6 Web Dev Tools You Aren't Using But Should Be

Who doesn't love a shiny new toy? The world of coding has plenty to go around.

Fortunately, we stand on the shoulders of giants where countless open-source projects, companies, and kind humans have built some awesome tools to help make our lives easier.

Let's get our geek on.

Here are my top 6 tools you need to check out:

Code Visualizer: Sometimes debugging can be difficult to do inside of your editor or the browser. Instead, use this tool to see what your code is doing step by step. This tool can be especially useful when learning data structures and algorithms.

Sizzy: If you make a website or web app it has to respond to a growing number of devices and screen sizes. Most browsers have support to show you your app in different sizes but Sizzy takes it to the next level. You can browse the internet as if you have a drawer full of every device on the planet. It makes responsive web development a breeze.

Postman: Figuring out how your data will flow through your app is pretty much the name of the game. Postman to the rescue. You can set up all of your API routes without having to worry about CORS or other browser issues. Before you write one line of HTML or CSS, you can have your entire data flow complete.

RemNote: I've mentioned this tool in other posts but it's worth mentioning again. This tool is great for taking notes but it shines at turning your notes into actionable flashcards that you can systematically review using their spaced-repetition algorithm. It's like Anki but better in 100 different ways. Stop googling how to center a div. Instead, review it periodically with RemNote and stay in the flow.

Web.dev: You will want to know how your web app or website is performing. This tool takes the open-source web performance project called Lighthouse and runs your web app or website through it and gives you scores and recommendations to fix all potential performance problems. Truly, this is a lifesaver.

Readme.so: I cannot tell you the number of GitHub projects that I run into that either have a poorly written readme or, even worse, no readme at all. I'll admit that I have been guilty of this from time to time but his tool has made writing decent readmes so much easier. It comes with premade readme sections that translate directly into markdown. All you have to do is add the specifics about your project. Easy peasy!

If you end up using one of these tools, let me know what you think!