I suggested the idea of a “links initiative” as a way to kick-start the more daunting task of building a front-end resource directory.
Basically just blog your favourite dev related links and maybe they can be collated to bootstrap a directory. I started listing and then a client project landed and to my shame I totally forgot about the idea. Until now!
So finally, without further ado — BTW I have no affiliation to these resources — lists are alphabetical to avoid favouritism — I’ll try to keep this updated as I remember more — I’m terrible at saving bookmarks — my links:
Organised by topic:
Web Tools
Web-based tools I’ve used to help build websites. No download or install required.
- Accessibility Support — searchable table of assistive technologies.
- Can I use… — lookup browser support for web features.
- CodePen — online code editor for demoing snippets.
- CSS HD Gradients — visual gradient creator.
- CSS Specificity Calculator — understand CSS selectors.
- Cubic Bezier — create easing functions by dragging two handles.
- Diffchecker — compare two texts for differences.
- GitHub Gists — place to dump code for comment.
- HTTP Observatory — scan HTTP headers for security analysis.
- OKLCH Color Picker — visualise the colour space for
oklch(). - PageSpeed Insights — Google’s performance tester.
- Placehold — quick placeholder images via URL convention.
- Rich Results Test — if you care about Google search results.
- Runtime compatibility — check JavaScript API support across runtimes.
- Squoosh — drag and drop image conversion and compression.
- Utopia — generate responsive typography based on scales.
- WebPageTest — performance tester.
- Web Platform Status — browser feature support list.
- Who can use — colour contrast, WCAG grading, and visual impairment impact.
- W3C Feed Validation — Validate RSS feeds.
Domains & Email
We’re getting away from front-end here but these links are useful when deploying websites.
- Bufferbloat — test network stability and latency.
- Can I email — I refuse to build HTML emails — this looks useful though!
- Certificate Search — lookup TLS certificates issued to a domain.
- DMARC Tester — a tool to learn and test email security.
- DNS Blacklist — check if a domain name is tainted.
- DNS Checker — check DNS propagation.
- Mail Tester — verify and validate your email setup is not spam.
- MX Toolbox — a variety of tools to check domain information.
Specifications
Beyond the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript specifications.
- GitHub Flavored Markdown — way too many options.
- HTTP Explained — a guide to HTTP status, headers, and methods.
- Micro Formats — open data formats.
- RSS Specification — an introduction to all things RSS.
- Schema — structure data markup documentation.
- Slash Pages — common pages for personal websites.
- WCAG 2.2 — web content accessibility guidelines.
And more…
I have tried to focus on the fundamentals here which means no JavaScript frameworks! I considered a list of web related books, newsletters, podcasts, and software which I may follow up on at a later date.
I picked up the domain html.directory a while ago. Wish I had time to do something with it. If you’ve started a worthy project I’d be happy to renew and donate it!
What web-based tools are you using? Let me know on the socials 👇