Have you been on the lookout for web design resources only to find that, for every promising tool or resource you come across, there are a dozen or more lookalikes? It’s hard to tell one from the other in order to determine which one might be the best suited to fit your needs.
We published this list to offer you more than a little help. We did not include the big players. They have more than enough exposure already.
Instead, we decided to present this collection of little gems. 15 top-of-the-line free and premium web design resources and tools you may not have heard all that much about. They consist of:
- Tools for building websites and pages that include an intriguing free AI website builder along with several top-quality free and premium WordPress themes.
- Tools for building ecommerce stores. We’ve included a first-class Shopify theme in this one. Along with several top selling themes that have been developed specifically for WooCommerce applications.
- Tools for adding animations & special effects to help you jazz up each and every run-of-the-mill website you own or have access to.
- Tools that add popular website functionalities. The two examples featured here are appointment bookings management and complex data management.
- Resources for visually improving your website. Specifically, a resource for illustrations and icons and a font identifier.
At least 50% of the following web design tools and resources that we picked are free to use:
- WpDataTables
- Amelia
- LayerSlider
- Uncode
- Mobirise AI
- WhatFontis
- Essential Grid
- Blocksy
- Slider Revolution
- XStore
- Woodmart
- Hongo Shopify
- Litho
- GetIllustrations
What characteristics do these Web Design Tools & Resources share?
- Most are either free or have a free version.
- They are best-in-their-class, both aesthetically and functionally.
- They are designed to convert “simply ok” web pages with “WOW” web pages.
1. Trafft – White Label Booking Software Solution
In summary: Your #1 Booking Software Solution with a White Label option.
This video shows one of Trafft’s most popular usage. Click on it to explore it.
Trafft accepts appointment requests, sends reminders, and accepts payments online.
Trafft’s White Label Option is a top feature you can use when working with your clients. The White Label Option gives you the opportunity to replace Trafft’s name and branding with your own and reap the subsequent rewards.
As a Trafft user, you’ll learn to love the ease of navigation and depth of customization you’ll encounter in addition to the prebuilt website library. In addition, you can schedule virtual meetings with your clientele using Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom.
The Trafft Barbershop pre-built website illustrates a good layout for managing bookings for a range of different services.
The plugin’s grade: 5 stars on Capterra, 4.7 (Excellent) on Trustpilot.
Client experience: “Trafft Stood out. There were a lot of features provided with their basic offering that others weren’t offering…… The features that my specific plan comes with really suited my needs and the purchase didn’t break the bank. I enjoy supporting active developments and seeing products come to their maximum potential. Trafft, was already doing well but from the looks of it, they’re bound to be the best booking system hands down.”
Self-support materials: the Support Manual, YouTube videos, and social networks.
2. wpDataTables – Most Powerful WordPress Tables & Charts Plugin
In summary: WpDataTables would be your best tool for building tables and charts when working with data from diverse sources .
This video shows one of wpDataTable’s most popular usage. Click on it to explore it.
wpDataTables is noted for its ability to help its users create responsive and informative tables/charts under challenging circumstances. Its top feature, Multiple Database Connections, allows you to create tables capable of establishing independent connections to MySQL, MS SQL, or PostgreSQL databases. Each table becomes a virtual data hub that can seamlessly integrate data from disparate sources. Any table you create with wpDataTables becomes a portal to a network of diverse data resources.
There are several additional advantages this plugin gives you. Its intuitive user interface will enable you to streamline your data management tasks to make them appear much less complex, and you will be able to handle complex data structures with finesse with the separate database connections, 4 chart building engines, single cell shortcodes, and more.
Templates can sometimes be helpful. wpDataTables’ Top Mutual Funds responsive and sortable template can easily be customized and applied to range of different uses.
The plugins’ grade: 4.5 / 5 on WordPress.org
Client experience: “This plugin is very useful and has saved me countless hours. The support is top-notch as well. Literally one of the most impressive plugins that I use.”
Self-support materials: Support Manual, YouTube videos, Facebook Community
3.Amelia – Booking Solution for Appointments and Events
In summary: Amelia is an ideal choice if you are looking for a premium automated booking solution.
