Top 13 Tools & Resources for Designers and Agencies (2023 edition)

Web design tools and resources can help designers and agencies streamline the creative process. Also, to serve as time- and labor-saving mechanisms, and create stunning websites.

With each passing year, additional and often improved design tools and resources appear. Making it incumbent on prospective users to keep abreast of what is going on. Otherwise, they run a risk of simply missing out, or even being left behind.

Fortunately, designers and agencies have a huge variety of free and premium web design products to choose from. These range from complete platforms to highly specialized software apps. For example, from design frameworks to wire framing tools plugins.

With this in mind, here are 13 Top Tools & Resources for Designers and Agencies for 2013. None are brand new. Several in fact have been around for quite a while. But they are constantly being upgraded and improved. They have more than upheld their reputations of being the best of the bunch in their respective categories.

1. Be – Best Multipurpose WordPress Theme

The more than 40 powerful core website-building features it can place at your fingertips has made BeTheme the most popular (250,000 customers) multipurpose WordPress theme on the market. Virtually every facet of BeTheme has undergone one type of enhancement or another, with each improvement designed to help you create websites that will effectively represent and boost your brand.

Recently added core features (builders) and one popular standby you’ll love working with:

• Be Builder, the fastest and easiest to work with website builder for WordPress.
• The Be Blocks library of labor-saving pre-designed sections.
• Be Builder Woo provides a straightforward approach to creating an engaging, high-converting online store.
• Be’s Header Builder 2.0 gives its users an easy way to create the headers they need.
• Be’s library of 650+ Pre-Built Websites. Each one is trendy, customizable, responsive, and features basic UX functionality.

A setup wizard is included. Click on the banner or check out this free Live demo to learn more and test the essential Be Builder’s capabilities.

2. Trafft – Service Business Management Software You Can Count On

If you have a service-oriented business client, Trafft will not only upgrade your design toolkit, but if put to good use it will save your client significant amounts of time and money as well as reducing stress.

Trafft is a service business management software solution that allows businesses to manage multiple booking operations at multiple locations from a single platform.

The operations in question include:

• Managing appointments bookings for individual clients, groups, and events as well as scheduling on-site meetings or virtual meetings using Zoom.
• Sending clients notifications and reminders and accepting payments from them online using Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, or Authorize.net .

Other Trafft features include:

• managing special coupons or other service extras.
• using Google Calendar, Google Meet, and Outlook Calendar Sync as aids to tracking appointment and event schedules

Click on the banner to learn more about what Trafft could do to help you or your client’s business.

3. wpDataTables – The Best Tables & Charts WordPress Table Plugin

Adding wpDataTables to your design toolbox would definitely be a major upgrade. wpDataTables is the best WordPress tables plugin for the money, and with it you can with relative ease create charts and tables you’ve been hesitant to try building up to now.

66,000+ companies and individuals working with various types of complex data have already done so to create:

• tables/charts that are informative, responsive, and easily maintainable,
• tables/charts in minutes, even when processing huge amounts of complex data is required,
• tables or charts from a variety of data sources and formats.

Using wpDataTables’ –

• 4 chart-building engines,
• filtering and sorting tools,
• features that enable users to edit their own entries,
• conditional formatting to highlight/color-code key data.

Click on the banner to find out more about this powerful plugin and what it would add to your design toolbox.

4. Pixpa – Easy & affordable website builder for designers

Pixpa’s 4.8/5 star rating makes it the top-rated website builder on both Capterra and Trustpilot. This easy website builder’s high rating is undoubtedly based on –

• its 150+ customizable templates, drag and drop editor, portfolio, store, and blog platforms,
• its SEO and marketing tools and responsive design
• affordable plans that start at under $5/month.

Pixpa’s excellent customer support should also be noted.

5. Amelia – Appointments & Events WordPress Booking Plugin

The Amelia appointments & events WordPress booking plugin can serve as another powerful enhancement to your toolbox, especially when one or more of your clients is a   service-oriented business, like beauty, healthcare, fitness, consulting, training, and similar enterprises.

• Amelia automates and flawlessly manages multiple appointment bookings operations at multiple locations.
• Group and event bookings, packages bookings, and ticket sales are effectively managed by Amelia.
• Amelia supports WooCommerce, Email, SMS, and various online payment apps.

