Awesomely useful tools to help you make things
First- curated lists for just about everything: http://www.thestarterkit.info/
Coding/Programming
- Hackr.io list of programming tutorials
- Thinkful.com
- Best YouTube channels for aspiring programmers
- 500 free programming books
- CSS Vocab
- CSS Tricks
- JavaScripting.com
- W3Schools.com
- HTML Dog
- Stack Overflow (get help!)
- Code Combat
- Code.org
- DIY.org
- Scratch
- Code Academy
- JSDares.com (JavaScript)
- Programmr.com
- Google’s Python class
- GitHub (version control, code sharing, learning, etc.)
Websites
- Front End Resources
- DevTips videos
- Bootstrap (template)
- HTML5up (templates)
- Wes Bos’ blog
- Front end rescue
- Code & place-holder text for lists, paragraphs, and tables
- www.html5andcss3.org
- www.learn.shayhowe.com
- https://www.bypeople.com/– free icons, fonts, code snippets, templates, and more!
- Text editors (free)- Notepad++ (PC only), Brackets (PC & Mac)
- Hosted libraries by Google
- Smashing Magazine
- Tuts Plus
- Web design tutorials
- Google Fonts
- Font Awesome
Apps
- Apple Developer (need a Mac; it’s free to register to access Apple’s developer resources)
- Android Studio
- App Inventor
- FluidUI.com (create design concept)
- UX Archive– see how iPhone apps handle certain tasks
Games
- Mobile game app with App Inventor
- Scratch
- Unity (open source game platform)
- JS Game Engines
- Game Star Mechanic
- Puzzle Script
- Game Salad (this is a free download so if you’re interested let me know and I will have to install it)
- Game Maker Studio (another free download)
- Game Maker Studio tutorial
- JSDares.com
Visual design
- Color scheme generator
- Choose colors to match an image
- Design inspiration
- Free icon sets
- Canva
- ThingLink
- Easel.ly
- Pixlr.com
- Check out some free graphic design programs
- Fotor (photo editing and collages)
- Typography tutorials
Content management systems
- WordPress is my top choice (WordPress.org, also see WordPress.com). Drupal and Joomla are other good choices. All three are free, open source, and have active developer communities.
Utility & Security
- Download multiple applications all at once- http://ninite.com/
- Sucuri Site Scanner
- Security Alerts
- Find out what websites you like are built with
- Check how your site looks on different screen sizes
- Page speed test
- Page speed insights by Google
- Look up domain information
- isitdownrightnow.com
Free Web Hits Display/Web Analytics Program
- Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/
- Got Site Monitor– get free reports
- Quantcast– understand your audience
Free Stock Images
- Pexels.com
- Bing.com (do image search, then search for free to share and use)
- www.unsplash.com
Free Music and Sound Effects
Free Favicon Generator
Weather banners
- Weather stickers from Wunderground.com
Adobe Creative Cloud
- Adobe Creative Cloud: It is free to get an Adobe ID and you can then try any Adobe product you want for free for a month. There is a significant student discount plan if you want to sign up. Signing up for Adobe Creative Cloud will give you access to Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks, and every other Adobe program under the sun.