This video shows one of Amelia’s most popular usage. Click on it to explore it.
Amelia’s standout feature is its Multilingual Notifications System. It will keep you current on the status of your appointments and/or events and it will also serve you well by fostering effective communication between your clients and your employees.
Simply add Amelia’s features to your company’s website, and your clients can make or cancel appointments, receive reminders, and make payments online 24/7.
You can use one of Amelia’s templates to help you customize your website and make booking a pleasant experience for your clients as well as attract new ones. Life Coach is a popular, frequently used, and easy to customize template.
You will appreciate Amelia’s user-friendly design, transparent pricing, ease of navigation and the depth of customization options it offers, as well as the true value of Amelia’s transparent pricing.
The plugin’s grade: 4.8 / 5 on Capterra
Client experience: “Overall we are very pleased with the Reservation system we have developed around WP Amelia with our custom add-on plugins and web hooks to drive the last-mile functionality we needed unique to our service offerings”
Self-support materials: the Support Manual, the Discord Group, and YouTube videos.
4. LayerSlider – The Best WordPress Slider Plugin
In summary: LayerSlider is your go-to solution for making richly animated sliders, popups, and other types of engaging website content.
This video shows one of LayerSlider’s most popular usage. Click on it to explore it.
The biggest advantage LayerSlider gives you is you can use it on any website to create richly animated sliders, popups, hero scenes, and even full websites. The functionality LayerSlider puts into play to seamlessly integrate stunning animations and various special effects into a website is its most important feature.
You will also discover advanced features such as a highly customizable interface and seamless integration with online services through the Project Editor. It will make you feel right at home to design and create as the mood strikes you while letting LayerSlider do the rest for you under the hood.
LayerSlider’s pre-made, downloadable, and visually stunning professional templates give you yet another advantage, as you can easily customize them using your own content and save time in the process. The Nature Slider Pack template’s engaging special effects might give you some good ideas for building your own landing page using animated blocks.
Client experience: “Thank you guys! LayerSlider is by far the best plugin for creating visual content.”
Self-support materials: Email, Support Ticket System, and built-in help in the Project Editor.
5. Uncode – Multipurpose WooCommerce WordPress Theme
In summary: With Uncode, you can create stunning WooCommerce websites while never having to give a thought about having to code.
This video shows one of Uncode’s most popular template. Click on it to explore it.
Ask users what Uncode’s top feature is, and without exception they will point to the theme’s WooCommerce demo library. Scan through the demos and you’ll discover what the reason is behind their choice. It’s the exceptional attention to detail and inspirational qualities that can be found in each and every one.
Is there an absolute favorite demo? That might be difficult to determine. It would depend on the needs of the individual Uncode user. The Portfolio Essential demo is one of the five most widely used and is certainly different than most. What might you do with it?
As an Uncode user, you will quickly become aware of the substantial level of customization available to you along with the value the demos and wireframes can provide, not to forget the first-class customer support.
The theme’s grade: 4.89/ 5
Client experience: “I’ve used many themes so far, but Uncode beats all of them IMHO and the new update is mind-blowing! You can use it to create any kind of design, any kind of site. It’s a wonderful solid theme with tons of options and settings. I’m very happy with that! A big thank you!”
Self-support materials: Support manual, YouTube videos, Facebook Group
6. Mobirise AI Free Website Builder
In summary: An easy and fun to use free AI-powered website builder you can use to build a page, small website, or blog.
This video shows one of Mobirise AI’s most popular usage. Click on it to explore it.
The Mobirise AI Website Builder will help you create professional-looking websites effortlessly by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. You do have to tell the AI builder what your website is about and what you want it to be able to do. Having done that, this builder’s top feature is its ability to create a page or a small website from a single prompt.
You will quickly discover that, through the use of AI, you can accomplish quite a lot with a minimal amount of effort. You will probably have to make some additions or adjustments to get precisely what you have in mind, but AI still does the bulk of the work.
Using Mobirise AI’s extensive template library can also be useful when getting a project underway. Rather than submitting an initial list of requirements you can simply focus on customizing a template, again through the use of prompts.
