10 Best Free Open Source Web Design Software in 2022

For any business to rule the digital world, it needs to work upon three of its factors i.e appearance, accessibility, and visibility. Amongst the key factors for establishing an online presence, the presentation, and format of your website plays the most crucial role. A well-planned design of your website can assist you to sustain well amongst your competitors online.

Different business types require different strategies for a website design depending upon the type of products and services associated with them. Although every website that is easily navigable and yet professional attracts a significant amount of audience.

Web designing is a skill that requires multiple disciplines in order to build and maintain a website. It can be challenging for designers as there is no one size fits all strategy that can be followed to build a website. You can either hire the top web designing companies for a team that can design a comprehensive strategy for your business or you can select a design software that provides you a platform to build your website.

What is Web Design Software?

Web designing is the process of generating a website that includes layout, interface, and other graphic elements to make the webpage appealing to visitors. It uses different programs to achieve the desired look like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc. The designers work on the design of websites compatible with different devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and tablets.

Web design software allows designers to use different pre-defined and in-built tools and programs to create a responsive website for the desired audience.

Features of Web Design software

For every website, different features are required but some basic functionalities remain the same for all designs. The top web designing tools provide these features to deliver the ultimate results required by the business.

• Quality Content for the website: A customer who lands on the website seeks some sort of information. Business websites require high-quality images to convey the right set of information. This high-quality content on your website helps in improving your search engine rankings through optimization tools.
• Scope of your website: Before you start designing your website it is necessary to define your target audience. An analysis of the scope of your target customer base. Make sure that the content is well-formatted and organized for a smooth customer experience.
• Basic yet professional web design: An attractive layout yet clean and simple. It should maintain a balance between graphics and content. Contrast colors and fonts that are clearly readable. As appropriate images and spaces to break the text into sizable blocks.
• Secure mechanism: Any website that is used for business purposes and involves transactions online must be secured with safety protocols to ensure personal data and money is protected from any kind of hackers and viruses.
• Graphics and written content: The background of your website must be in line with the text and images. It should not interrupt the readability of text. While designing the text layout ensure that the aligned text follows a hierarchy. All the graphics must include alt tags.
• SEO: Optimizing your website can help you improve your rankings on search engines. Adding relevant keywords, links and attaching your social channels can enhance your website content. You can add optimization tools and resources to your website through extensions and get real-time analysis.
• Links and navigation: The interlinked web pages must be easily navigable with an easy mapping of content. These navigation bars should be easy to access and understand. External links if attached should be in sync with the color scheme of your web page.
• Compatible: The website should be compatible with different platforms, devices, and web browsers. More users are now switching to mobile phones and yet it is necessary for a website to adjust according to different versions and screen sizes of smart devices.
• Design: Landing page of every website should be easily downloadable. Different elements of the website should be aligned parallel to the text alignment with proper spacing. The home page should be attractive in a way to keep the user occupied. Every page linked to the home page should follow a similar scheme of layout and design.

Some of the additional features for a web design software can also include

• Easy addition of features by a simple drag and drop mechanism.
• Pre-existing generic templates for basic website designs.
• An element library that contains all the components such as tables, graphs, and widgets.
• Highlight code using different colors, fonts, etc to refer easily when required.
• Allows auto completions of common functionalities and expressions, this can save a lot of time to prioritize other important tasks to be performed.
• Support external plugins and integration of other web design software for additional functions.
• Support its usage across different operating systems and devices.
• Work and edit simultaneously through multiple devices and users.
• Manage content such as blog posts, newsletters, and tools used for marketing content.
• Support multiple programming languages for backend (like Python, Java, C, etc) and for backend (HTML, JS, CSS, etc.

Importance of Web design Software

For any business to attract more customers, it is important to have a well-designed website that seeks more traffic and conversions. Website traffic can grow a company’s profit exponentially as it has no restrictions like a physical business and an increased customer base.

Branding

If the website of your business is attractive and well designed it attracts customers towards your business. The software can add titles, keywords, enhance images, and form connections that help in improved ranking of your business.

Controlled process of designing

The best open source web design software allows its users to amend every little detail of your website. To alter features according to your business requirements helps keep your design more precise.

Maintain brand consistency

For any customer it is easy to remember a brand with the help of their logo, message patterns, image designs, or color scheme followed by them. Adding graphics and visuals to your website is easier when done with the help of design software. The software helps in building designs that can communicate with the customers.

Easily Navigable design

Users are always in hurry and hence seek information quickly on the site they decide to visit. Navigation across different steps or pages should be self-explanatory and effortless. Using web design software you can provide simpler routes for users to attract more traffic.

Improved conversion rate

The website which has an incredible interface ultimately leads to more conversions. It also helps in boosting commitment with the end-users. This increases the business and revenue generation.

Budget-friendly

Using web design software can save you a lot of money as compared to hiring an agency for developing your website. It allows you to develop a professional and responsive site as it is created by a team of developers.

No prior knowledge

A simple interface of this software allows anyone to learn and build their website. It provides templates, drag and drop functions, and predefined codes for basic features. It also provides an easy way out for small businesses to develop their eCommerce platform and manage transactions online.