6. Uncode – Creative & WooCommerce WordPress Theme

The Uncode creative WordPress theme is a top seller (100,000+ sales) and is continually updated and loaded with features that include:

• 70+ professionally crafted mix-and-match pre-made designs.
• an advanced drag and drop product builder, shop layouts, cart and checkout, quick-view, and other eCommerce features.
• the Wireframes plugin with 550+ section templates that can be combined to create individual pages or entire websites.

Uncode would make a nice enhancement to your design toolkit.

7. Mobirise – Website Building Software

Mobirise is a free offline website building software app that is especially tailored to create small/medium websites, landing pages, and simple web stores.

• Mobirise is free for both personal and commercial use.
• 7600+ beautiful website blocks, templates, and themes are included to help you get a project underway and carry it through to completion.
• Mobirise features an extremely intuitive interface and is Mobile/Google-friendly.
• You have complete control over your websites and can host them anywhere.

8. Slider Revolution – not just a WordPress slider plugin

Slider Revolution is a nice little secret weapon you can add to your toolbox for use in creating stunning and responsive WordPress sliders, visuals, and web pages.

The Slider Revolution WordPress slider plugin can do all of these with its –

• cutting edge animation effects – that require zero coding to incorporate.
• innovative features that push the envelope of web design possibilities.
• 250+ dazzling website section and slider templates.

9. WoodMart – WooCommerce WordPress Theme

You can’t order furniture from WoodMart’s website even though you might be tempted to do so. That’s because Woodmart has features you won’t find in most eCommerce-oriented themes, which is why it is ThemeForest’s most highly regarded eCommerce theme.

Key features include –

• product page display options that include filtering by brand, color, price, size, etc.
• 80+ premade websites, 15 special pages, and 400+ templates you can also use for quick prototyping.

10. Getillustrations Web and app illustrations bundle

Illustrations in UI are here to stay, and that’s a good thing. Illustrations make innovation and creativity virtually limitless, and even though the popularity of certain styles could vary over time you have ready access to 14,000+ ready-to-use commercial illustrations.

• You will always be able to find illustrations you need.
• Once you download them you can use them forever.
• Commercial licenses are included.

Take advantage of a 30% discount using coupon code: ULTIMATE30.

11. Blocksy – Best Free Ecommerce WordPress Theme

Why would you want to add Blocksy to your design toolbox? Is it simply because it’s the best free eCommerce WordPress theme? Or is it because:

• It is faster than most similar WordPress themes.
• It is loaded with cutting-edge features.
• It has easy and fast drag and drop Header and Footer builder.
• Most speed testing tools rank Blocksy at the top.

Blocksy has Shortcuts Bar Extension available for easy access to the most important sections of your website.

12. Total WordPress Theme

Total is an easy to work with WordPress theme that features a custom extended version of the WPBakery page builder plus 90+ ready to use templates and 45+ quick import demos to get your projects underway in addition to:

• flexibility enhancing color options, custom fonts, WooCommerce integration, and full Elementor support including custom widgets.
• Beginners have no problem using Total. More experienced designers will tell you that this popular WordPress theme offers everything they need.

13. The Essential Grid WordPress plugin

A gallery-enhancing tool may be just the thing to add to your designer toolbox. When a website’s grid design is nothing special the same may hold true for its gallery as well. When that’s the case it’s time to put Essential Grid’s jaw-dropping advanced features to work to portray your work in the best possible light thanks to this tool’s –

• 50+ impressive, customizable grid templates.
• Stunning grid layout options.
• Social media feeds.

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A multitude of tools and resources are available that designers can add to their design toolboxes to stay current with web design trends. If you need a special design tool to create a mockup, a full-blown website, add key functionality. Or, just to give you some design ideas and inspiration. WordPress is packed with tools and resources you could acquire to upgrade your web design skills.

Creating a stunning website is not always easy. But having the right design tools and resources at your fingertips can help you work more efficiently. You can complete your projects on schedule. You can meet or exceed your clients’ expectations.

We have assembled this collection of 13 top tools and resources for designer and agencies for 2023 to help you do exactly that.