor. Markdown editors are sometimes referred to as the in-between WYSIWYG and simply writing code.

• StackEdit: A free online rich markdown editor.
• Dillinger: An online cloud-enabled, HTML5, buzzword-filled Markdown editor.
• Mou: Markdown editor for developers on Mac OS X.
• Texts: A rich editor for plain text. Windows and Mac OS X.

Some of the text editors we mentioned above also support markdown. For example, there is a markdown preview package for atom.

Icons

Almost every web developer, especially frontend developers will at some point or another need icons for their project. Below are some great resources for both free and paid high quality icons.

• Font Awesome: Scalable vector icons that can instantly be customized - size, color, drop shadow, and anything that can be done with the power of CSS.
• IconMonster: A free, high quality, monstrously big and continuously growing source of simple icons. One of our favorites!
• Icons8: An extensive list of highly customizable icons created by a single design team.
• IconFinder: Iconfinder provides beautiful icons to millions of designers and developers.
• Fontello: Tool to build custom fonts with icons.
• Noun Project: Over a million curated icons. Available in both free as well as paid versions for greater customizability.

For more great icon providers, check out our complete list of 16 popular icon library resources.

Git clients / Git services

Git is a source code management system for software and web development known for distributed revision control. When working with teams, using a git client to push code changes from dev to production is a way to maintain the chaos and ensure things are tested so they don't break your live web application or site.

• SourceTree: A free Git & Mercurial client for Windows or Mac. Atlassian also makes a pretty cool team Git client called Bitbucket.
• GitKraken (Beta): A free, intuitive, fast, and beautiful cross-platform Git client.
• Tower 2: Version control with Git - made easy. In a beautiful, efficient, and powerful app.
• GitHub Client: A seamless way to contribute to projects on GitHub and GitHub Enterprise.
• Gogs: A painless self-hosted Git service based on the Go language.
• GitLab: Host your private and public software projects for free.

Website Development Tools For Mac

Web servers

The web server you ultimately end up using will usually depend on a combination of personal preference, functionality, or preexisting infrastructure. Nginx and Apache are the two most widely used web servers around, however, there are other options.

• Nginx: An open source and high-performant web server. Handles static content well and is lightweight.
• Apache: Currently powers almost 50% of all websites. Has a larger community around it and a great selection of modules.
• IIS: An extensible web server created by Microsoft. Offers excellent security and corporate support, therefore is not open source.
• Caddy: A relatively new web server. It is an open source, HTTP/2 web server with automatic HTTPS.

For a complete comparison of today's biggest web servers, check out our Nginx vs Apache article.

API tools

Web developers typically deal with APIs on a daily basis. They are essential in today's web development environment, however, can sometimes be difficult to deal with in terms of monitoring, creating, or combining. Thankfully, there are a variety of tools available to make working with APIs much more efficient.

• Runscope: An API performance testing, monitoring, and debugging solution.
• Zapier: Connect the APIs of various apps and services in order to automate workflows and enable automation.
• Postman: Complete API development environment. Everything from designing, testing, monitoring, and publishing.
• SoapUI: Advanced REST and SOAP testing tool. Ability to perform functional testing, security testing, performance testing, etc.

Local dev environments

Depending upon what OS you are running or the computer you currently have access to, it might be necessary to launch a quick local dev environment. There are a lot of free utilities that bundle Apache, mySQL, phpmyAdmin, etc. all together. This can be a quick way to test something on your local machine. A lot of them even have portable versions.

• XAMPP: Completely free, easy to install Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl.
• MAMP: Local server environment in a matter of seconds on OS X or Windows.
• WampServer: Windows web development environment. It allows you to create web applications with Apache2, PHP and a MySQL database.
• Vagrant: Create and configure lightweight, reproducible, and portable development environments.
• Laragon: A great fast and easy way to create an isolated dev environment on Windows. Includes Mysql, PHP Memcached, Redis, Apache, and awesome for working with your Laravel projects.

Diff checkers

Diff checkers can help you compare differences between files and then merge the changes. A lot of this can be done from CLI, but sometimes it can be helpful to see a more visual representation.

• Diffchecker: Online diff tool to compare text differences between two text files. Great if you are on the go and quickly need to compare something.
• Beyond Compare: A program to compare files and folders using simple, powerful commands that focus on the differences you're interested in and ignore those you're not.

A lot of the free text editors we mentioned above also have plugins or extensions which allow you to diff or compare your files.

Code sharing / Code experimenting

There is always that time when you are on Skype or Google hangout with another developer and you want him or her to take a quick look at your code. There are great team tools for sharing code like Slack, but if they aren't a member of your team there are some great quick alternatives. Remember not to share anything secure.

• JS Bin: Tool for experimenting with web languages. In particular HTML, CSS and JavaScript, Markdown, Jade and Sass.
• JSfiddle: Custom environment to test your JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code right inside your browser.
• codeshare: Share code in real time with other developers.
• Dabblet: Interactive playground for quickly testing snippets of CSS and HTML code.