Asset for your business

This open source web design software has proved to be an asset for a business to increase engagement across online platforms, manage content, create impressive graphics, and optimize websites for search engines.

Future of Web Design Software

The design of your website depicts the company’s goals and vision. Web design has emerged to be a crucial part of the IT industry. The process of web development includes designing the interface, user experience, and graphics. It also includes writing a standard code to develop exclusive software.

The scope of web design is endless. To survive on the internet, every website requires a fine and polished design. As every business owner plans to move online web designing will open opportunities for designers.

• For a designer working in the software industry, web designing will always be favorable. Tools used in designing such as Photoshop, Flash, Programming, Hypertext Markup language (HTML), Cascading style sheets (CSS), etc will always be promising.
• Every Business needs expansion after a certain stage. This can be attained by creating websites and selling products and services online.
• Technology can do wonders when used in the correct way. Artificial Intelligence is one such stream, it can control visuals and content to animations. It can help in designing quirky websites to attract a particular age group from your visitors.
• Virtual Reality can help improve the user experience by using JavaScript. It can help in smoother access of websites through browsers to decrease the dependence of users on additional applications.
• Internet of Things (IoT) can develop applications in the future that can analyze data for IoT devices.
• If the user is provided with an enhanced user experience the time spent on your website will increase. This can be done using 360-degree video. It enables administrators and owners to enrich the interaction of visitors with the website.
• Adding a Motion User Interface can attract more visitors. It allows integrating motion with your website.

There are plenty of website designing tools available online. Designing your website can be tricky for small business owners as it requires budget-friendly options. It is better to go for open source web design software options as they allow you to customize your website within your budget constraints.

Top Free and Open Source Web Design Software

The list given below provides a set of 10 best open source web design software with their specific individual functionalities.

Top Web Design Software Infographic

1. GIMP ( GNU Image Manipulation Program)

It is an open source web design software that allows developers to create original images and art for website content. GIMP enables users to create unique artworks and manipulate images in high quality for free.

Tasks such as photo retouching, authoring images, and image composition can be performed using this software. Its functionalities can differ from a basic paint program to an expert retouching program.

Core Capabilities

• Image Editing
• Create Artwork
• A complete package of paint tools
• Image Enhancing
• Format conversions for pictures (GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PNG)
• Elements for Graphic designing
• Image Filtering
• Manipulating images
• Free Templates
• Retouching images digitally
• File Management
• Hardware Support
• Predefined programming algorithms
• Flexible
• Customized and Personalized Interface
• Extensible
• Workflow for desktop publishings

2. Brackets

It is an open source web designing software that can be used by designers and front-end developers for designing your website effortlessly. The simple user interface and lightweight make it one of the most compelling software.

With the real-time preview functionality, it helps in creating different sites and web pages. It is one of the finest tools for coding exercises.

It was created by Adobe Systems and is currently managed by GitHub. The code for the software is written using JS, HTML, and CSS.

Core Capabilities

• Inline Editing
• Real-time Previews
• Assisted by preprocessor
• Text editor
• Simple interface for users
• Numerous cursors
• Editor and developer for front end
• Smooth switch across multiple tabs and pages

3. openElement

The software is a powerful and intuitive tool for building a dependable and compliant website. It improves productivity by optimizing the tasks and simplifying the workflow.

It is also an open source web design software that improves the efficiency of designing. It enables users to create and modify customized elements. The software also helps in the optimization of search engine rankings and creates an improved user experience.

Core Capabilities

• Direct and manage codes
• Edit and create elements
• Manage Search Engine Optimization
• Drag and drop functionality
• Optimize code and images
• Can work across different browsers
• Responsive
• Re-use multiple-element packets and design styles.

4. Adobe Dreamweaver

The open source web design software allows developers to design websites and apps for multiple devices. The software enables designers to create a highly responsive and fast website design.

It works well for both single-page and multiple-page designing for websites. It is a powerful tool capable of designing sites for different devices and browsers. It allows access to dynamic displays on multiple devices.

Core Capabilities

• Real-time preview in browser
• Time to time Updates
• Supports multiple monitor access
• Fast publishing
• Allows editing of code dynamically
• Syntax testing
• Introspection of codes
• Code Themes
• Creative cloud
• Quick and flexible coding
• Multiple device product

5. Mobirise

It is free web designing software that enables developers to create an efficient website that is mobile-friendly. It can create resumes, portfolios, and landing pages for your website without much effort. It doesn’t require skills like HTML and CSS coding to create your website.

Mobirise is available for free and can be downloaded easily to build a wonderful website and landing pages. It is supported by Windows, Mac, and other operating systems for Android.

Core Capabilities

• Mobile friendly
• Updated and fresh techniques and building blocks
• Drag and drop builder for website designs
• Multiple templates and pre-installed themes
• Accelerated mobile pages and Bootstrap
• Extensions

6. Webflow

It is website design software freeware that can design a code that is semantic and clear to be published quickly on the internet. It provides predefined builts that can be used to add complex elements like sliders, tabs, and videos running in the background.

