A lot of designers resist designing directly in the browser, as it generally means they need to be comfortable writing at least basic HTML and CSS code. That’s the exact reason why it’s often a great fit for developers getting into design—they’re already comfortable writing code.
There are tools that can help with designing in the browser and can make both designers’ and developers’ lives easier. Simple browser plugins are available for everything from selecting color palettes to exploring another site’s CSS and HTML code.
There are also more complex tools like Figma that act like a fully-featured design tool right in the browser. Figma allows designers to collaborate, send assets to stakeholders (and even let them make changes to the content and copy of designs), and lets developers have access to the actual designs in real-time. It’s a great option for developer-designers who want to create designs and design systems that can scale over time.
Webflow is another option for designing in the browser that developers might love. While the design interface is visual, the code exported is clean, semantic CSS and HTML that developers will appreciate (not all visual design tools export clean code). Webflow includes tools for design and layout, as well as CMS and eCommerce tools built in, as well as hosting options.