Note the Mobirise AI Builder’s ability to respond to prompts typed in any language. It will also download your new website as a ZIP file, plus you can edit content without any need for code.
Self-support materials: Support manual, YouTube Videos, and the User Forum.
7. WhatFontis – Fast, Free and Accurate Font Identifier
In summary: With WhatFontis, you have at your fingertips the most consistently accurate font identifier on the market.
This video shows one of WhatFontis’ most popular usage. Click on it to explore it.
WhatFontis’ top feature is simply this. This font identifier does what you expect it to do, it does it very well, and it does it better than anyone else.
WhatFontis correctly identifies font images that have been submitted to it with an accuracy of 90+%, regardless of whether the font is free or commercially licensed. Hits and misses can generally be attributed to submittals of poor-quality images. Images can be uploaded as a line of text ( the preferred method), however for cursive font identification the individual letters must be separated prior to submittal.
WhatFontis has a database of 990K+ free and commercially licensed fonts (nearly 5 times greater than the database size of its nearest competitor).
Its Artificial Intelligence-powered search engine goes to work to provide a quick answer to your query.
WhatFontis will also give you 60 close matches in addition to the identified font and will let you know where you can download a free font or can purchase a licensed font.
Other features include Search by Price, Fonts from Multiple Vendors, and Image Editor to Adjust Brightness.
Self-support materials: The Font Identifier Forum
Start identifying fonts for free
8. Essential Grid – Responsive WordPress Gallery Plugin
In summary: If you have a gallery design in mind you can create it with the help of Essential Grid.
This video shows one of Essential Grid’s most popular usage. Click on it to explore it.
Essential Grid’s top feature is unsurprisingly its library of 50+ unique grid skins, because that is what this amazing gallery-building plugin is all about.
Take time to look them over and chances are you’ll come across one or more grid formats you never knew existed; and you will be glad that they do.
The Viascheslav Fetisov Behance Portfolio for WordPress grid combines a seemingly straightforward layout with a hover and click effect that offers a completely different take on what a gallery layout might look like.
You will find out how much of a time saver Essential Grid is in no time at all, how effective it is in helping you organize your content streams, and how it excels in any website project you may have that requires a sortable/filterable/searchable grid listing of items.
The Theme’s grade: 4.7/ 5 on Trustpilot
Client experience: “Rashid understood exactly what I was asking and gave me everything I needed including a screen cast video. Fast and excellent support, thank you.
Awesome product and their support is second to none!”
Self-support materials: Support Manual &YouTube Videos
9. Blocksy – Free WordPress Theme
In summary: Blocksy is a free, fast WordPress theme that was built with the latest web technologies.
This video shows one of Blocksy’s most popular template. Click on it to explore it.
Ask Blocksy users what its top feature is, they will think about it, and come up with a list. You probably will too once you start using this theme. It might be Blocksy’s White Label module, Blocksy’s Advanced WooCommerce integration capability, or maybe the Custom Blocks Module. You would certainly like the way Blocksy supports Custom Post Types and Dynamic Data, and most certainly appreciate that Blocksy is free!
Take your pick. In any event, you’ll find Blocksy fast, simple to use, and features granular controls that are designed to give you complete control over various aspects of your design right up to the finished product.
Blocksy’s stunning demos make great, time-saving website building aids. The Renovation starter site demo focuses on increasing your website’s conversions with a great layout. It is one of the 5 most commonly used, and is guaranteed to give your web building project a head start.
The Theme’s grade: 5/5 on WordPress.org
Client experience: “Exceptional theme backed by a world-class customer service team! 🌟 The responsiveness and helpfulness of the customer service make this the best WordPress theme I’ve ever come across. 🚀 Packed with an abundance of features, I highly recommend this theme.”
Self-support materials: Support manual documentation section, YouTube videos, and Facebook Group
10. Slider Revolution – Powerful Multipurpose WordPress Slider
In summary: You can use this versatile WordPress plugin to build responsive sliders, carousels, hero sections, and more.
This video shows one of Slider Revolution’s most popular usage.
Slider Revolution’s top feature is the functionality you can put into play to create stunning website content sections, home pages, highlight special products, and you can of course also use it to create dazzling sliders. You can create your own designs from scratch, borrow content from other sources, or both.