It can create symbols and reuse them when required to create a responsive website. The user can control the layout, build interactions and animations.

Core Capabilities

• Control creatives
• Customized forms
• Personalized branding
• Finely tuned typography
• Search engine optimization
• Marketing
• Edit and reuse symbols
• Highly responsive and flexible layout
• Integrations
• Color swatches
• Images that are responsive

Visit the website – https://webflow.com/

7. Wix

The open source web design software works best for photographers, musicians, and artists to showcase their work through designing their portfolios. It can also be used by entrepreneurs, small website development, freelancers, etc.

It also provides a premium version that includes VIP, pro. Unlimited and combo. It is a platform based upon the cloud that contains all the features to create a high-quality customized website for your business. It has a set of inbuilt templates and solutions for the marketing and optimization of a website.

Core Capabilities

• About 500 templates
• Set of images, icons, and clip arts
• Search Engine Optimization
• Marketing
• Allows you to add scrolling effects
• Add animations and video backgrounds
• Drag and drop website builder
• Security
• Free web hosting

8. Google Web Designer

It is an open source web design software available for free to download and use to develop websites for medium to large business firms. It can prove to be of great use for developers to create ads. It can enable developers to create interactive and engaging content using HTML.

The website design software freeware supports all the platforms i.e Windows, Linux, and Mac. It provides integrated products of Google i.e Google Drive, etc.

Core Capabilities

• Drag and drop functionality for adding components
• Create responsive advertisements for different screen sizes
• Create and edit 3D content
• Create multiple scenes
• Additional Google Products
• Compatibility with multiple devices

9. Webydo

It is a web design software based upon the cloud that can be used to design websites for design agencies and businesses. It provides an effortless experience of building a website by using the intuitive tools available.

It provides the creation of a website that is SEO friendly and a facility to manage content efficiently. Creating attractive and interactive websites through Webydo is

Possible without managing a code.

Core Capabilities

• Manage content
• Analytics for web
• eCommerce
• Billing for clients
• Friendly with Search Engine Optimization
• Responsive
• A design tool that is professional
• White label branding
• Drag and drop

10. WordPress

It is a free web design software but has updated premium versions available. The plans for updated versions are named Personal, Premium, Business, and eCommerce.

To customize your website WordPress has a lot of free themes available. It provides Optimization, marketing, and monetization tools i.e tools for simple and recurring payments.

Core Capabilities

• Advanced customization for designing
• Email support
• Chat support
• Storage varying from 3 to 200 GB ( according to your plan)
• Free hosting

Here is a table to provide you with an overview of all the web design software discussed in the above article

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Challenges faced while designing websites?

• Integrating multiple third-party applications to provide a seamless experience for users.
• To design a responsive site across multiple platforms or devices.
• To ensure a simple yet engaging user experience
• Not everybody has access to the web to discover your website, it gets tough to ensure compliance from different levels of society.
• To provide a secure webpage and protect it from viruses and hacker attacks.
• To retain your visitors and bring them back to your website.

All the above-listed challenges can be fixed by using emerging technological developments. By integrating technology with designing it is possible to create unique designs. The recent developments in open source web designing software can excite and appeal the designers to create the best possible designs.

The Change in Web Design Culture

Initially, websites were only supposed to be a source of information for users. Designing the website was not a concern for the developers. Today, designs of websites have undergone huge transformations, and the presentation of elements over the website plays an important role in attracting customers.

Earlier software like Flash was used to design graphics, images, and animate content for websites. These graphics were not promotion friendly and hence are now replaced with HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). The front-end development using HTML has provided great results for website designs.

The designing and development of websites had limited functionalities earlier. The current web design software has no limits and can provide every functionality that can come across your imagination.

The web today has widened its purpose of providing just the information to users and is more responsive and user-friendly.

Who can use Web Design Software?

To get the best website designs, professionals use these software and development tools. For anyone other than experienced professionals but with knowledge of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading style sheets), designing and content management can efficiently use these tools.

• Website Designer – The front-end designers design an organized structure of the website. These web designers use the best web design software to visualize and create an easily navigable design. They also create the preliminary design for different web pages of your website.
• Professionals for developing User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) – UI and UX designers create mockups and prototypes for different web pages by using web design tools. The open source web design tools help these professionals in mapping the web pages and building the workflow.
• Web Developers – The developers work in line with the design team to bring their ideas to life. They create a blueprint for the actual website using HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading style sheets). The developers and designers can together work on the code for writing the backend code.
• Professionals for eCommerce – Web design tools can be used to design a well-organized eCommerce site. Many small business sites use these tools to design a simple website quickly using the templates.

Concluding Statements

With the increasing need for the digital marketplace, websites are seeking more importance. To achieve the right set of audience and attract more of it you need your website to be more attractive and user friendly. To design the most appealing website for your company you can use any of the above-listed software that suits your business requirements.

The above article lists the 10 best open source web design software. For some software, you can go for premium versions to overcome the limitations. It’s necessary to find out your requirements and functionalities for the website before you choose any of these design tools.