4 Priceless Tools Every WordPress Designer Should Use

The life of a designer appears all creative, colorful and charming from the outside. But many designers feel the need of being more organized and productive so that they can be more successful. If you think that there is something that is preventing you from finding more clients and adding value to their life, this article could be the key for you. Here, we have listed the top 4 tools that every WordPress designer should use.

With dozens of different variables to keep in mind. Ranging from the actual site’s design to the code which is supposed to execute and render such design. Having a couple of tools that are supposed to simplify your life is mandatory for a WordPress designer.

Tools Every WordPress Designer Should Use

These tools will help you enhance your organizational skills, productivity and creativity. They are backed up by the latest technology, include a variety of options and have been approved by top organizations of the world such as Amazon, Uber, LinkedIn, Netflix and  Dropbox. So, without any delay, let us begin exploring each of these tools and their latest features.

Tool #1. Toggl

Time is money, my friend! If you are a freelance WordPress designer, you must confirm that. WordPress designers often work on different projects. Some need to keep a track of their hourly price while others need to map-out all their work on their calendars. Toggl is a tool that will help you achieve these goals smoothly. Even if you are a business firm or if you are working in remote teams, Toggl will help you track all your time and provide you with detailed weekly reports.

You can track your project time and billing with Toggl using three different options – Toggl plan, Toggl track and Toggl hire.

• Toggl plan: It allows simple task planning and scheduling. You can plan your timeline to see the full project schedule and set deadlines. It provides a clear view of what things you need to do.
• Toggl track: It allows easy project and revenue tracking. You can create detailed reports, save your reports and schedule reports to email. It also allows you to assign billable rates, assign labour costs and calculate profits. You can also create team dashboards, perform audits and automate email reminders.
• Toggl hire: It allows you to screen and hire candidates in an effortless manner. You can create skills tests; filter candidates based on their scores and analyse your hiring process in just a few clicks.

You can use Toggl via the web, mobile or desktop applications. You can also integrate it with many other applications. It is safe and secure and has a splendid customer support team. This tool is a must-try for every WordPress Designer.

Tool #2. Boomerang

Unable to keep track of your emails in WordPress? Boomerang is the perfect tool for you that you can integrate with Gmail or Outlook. Here are some of the cool features of this tool that will keep you on top of your emailing game:

• You can write an email to be sent later and schedule it. This tool will automatically send it at the set time.
• You can check whether someone has replied to your email or not and accordingly follow up with people.
• You can also archive your messages until you need them. The Boomerang tool will automatically bring those messages back to your inbox.
• If you have an email about a meeting, this tool can automatically turn it into a calendar event.
• You can write better emails with Boomerang’s assistant: Respond able. It always strikes the right tone and helps you analyse your writing on various metrics like length, positivity, subjectivity, politeness, word count and question count.
• Boost your productivity with the inbox pause option. You can pause your inbox or stop receiving messages until you are ready.

This tool can sort your life by sorting your email inbox. So do not waste a second and start using Boomerang for your Gmail or Outlook account. You can also use this tool on Android and iOS.

Tool #3. Milanote

Here’s another tool that you can use to stay organized and creative as a WordPress designer. Milanote helps you organize your ideas into visual boards. You can collect all your ideas, project tasks and everything related in one place. Here are a few best features of this tool:

• Milanote has a drag and drop interface with which you can arrange your things the way you like.
• It is easy to write notes and to-do lists. You can create boards accordingly and manage all your tasks in one place.
• You can share Milanote boards with your team and let all of them collaborate.
• You can upload all kinds of files and images easily. It supports JPG, PDF, MS Word, MS Excel and all other common design files formats.
• You can clip links from the web and save them in Milanote. So, all your inspiration and creative ideas can be stacked together.
• You can use this tool on your phone as well and everything will be synced with your desktop.

Some of the unique selling points of Milanote are its note-taking style, how well it works with images and designs and lastly, how well it supports real-time collaboration. This note-taking app is worth the time of a WordPress designer.

Tool #4. XAMPP

Now it is time to move a step ahead and start using a super-productive tool. As a WordPress designer, you often had to set up WordPress websites on a live server. With XAMPP, you can do this on your local computer. You can create and test your programs on a local server. XAMPP is an abbreviated term used for X: Cross-Platform, A: Apache, M: MariaDB, P: PHP and P: Perl. This means with XAMPP you can test projects based on these different technologies. Let us see how each of the components of XAMPP contribute to its functionality:

• Cross-Platform: It enables us to create and test programs on various operating systems like Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
• Apache: This is a cross-platform server that is used to transfer files, documents, images and other resources required by the user.
• MariaDB: It is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that is used popularly in the design world. It is developed by MySQL and can be used to store, manipulate, retrieve and arrange and delete data items.
• PHP: Web developers often use this scripting language to create dynamic websites and applications.
• Perl: It is another high-level, flexible, robust and dynamic language used for web development.

Other components of XAMPP include phpMyAdmin, OpenSSL, XAMM Control Panel, Webalizer, Mercury, Tomcat, and FileZilla. You can study their functionality easily on the internet. You also require knowledge of HTML, PHP and basic web development before using XAMPP.

Staying organized as a WordPress designer can bring notable benefits

Firstly, it helps you enhance your time management abilities. Time is always the most valuable thing in our lives. As a designer, you might be handling different projects. You need to manage your time well so that you can deliver your projects within the deadline.

Secondly, it can help manage money. Even if designing is your passion, you need to keep a check on how much profits you are making. If you are paying others as well, you need to manage your resources and revenues accordingly. Being organized helps you keep a solid track of your billables.

Thirdly, being organized keeps you productive! You have laid out your project plan, assigned to-do lists, scheduled emails and have set all the deadlines. Once you have mapped out what you need to do your productivity rates would spike automatically.

Last but not least, being organized helps you reduce clutter. Robin, an assignment help expert who also works as a part-time web designer says, “you might have stored hundreds of ideas on your desktop. Along with this, there could be different files that you need for your project. If you have organized everything, locating the required file would be a matter of seconds. Otherwise, you might have to spend hours. Moreover, it becomes easy to understand your work once everything is organized.”

To Conclude

WordPress designers can work for a plethora of businesses. Whether it is a private organization, real estate, catering, rental service, retail trade or an assignment provider. Using these advanced tools can help enhance your productivity and creativity as a WordPress designer.

These tools can simplify, speed-up and streamline your workflow, allowing you to find time for important things. You can track your profits and billings with Toggl, sort your inbox and emailing systems with Boomerang, level-up your note-taking with Milanote and lastly, enhance your designing using XAMPP.

So, which one are you going to choose for your next project?