In the last part of this series – kc web design Kent tools for web design – iPhone app design – we spoke about tools for designing iPhone apps. In this article I’ll be looking at bookmarklet tools we use when designing websites here at kc web design Kent.
Bookmarklets are little javascript snippets that you can add to your browser toolbar that perform certain actions. They’re handy to have at hand for performing quick tasks when in the browser and at kc web design kent we use a few design related ones that make some regularly repeated tasks easier and a few that help with web design.
One of my favourite and most widely used bookmark lets of the moment is FOUNT. Once Fount is added to your bowser toolbar it allows you to check any text on any website and see exactly what font, size, etc any text on the page is. Just click the FOUNT bookmarklet and then click on any text on the page and it will show you all the font details. Its very simple yet very useful and comes in handy when you’re designing and need to see what a font is that’s already being used on a website design.
Another new favourite is MIN. This bookmarklet strips back all images and styles from a page leaving just the key elements. Perfect if you need to remove a background to copy a rounded button for a concept design or want to strip everything away to get a clearer picture on some element of a design you’re working on.
Not necessarily a web design bookmarklet but a very handy one is the READ LATER one from Instapaper. At kc web design Kent we use Instapaper for collecting useful articles and information to read at a later date and the bookmarketlet makes it easy to add anything in your browser to Instapaper.
There are lots more great bookmarklets out there but these are the top few we use in web design every day. Have fun searching out some more gems!