Collaboration tools

Every great development team needs a way to stay in touch, collaborate, and be productive. A lot of teams work remotely now. The team at KeyCDN is actually spread across many different continents. Tools like these below can help employees streamline their development workflow.

• Slack: Messaging app for teams that is on a mission to make your working life simpler, more pleasant, and more productive. One of our favorites, we use this at KeyCDN!
• Trello: Flexible and visual way to organize anything with anyone. We also use this as KeyCDN.
• Glip: Real-time messaging with integrated task management, video conferencing, shared calendars and more.
• Asana: Team collaboration tool for teams to track their work and results.
• Jira: Built for every member of your software team to plan, track, and release great software or web applications.

Inspiration

We all need inspiration at some point or another. For frontend developers especially, from time to time, it can be beneficial to check out what other people are doing. This can be a great source of inspiration, new ideas, and making sure your web application or site doesn't fall behind the times.

• CodePen: Show off your latest creation and get feedback. Build a test case for that pesky bug. Find example design patterns and inspiration for your projects.
• Dribble: A community of designers sharing screenshots of their work, process, and projects.
• Behance: Another community-driven resource where users can showcase and discover creative work.

Website speed test tools

The speed of a website can be a critical factor to its success. Faster loading websites can benefit from higher SEO rankings, higher conversion rates, lower bounce rates, and a better overall user experience and engagement. It is important to take advantage of the many free tools available for testing website speed.

• Website Speed Test: A page speed test developed by KeyCDN that includes a waterfall breakdown and the website preview.
• Google PageSpeed Insights: PageSpeed Insights analyzes the content of a web page, then generates suggestions to make that page faster.
• Google Chrome DevTools: Set of web authoring and debugging tools built into Google Chrome.
• Dotcom-Tools Speed Test: Test the speed of your website in real browsers from 25 locations worldwide.
• WebPageTest: Run a free website speed test from multiple locations around the globe using real browsers (IE and Chrome) and at real consumer connection speeds.
• Pingdom: Test the load time of that page, analyze it and find bottlenecks.
• GTmetrix: Gives you insight on how well your site loads and provides actionable recommendations on how to optimize it.

You can see a more in-depth list on our post about website speed test tools.

Web development communities

Every web developer has been there. They have a problem and what do they do? Well, they go to Google to find a quick answer. The web offers so much content right at our fingertips that it makes it easy to diagnose and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Check out a few good web development communities below.

• Stack Overflow: Community of 4.7 million programmers, just like you, helping each other.
• Frontend Front: A place where frontend developers can ask questions, share interesting links, and show their work to the rest of the community.
• Hashnode: Global community for software developers to connect and learn programming from each other.
• Refind: Community of founders, hackers, and designers who collect and share the best links on the web.
• Facebook WordPress Front End Developers Group: WordPress Front End Developers is a group for devs to ask questions, share their work, discuss emerging trends, and collaborate.
• LinkedIn Web Design and Development Professionals Group: Networking and information sharing resource for professional Web Designers, Web Developers and Web Masters.
• LinkedIn Web Site Development Group: Website design & programming.
• LinkedIn PHP Developer Group: PHP, Mysql, Drupal, Joomla, Zend, Cake, MVC.
• LinkedIn WordPress Developers Group: WordPress Codex. Using WP as CMS and CMF.
• Webdeveloper.com: Where web developers and designers learn how to build web sites, program in HTML, Java and JavaScript.
• Sitepoint Forums: Web development discussion.
• /r/perfmatters: The #1 subreddit about web performance and web development.
• /r/webdev: What's new for web developers.

Web development newsletters

• wdrl.info: A handcrafted, carefully selected list of web development related resources. Curated and published usually every week.
• webopsweekly.com: A weekly newsletter for Web developers focusing on web operations, infrastructure, deployment of apps, performance, and tooling, from the browser down to the metal.
• webtoolsweekly.com: A frontend development and web design newsletter with a focus on tools. Each issue features a brief tip or tutorial, followed by a weekly round-up of various apps, scripts, plugins, and other resources.
• freshbrewed.co: A weekly reading digest for frontend developers and UX designers.
• smashingmagazine.com: Smashing Magazine is an online magazine for professional web designers and developers. Useful tips and valuable resources sent out every second Tuesday.
• fridayfrontend.com: Frontend development links tweeted daily, emailed weekly.
• /dev tips: Receive a developer tip, in the form of a gif, in your inbox each week.

And of course, you can subscribe to our newsletter if you haven't already on the right-hand side of this post. For an even further comprehensive list of web development blogs and newsletters, check out our 40+ best web developments blogs of 2018.

Summary

As you can see there are hundreds of web development tools and resources available to help streamline your development workflow and hopefully aid you in being more productive. Again we can't list every tool or resource, but if we forgot something important, feel free to let us know below in the comments.