You have hired a web-designer and already approved the account on his computer. Powerful and expensive, of course, because this is exactly what you need to work with all kinds of photoshops. Partly it is true, but not always.

Now besides the great Adobe Photoshop, there are many tools with the help of which it is possible to do quickly and effectively the projects of animated sites, designs of mobile applications, prototypes of interfaces, and so on. Without buying a workstation at the server price.

Program for interface development Adobe XD 

What review of web design tools will do without Adobe products? And in this case, despite the wealth of the company's product range, the choice is obvious - Adobe Experience Design (Adobe XD).

Support for vector graphics and the ability to quickly create visual layouts of web resources, on the basis of which later the code for the site will be written, make Adobe XD indispensable for UX / UI designers. Ready-made scripts for devices with different screen resolutions allow to display working prototypes correctly on any mobile devices.

The Repeat Grid tool can create grids of similar design elements. The ecosystem of linked symbols keeps the elements connected even if they are located in different documents. So that changes in the original file are translated to all "children". These and many other options save the designer hours of monotonous work.

Despite its relatively young age, Adobe XD has already grown into a large number of libraries, training materials and mockups (just try free flyer mockups). So it is possible to ascertain occurrence of very serious competitor at habitual to many experts Sketch and InVision. The application is intended for work in the environment of operating systems Windows/macOS.

WYSIWYG editor of animated sites Tumult Hype

Animated and interactive HTML5 content can be conveniently created using the Tumult Hype visual editor. And no Flash!

It's hard to say whether there are still web designers who believe in the advantages of Flash in remote villages, but all progressive humanity has long chosen HTML5. And modern software environments quite allow you to create with its help sites with any level of interactivity and rich animation. One of such means is Hype from Tumult. Easy to learn, this tool allows you to develop complex projects, without having to deal directly with programming.

Keyframe-based animation is combined with the ability to track user actions, which allows you to create complex interactive scenarios for interaction with the site. Support for Bezier curves ensures smooth motion, and the easy integration of video (as well as animated GIF and PNG) and audio greatly enhances the possibilities of realizing a creative idea.

The ready-made Hype project turns into optimal HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript-based code that runs correctly in all current browsers, including IE versions 6 and above. The built-in layout system provides content playback on any screen, including mobile platforms.

We can say that Hype is especially good at implementing all kinds of advertising projects. It is also due to the fact that the program supports integration with common advertising systems through Export Script plugins.

One should only consider that this application is for macOS.

Cloud editor for Figma web design

The development of interfaces of programs, websites and mobile applications is not so often the work of one person. Much more often such tasks are solved as a part of a working group, which has to interact somehow. A successful example of a tool just for such joint work is Figma.

In terms of functionality Figma can be compared with the widely known Sketch, but the highlight here is in the multi-user editing mode and the possibility of remote storage of projects and component libraries.

Figma is a kind of Google Documents, but only for web designers. The service itself supports a sequence of versions, has tools for commenting and allows you to do without local storage of any materials.

There is no need to record video for project presentation. The customer may follow the link received from you and see the prototype the way you see it. Right during the conference call.

Figma has a high speed of work in the browser mode, but if necessary, the application can be installed locally. There are versions for Windows and MacOS. When working offline, the project is synchronized after you restore your Internet connection.