The Slider Revolution plugin was once limited to the creation of relatively simple sliders, but times have changed. Today, if you have this plugin in your design toolkit, you can:
- create home pages that are guaranteed to hold a viewer’s attention.
- create eye-catching portfolios that lead to contracts or sales.
- design jaw-dropping sections on any or every page of your website.
The Beyond the Void Parallax Hero template is simply captivating with its mouse-controlled parallax effect and offers an excellent example of what an engaging home or landing page could look like. Sprinkle a few examples like this among your websites and see what happens.
Slider Revolution is well tailored for creating WooCommerce sliders for web shops, and one-page portfolios for small agencies and individual web designers.
The Plugins’ grade: 4.65/5 on Trustpilot
Client experience: “Love the features and professional look we can create using slider revolution on our site. Highly recommend.”
Self-support materials: Support Manual and YouTube Videos
11. XStore – #1 WooCommerce WordPress Theme
In summary: With XStore you can build a high-converting online store that absolutely rocks.
This video shows one of XStore’s most popular template. Click on it to explore it.
XStore may be best known for its selection of pre-built online stores, but a relatively new feature has replaced it with a selection of Sales Booster Features as XStore’s top feature.
Each sales booster feature was selected to make shopping quicker, which in turn could help to boost a store’s conversion rate. They include Frequently Bought Together, a Free Shipping progress bar, Cross sells after “Add to Cart,” a sticky ad to cart bar, among others.
The easy-to-customize prebuilt online stores (demos) offer an excellent way to get a project off to a rapid start. XStore’s Elementor Book Store demo is one of the most widely used and can be put to a wide variety of uses once you substitute your own content.
The Theme’s grade: 4.87/5
Client experience: “By far this is the best WordPress theme I’ve ever purchased, and I’ve purchased a lot of themes, extremely customizable, Tons of premium options, and fantastic customer support, I can’t see why everyone doesn’t just buy this theme, it has everything and more you will need to design a beautiful custom website. Thank you so much, I will definitely purchase this theme for all my future websites that I build.”
Self-support materials: Support Manual, YouTube Videos
12. WoodMart – Popular WordPress WooCommerce Theme
In summary: WoodMart is your best choice of a WooCommerce theme for creating niche ecommerce websites.
This video shows one of WoodMart’s most popular template. Click on it to explore it.
WoodMart’s top feature is the realism it embeds in its layouts, a realism that is easily transferrable to WoodMart-built websites, and will make their visitors want to start shopping, – right away!
Using WoodMart to build a store will not take long once you have your content in place. Once that has been done you can wait for visitors to come and shop. That should not take long either. .
There’s much more to like about WoodMart, including:
- the ease in layout customizing.
- “Frequently Bought Together”, “Dynamic Discounts” and other customer-centric design elements.
- the Theme Settings’ Search capability and other performance optimization features.
Are you a marketer? If so, you’ll find the social integrations feature useful. Are you a developer? WoodMart’s White Label option could definitely be your cup of tea.
Picking out the most popular demo can be a challenge since each one enjoys its full share of usage. WoodMart’s Demo Books is quite amazing, while it is a “must have” for a book shop website, it can be easily customized to fit almost any product line.
The Theme’s grade: 4.93/5
Client experience: “Best Template for Customizing. Great and fast Support. Thanks to the Developer! Great Work!”
Self-support materials: The Support Manual and YouTube videos
13. Hongo – Multipurpose Shopify Theme
In summary: Hongois a creative, conversion optimized Shopify themefor creating Shopify online stores, websites, and blogs.
This video shows one of Hongo’s most popular template. Click on it to explore it.
Hongo’s design quality is easily its most outstanding feature. The reason is simple. That design quality will be passed on to the Shopify-type websites you create which will in turn help to drive sales. An attendant benefit is the money you will save by using Hongo’s custom eCommerce features rather than Shopify apps.
You’ll enjoy browsing through and picking from Hongo’s 19 (with more on the way) carefully crafted demo stores. They address the more popular eCommerce niches and are supplemented with 150+ sections, and 100+ pre-built pages to help you along.
