Improving the look and performance of an ecommerce site doesn’t have to cost money. Here is a list of new web tools for color, code, search engine optimization, user interface, and more. All of these tools are free, though some also offer premium versions.
Free Web Tools
Pantone Color of the Year 2022 is Very Peri (PANTONE 17-3938). Each year, experts at the Pantone Color Institute comb the world for new color influences. Veri Peri has blue and violet-red, reflecting gratitude and a unique perspective on the future.
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Gradientos lets you quickly test how different gradients look on common user-interface elements.
Protodeo lets you quickly build a scrolling 3D-video website to display an app mockup. Upload your images, and select from up to four video interaction styles: Apple-style scroll, hotspots, slider, or static. Get a Bootstrap template with video and mockups in under 24 hours.
metaSEO, a tool for beginners, generates meta tags to improve organic search rankings.
Monad is a tool to share short code snippets from your favorite code resources.
Doodle Icons, from Khushmeen Sidhu, is a set of 400-plus hand-drawn icons across 15 categories. The icons are free, with no attribution required. The icon set follows a handy collection of Sidhu’s free Illustrations from last year.
API Diff helps you check changes within two versions of an API. Drag-and-drop or add URLs of the two files, and see the modifications
GrowthBook is an open-source platform that helps you release code better and measure the impact with your data. The self-hosted version is free. The cloud version is free for the first five seats, then $20 per month for each additional seat.
Promoshot.io is a quick way to showcase your product. Choose a template, upload your image, and download your promotional content for free.
Snappify is a tool to create, store, and share code snippets. Use the code editor to add multiple windows to describe differences in code snippets. Place explanations and arrow elements next to snippets for annotations. Add your own avatar and specify a user name for Twitter, GitHub, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Mozaik provides free, ready-to-use Webflow components to build websites easily. Copy and paste components from the browser straight into your Webflow projects. Search the library by category or keyword to find what you need.
Straw.Page is a straightforward drag-and-drop builder to create websites from your phone. Build landing pages, stores, and more.
UI Generator lets you mock up user interfaces for landing pages, prototypes, presentations, and blog posts.
Placy is a simple placeholder generator. Enter dimensions, background color, and text style, and then download the image as a PNG, JPG, or SVG.
Appy Pie NFT Maker lets you design your own non-fungible tokens without coding. Create NFT graphics with the template-based art creator.
Web Almanac 2021 is an annual report on the state of the web, backed by data and experts. The 2021 edition covers page content and user experience design, publishing, and distribution.