Top Responsive Design Tools + Win Templates!
This post has been contributed by Julia Blake.
“Life is motion”, a poet once said. Today we can say that motion is life, especially for business. And since people use mobile devices more and more to get the latest news and info even when they are out of home, there’s no need to explain the importance of responsive design. Only those who go mobile – survive. And those who use mobile wisely – win!
Most web developers, designers and website builders today keep up with the times and offer cool responsive websites. And one of the biggest challenges for a business owner who needs a website – is to make the right choice.
Let’s take a look at the latest website building tools that offer responsive designs to their customers. Some of them already got the attention of masses and some just brand new. But they are definitely worth to take a closer look. Read the post till the end and take part in contest from one of these cool modern builders to get a nice prize!
Webflow
One of the most hyped of new website builders, Webflow offers its services since 2013. This handy drag-and-drop tool has a feature-loaded admin panel that allows you creating a website with no coding skills. You can build your website from scratch or choose from a range of templates in Webflow Marketplace (paid as well as free ones available).
All Webflow templates are already responsive and you can check out their look for all three major breakpoints including landscape and portrait mode for smartphone right within the admin panel. There you can adjust any element so it to look perfect on huge desktop screen or on a smaller smartphone one. Webflow also allows CSS code editing with the use of Bootstrap 3, but that’s only for paid accounts.
If you’re a novice designer or a person who never tried website building before, Webflow may seem a bit complicated for you. Another frustrating moment is that you can’t try or even see the dashboard without registration.
MotoCMS
Another website-building tool that appeared on a market some time ago. This year MotoCMS released its new version that offers responsive-out-of-the-shelf templates. For now the builder offers over 70 attention-grabbing responsive templates and this number grows. Within the admin panel you can check out the look of your website for all three major breakpoints. Smartphone landscape and portrait modes are also included. You can leave presets for screen sizes as they are or change them in Sizes & Values section.
It’s drag-and-drop editor has a great amount of widgets to customize your layout and website design any way you like. Unlike Webflow, MotoCMS admin panel doesn’t offer the possibility of code editing. All tweaking is possible in WYSIWYG mode. You can change the entire color scheme of a chosen template in one click with the use of an awesome Color Picker widget. Customize fonts, add and manage photos and videos in Media Library.
MotoCMS is one the most SEO-friendly builders. You can provide almost all major on-page optimization as well as image alt and title tags. And what’s pretty awesome is that you can check out the admin panel without registration and try any template for free for 7 days.
Simbla
Nice and fresh website builder that offers website creation and customization. Like most other tools, Simbla is based on Bootstrap framework what allows making responsive websites that will look great on any device. Unfortunately, there’s no smartphone landscape mode. To see how a website will look on various screens go to Preview mode that opens in a new tab. It’s a bit annoying as you can’t see your changes immediately in one click.
Editing is available in two modes: Basic and Pro. Actually, the main difference between the two modes is that in pro you will see the frames of each container. Editing is simple but there are too many clicks to go before you start editing one or another element. In Simbla you have to customize each element separately: changes won’t be applied to other elements across the entire template.
Simbla offers a range of pricing plans with a different set of options within each one. Free plan offers 300 MB storage as well as bandwidth, but a Simbla logo will be tied to all your website pages. Other pricing plans provide your own domain connection as well as more storage and bandwidth.
Froont
One of the newest website building tools that allows creating responsive websites from scratch or with the use of pre-made templates (actually you can “twin” someone’s template). At first glance it’s admin panel seems pretty similar to that of Webflow. However, after a few minutes of tweaking the difference is striking. Its admin panel is a bit messy and inconvenient. Widgets like row, header, container etc. are hidden in a sliding sidebar. It’s good, because it leaves more space to the layout, but it requires you to perform excessive actions to get each widget.
The main frustration for me is auto-backups. While it can be nandy as you don’t have to worry about saving your versions every minute, it has no “Back” button. The only thing you can do – is restoring one of the automatically saved revisions.
Unlike other builders, Froont offers more screen versions: aside of traditional desktop, tablet and smartphone, you can see how your website looks on tablet and smartphone landscape modes. You just need to hover the upper panel above the template what is not too comfy as well. With Froont you can edit your website in basic or expert mode what makes it handy for beginners and advanced users.
DudaOne
One of the newest website building platforms for creating responsive pages right in your browser. DudaOne has one of the most versatile registration offers and pricing plans. You can start building your website (customizing it from a ready-made template) without any registration or payments. Just remember that it’s a 30-day free trial and you will need to register if you wish to save your website.
DudaOne offers a nice range of premade templates. You can choose one based on its topic or color scheme. The admin panel is similar to other, but is far more simplified what will be great for novice designers. You can change text styles, navigation settings, buttons design and color scheme of the website. You can add various elements to your webpage using widgets. In many ways it is similar to MotoCMS admin panel.
However, responsive design customization is a bit tricky on DudaOne. All changes you apply to an element in tablet mode will also affect the desktop. Some elements cannot be customized if you’re not upgraded to paid plan. Smartphone customization is only available in portrait mode.
All these responsive tools are cool and each one has its goodies to offer. You need just check out which one of them is right just for you! And today you have a nice chance to make a choice.
Win Responsive Templates from MotoCMS!
MotoCMS team celebrates the release of its new product. It’s a fully rebuilt admin panel with outstanding opportunities for small businesses to get a really cool-looking and responsive out-of-the-box website. The team invites you to share this moment with it and enter a contest to win an awesome prize.
During the whole week everyone who leaves a comment to this post, gets a chance to win one of cool MotoCMS 3 templates for free! There will be two winners chosen randomly from the list of all commenters. You can check out templates here: MotoCMS website templates, and even start your 7-day free trial.
Leave your comments below for your change to win. The winners will be announced in a week, contacted by email.
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Julia Blake is an experienced writer interested in web design and development, usability, trends, technology and photography. In her free, she is learning her way around social media marketing, which is no less interesting than writing. F0llow her on Twitter.