Although Hongo was developed with the latest design trends in mind it is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate. Ease of navigation tends to encourage users to stick around and therefore increase the chances of their making a purchase.
Give Hongo’s Shoes demo a look. Shoes may not be the most exciting example for a starter site, but the layout most certainly lends itself to multiple product or service niches. Demos can also be mixed and matched.
The Theme’s grade: 4.87/5
Client experience: “Awesome Support, also code sanity maintained and easy to understand in order to customize!!”
Self-support materials: Support Manual, YouTube Videos, and 150+ online articles
14. Litho Elementor WordPress Theme
In summary: If you want a creative, responsive, and highly customizable theme, this multi-purpose Elementor WordPress theme is for you.
This video shows one of Litho’s most popular template. Click on it to explore it.
Litho is WooCommerce ready. Just add the WooCommerce plugin and you are good to go to create a brand-new online store and can start selling your products or services right away. This theme’s top feature is its close tie with Elementor that gives it a truly remarkable assortment of page building options and capabilities.
You will have no trouble finding effective use of Litho’s website-building capabilities. You can customize most of your page items using Elementor-like elements including mega menu options, or you can put Litho’s demos to effective use. The demos can be imported individually or en masse and mixed and matched if you would like to do so.
Litho’s Home Gym Fitness Center demo is one of its most popular because of its straightforward layout and special effects that can be put to use for just about any purpose or niche you choose!
Litho effectively serves a range of user types that includes everything from freelancers and artists, to shop owners and digital agencies.
The Theme’s grade: 4.94/5
Client experience: “You don’t need a web developer to use this theme. Simple and easy to integrate and build the whole website.”
Self-support materials: Support manual, YouTube videos, and the Litho support portal.
15. GetIllustrations – Comprehensive Stock Illustrations Library
In summary: GetIllustrations is your #1 resource for top quality vector illustrations that are noted for their attention to detail.
Click anywhere on the video to see this icon pack live
Do you need a creative illustration or two (or more) to spice up a website? GetIllustrations has more than 23,000 of them. They are nicely arranged in 43 categories that range from Animals to Tools with just about everything else you can think of in between.
The illustrations styles range from 3D, Abstract, and Colorful, to Flat, Gradient and Isometric. Each vector illustration includes the original vector design files and is fully editable, so you can customize it to fit your brand colors or needs. Whichever category/categories you select you’ll find the illustrations spot-on as far as carrying a particular message.
Introducing the ilcons Collection – Chapter 1-8
Standing out among GetIllustrations’ offerings is their flagship ilcons collection – a curated set of over 1,500 icons and spot illustrations. Designed with adaptability in mind, these assets seamlessly integrate with any brand’s visual identity, ensuring a cohesive and professional aesthetic across your digital platforms. These are the new trends, the missing link between icons and illustrations.
Once you purchase an illustration it comes with a license for commercial and personal use and is yours to keep forever. If you cannot find an illustration that you can readily put to use, contact GetIllustrations for a quote on a custom design. You will receive a response within 24 hours.
Self-support materials: check out RamyWafaa on X (Twitter) by reaching out to @RamyWafaa
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Our goal was to create a list of lesser-known web design resources and tools of top quality you could use to deliver:
- website projects that will impress their visitors with their aesthetically superior design and visuals.
- Ecommerce store features that have been carefully designed to convert visitors into clients.
- website functionalities that are currently in high demand, specifically booking and complex data management functionalities.
We believe that has been accomplished.
We have also included key information to help you make an informed decision as whether to try or buy a tool or resource or to skip it. Among this listing of website resources and tools you will find:
- dynamic animation tools designed to help your website charm its visitors into making purchases and are fun to work with.
- several excellent free and premium WordPress themes.
- tools for building ecommerce stores, including a Shopify theme and a selection of WooCommerce-oriented themes.
- two appointment booking plugins that are easy to use and will do an excellent job. And another plugin that makes managing complex data less stressful.
- a promising free AI page and website builder.
Most of these web design resources and tools are either free or have a free version. They are of the highest quality, and several can help you turn a bland or boring website or page into one that demands attention.