It can be overwhelming to decide among a myriad of products and services online. Therefore, I have put together a list of my favorite web design and development resources, many of which have been extremely helpful in my web design and development journey. Hopefully, this list can be a useful resource for other budding web designers and/or developers. Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links.
WordPress Theme
- Genesis Framework is a popular framework by StudioPress for development WordPress sites. It comes with SEO optimized code and airtight security features.
Site Development
- Local by Flywheel is my favorite local WordPress development tool. It is free and it makes setting up local WordPress installs a breeze. You can manage multiple local installs from a single dashboard, and save them as blueprints for later use.
- All-in-One WP Migration is the best migration plugin I have ever used. It is smart enough to detect the site’s url and make changes accordingly.
- Resizemybrowser is a simple browser window resize app for Web designers and developers. It’s a must have for responsive web development.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Yoast SEO Academy offers free and premium training on SEO as well as how to best utilize its popular SEO plugin.
- Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO is a free resource that provides comprehensive information on Search Engine Optimization.
- Google SEO starter guide is a free resource on Search Engine Optimization put together by Google.
- SEO Resource list of the SEO Ace has a great list of SEO blogs you can follow.
Web Hosting
- WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting with good customer support. You can get three months free on annual plans. When you sign up for a hosting plan with WP Engine, you’ll also gain access to several premium Genesis child themes for free.
- Kinsta is another terrific managed WordPress hosting with excellent customer support.
Domain
- Namecheap is a domain registrar with good customer support; they don’t bombard you with up-sells.
Technical Training & Education
- Carrie Dils is an excellent resource on the Genesis Framework and WordPress. Her tutorials on Linkein Learning and her blog have made me a better WordPress developer.
- Bill Erickson is a WordPress developer who writes extensively about Genesis, Gutenberg editor, and WordPress development in general. His blog has been a valuable resource in my web design and development work.
- The Net Ninja is a terrific resource for learning web development for free.
- WP Beginner is a beginner’s guide for novice WordPress developers.
- Learn to Code HTML & CSS covers a variety of web design and development topics from beginning to advanced levels. The explanations are clear and the site is highly organized.
- Code Academy offers free online courses that teach you the basics of a number of programming languages.