In the world of front-end development, there is an incredible amount of tools for developers. But only a few of them will bring you benefits and help you to work. I've tried many of them, but so far I've stuck with these nine.
Before you want to add another tool to your toolbox think about these features:
- Complexity - use simple tools and learn shortcuts
- Security - make the login process secure (use MFA ), the community has to trust this tool
- Cost - should not ruin your business and the investment should return
- Efficiency - make sure it's the right tool for your work
1. Git
The version control system is a must-have, if you are working on a project either as part of the team or just on your own it can save you a lot of problems with reverting your changes to the codebase.
Git helps me track all my changes and thus have control over my project code history.
Git is my top choice I don't even start a project without it.
2. Postman
Another tool I can live without is Postman, it's a tool to test, design, and document your APIs.
It allows you to create API collections for your API calls. Each collection can create subfolders and multiple requests.
This helps me in organizing my APIs. You can also share and download other APIs into your collection
3. Visual Studio Code
It's a lightning-fast source code editor. It comes with support for all types of languages, VS Code helps you be productive with syntax highlighting, bracket-matching, auto-indentation, box-selection, snippets, and more.
The community is very active and it provides thousands of different extensions. You can also use the online alternative the web editor can’t run code or language servers.
4. Chrome Developer Tools
Chrome DevTools is a set of web developer tools built directly into the Google Chrome browser. DevTools can help you edit pages on-the-fly and diagnose problems quickly, which ultimately helps you build better websites, faster.
5. StackBlits
Online code editor with the possibility to code like IDE, install packages, and build your code.
Additionally, you can start a new project by connecting a GitHub repository or uploading a project from your computer.
6. Gitlab
This is mostly used to store my projects using GIT, with the ability to run CI/CD pipelines.
I typically use it to push/pull projects from my local environment to the client-server
7. GitHub CoPilot
It's a cloud-based AI tool for developers to speed up, it auto-generates complex code structures for you, autocompletes code snippets, and suggests comments.
GitHub Copilot is powered by the OpenAI Codex, an artificial intelligence model created by OpenAI which is an artificial intelligence research laboratory
8. Figma
The collaborative design tool perfectly suits my needs whether working on my own stuff ( working on prototypes, wireframes, and designs as well ) or with the team.
Figma's dictionary offers a large set of ready-to-use design sets, icons, and illustrations so if you know a pure designer this is a great way how to quickly mock project design and collaborate with a client or team members
9. ClickUp
Do you know ClickUp?
It's a must-have tool for every freelancer and digital nomad. It's a tool for everything you can imagine:
- Do you need task management?
- Kanban board?
- Create documents?
- See the project's timeline?
- Create multiple workspaces dedicated to the clients?
- Track your time spend on tasks?
No problem there..... with ClickUp I don't need any other tool to manage my work and time