As a web designer, there are many tools you can use on your project. Whether these tools are free resources, useful software, or sources of inspiration, a lot of things and lessen the burden of working on a project.

Software

Image Editors

Photoshop – Of all the image editors out there, Adobe Photoshop is definitely one of the most powerful and most popular. However, with the hefty price tag, you might be better off looking at The GIMP or Paint.NET. [link]

The GIMP - Even though I have Photoshop, I prefer to use The GIMP. It does have a somewhat steep learning curve, but once you become familiar with it, it is a fantastic free tool. A lot of the tutorials I will be posting will utilize The GIMP. [link]

Paint.NET – Paint.NET is another free image editor. Although it is pretty good, I prefer The GIMP. [link]

HTML Editors

Dreamweaver – Nothing seems comparable to Dreamweaver in terms of HTML Editors, but once again, it has a hefty price from Adobe. [link]

Amaya – Amaya is not as good as Dreamweaver, but it is a good free alternative. It is an official program from the W3C, so if you’re familiar with their validators and want a free editor, why not give it a try? [link]

PSPad – If I didn’t use Dreamweaver, PSPad would be my second choice. It has many features such as line numbers, comparing documents side by side, and many more. It’s a huge step up from good old fashion Notepad, but not as feature heavy as Dreamweaver. Be sure to check it out. [link]

Notepad - Notepad is the most basic of all of these editors, but is already installed on Windows. Notepad is great for beginners because you’ll learn the basics of HTML, and what each element is. Coding by hand is the best way to start off in web design.

Websites

DeviantART - There is a lot of weird art on DeviantART, but once you look past that, you can find tons of resources such as icons, PSD’s, brushes, and more. You can also use it to look for inspiration, as many web designers display their work here. [link]

Typetester - Typetester lets you test out different fonts as well of the styling of those fonts when comparing screen type. It’s very helpful when trying to get an accurate representation of how a font will look in your design. [link]

Lorem Ipsum - Lorem Ipsum is great for dummy text in your design. [link]

WhatTheFont! – What the font is useful for finding fonts you see somewhere, but don’t know what font it is called. [link]

Iconfinder - Use Iconfinder to (as the title suggests) find free icons. [link]

Browsershots - Browsershots is an essential tool for web designers. It allows you to see how your website or design looks in multiple browsers. [link]

Dafont – Dafont has a lot of free fonts for use, and has a lot of good ones. [link]

Font Squirrel - I recently discovered this website. Like Dafont, it has a lot of fonts for download. Not sure if I’d say it’s better, but give both a try. [link]

That’s all for now! Any more useful tools I find will be added to this post.

Got any suggestions to add to the list? Feel free to comment.