Top 20 Development Tools for Digital Agencies

It’s almost the fourth Thursday of November, so it’s time to start cooking. But before you get out all the pots and pans, take some time to reflect upon all the things you’re grateful for. That’s what we did. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we’ve asked the team which development tools and services they’re most thankful for. Check out these highlights:

Coding Tools

You can’t build a high-quality app or an engaging website without high-quality code. However, there are all sorts of libraries, frameworks, and other tools that make building apps and websites much faster and more efficient. These are Fyresite’s favorites:

React.JS

React is an open-source JavaScript library created by Facebook for building UI components. It is easily one of the most simple, flexible, and powerful tools for building interfaces–and it performs well on any device of any age.

“React allows us to quickly develop web based and native applications so we can spend more time focusing on important aspects like User Interface and Experience”

–Stephen Orr, Senior Full Stack Developer

Node.JS

Node.JS is a robust, open-source JavaScript runtime environment that can handle whatever your development team throws at it. Since it’s built on Chrome’s v8 engine, JavaScript runs as native code, which improves performance significantly.

WordPress

WordPress is an online content management system, or CMS, that comes equipped with some of the most powerful tools available. It is extremely popular, straightforward, and customizable, making it an optimal choice for any web development agency.

“WordPress has been the foundation of Fyresite website development from the very beginning. This CMS has a community like no other on the internet. It’s constantly updated and refined. WordPress allows our partners to scale their business online with a plethora of plugins, ecommerce and api integrations.”

–Jason Tunrquist, CEO

AWS

The cloud is the future of app infrastructure, which makes IaaS solutions a goldmine. Of all the cloud-based infrastructure options available, AWS is by far the most efficient, versatile, and powerful. No matter the app, AWS will make it more flexible, scalable, efficient, and secure for a much lower cost than alternatives. Reach out to learn how AWS can improve your architecture.

Android Studio

Building an Android app? Android Studio, the official development environment for the Android OS, absolutely must be in your developer toolkit. It includes efficient emulators, a powerful code editor, and an APK analyzer.

Xcode

Prefer developing for Apple? Xcode, a development environment for macOS, gives you all the tools and features needed to build an app for Apple devices. The Xcode 11 Source Editor comes with several additional features and tools that make development a breeze.

Shopify

If you’re building any type of eCommerce website, consider Shopify. This eCommerce platform comes equipped with so many useful point-of-sale and marketing features that no development agency should go anywhere without exploring how Shopify can improve a website project.

Twillio

Twillio comes in handy whenever an app needs some form of communication between users. It’s a cloud communications as a service company that masks call and text messages with its APIs.

Workplace Tools

It’s nearly impossible to build an effective website or application if your team isn’t on the same page. That’s why internal services are crucial for any development agency. Here are some of our favorites:

Slack

Slack is an instant messaging platform designed specifically for the workplace. Teams can attach files, organize discussions by channel, and integrate third-party applications to customize the Slack experience.

“Slack is incredible. Our company doesn’t even send internal emails due to the speed of communication in slack. It has helped us develop projects in a more timely manner.”

–Taylor Owen, Business Development

Lucidchart

Charts are surprisingly important for internal operations, and Lucidchart’s drag-and-drop editor makes it simple. We use Lucidchart for everything from wireframes to AWS database maps and more.

Zoho Projects

It can be pretty difficult to manage budget, hours, and scope creep on your own. That’s why Zoho Projects is a must for digital agencies. It is our project management tool of choice and keeps our team on track.

Zoho CRM

Any good digital agency will focus on building meaningful relationships with the customer. One of the best ways to maintain a connection is through a CRM system, and Zoho CRM stands out as one of the most popular and powerful options with its suite of automation and analytics tools.

Zoho Books

In case you haven’t noticed, Fyresite loves Zoho. In particular, Zoho Books helps manage financial workflows. That way, your agency can spend more time focusing on building effective software.

G Suite

Leave it to Google to provide the best in business tools. Between Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Calendars, we can’t get enough of G Suite.

Design Tools

Human-focused UI and UX design is the face of any digital solution. As a result, investing in powerful design tools is worth it for an agency of any size. These are our favorites:

InVision

InVision is a powerful and popular screen design tool. Our design team uses it to create custom pages and to assemble working prototypes.

“Invision is really awesome! I love how it integrates with slack and makes it easy for clients to understand the design process.”

–Eric Daily, Senior Web Designer

UXPin

Like InVision, UXPin is used to build UX prototypes. However, UXPin allows designers to try out different code components and logic, resulting in a more realistic prototype.

Sketch

Sketch is an extremely powerful and robust UI design tool used by designers across the globe. While we prefer Sketch, Figma has popped up as a viable competitor. We compare the two programs in our article on Figma vs Sketch.

Avocode

Once a design is finished, it needs to be shared and turned into code. That’s why we love Avocode and recommend it to any digital agency. It allows designers to instantly share designs as CSS, or React Native code.

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is arguably the most powerful photo-editing tool available to designers. Once you get used to its massive array of features, it’s hard to use another program.

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator is another popular adobe program, but while Photoshop focuses on photos, Illustrator specializes in vector graphics. Whether designing logos, branding content, or images, Illustrator is an excellent choice.

These development tools are our favorites. They are popular amongst the entire web and app development industry, but they aren’t the only options out there. Let us know if there’s another tool we missed by contacting us online.