Our Top Five Tools and Software to Boost Your Productivity

Who doesn’t want to be more productive at work and simplify those repetitive tasks? Web design is no exception and while every site we build is different, we have to do many of the same functions time and again. So over the years we have collected various online tools and software add-ons that make our life easier and let us work smarter – and now we’re sharing them with you.

1. Microsoft PowerToys

Don’t be put off by its name! PowerToys is a great set of tools for Windows users that adds lots of useful little features. These include things like checking which files are in use (File Locksmith), keyboard customisation (Keyboard Manager) and an app search and quick launch facility (PowerToys Run).

You will find some elements are more useful to you than others, and of course this depends on what you need help with. For example, our most used are Color Picker, which allows you to choose and save the colours from any currently running app; Image Resizer, a one-click resizer for one or many images; and PowerRename for bulk renaming, searching and replacing file names. 

2. IrfanView

If you can look beyond the website, this is fab if you spend a lot of time working with images. It’s our go-to for bulk image resizing and renaming. IrfanView’s config can be a little on the fiddly side but it’s worth persevering as the number of options is amazing. We’d pick out our top features but there are almost too many to list! Take a look for yourself.

3. LightShot

We use LightShot every single day. It lets you take customisable screenshots that you can easily share, crop, annotate and edit – in a nutshell it increases your productivity and with an intuitive interface to boot. If you have been using the Windows screenshot tool you’ll know how basic it is – this blows that out of the water.

4. ShareX

ShareX is like a souped up version of LightShot. It’s more advanced and depending on the job in hand, very well used by some of our team.

5. Chrome Extensions

Let’s not overlook Chrome extensions. There are a plethora to choose from and our top three are:

• LastPass – a password manager that you can access from every device. You can save usernames, passwords, addresses, passport info, credit card details…
• Loom – screen capturing and recording that can be easily shared with an instant link
• Honey – just in case you have five minutes for some online shopping, check here before you buy for money saving coupons at thousands of online shops.

So there are our top productivity tools and time saving apps. It’s by no means an exhaustive list and there are always new contenders to consider. These are winners for us, but we’re always interested to know what others are using, so please let us know if we haven’t mentioned your favourites. And if you’d like more help with any of these tools, do drop us a line and we’d be happy to help.