Here’s a list of 70 hand-picked, easy to use, and free web generators that will save you tons of time and energy. I have grouped these tools into 10 categories: Color Palettes, Robots.txt, Website Screenshots, Favicons, Web Backgrounds, Webpage Elements (buttons, tabs, etc), Memes, Forms, Logos, and Dummy Texts.
The best part about these tools is that they are completely free (some need you to signup though). If you are looking ways speed up your work and channel more time and energy to new content ideas and marketing strategies, I believe the list is a must-bookmark. According to my last check on WordPress.com stats, there were more than 42 million blogposts published in May 2014 – and that’s just WordPress.com alone. Who has the time to create everything from scratch these days?
Category #1: Color Palettes Generator
Functions/Details:
- To generate color palettes based on image input.
- Allow users to compare, review, and select color combination at ease.
Palette Generator
Palette Generator – click image to visit online.
Pictaculous
Pictaculous – click image to visit online.
Kuler
Kuler – click image to visit online.
Kuler is a cloud-based application for making color themes using an iPhone or your browser. The tool helps capture colors from a mural, garden, or wherever you happen to be and creates your own color combinations. You also get to browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community (like image above) and sync these color themes right into Adobe Illustrator CC.
Other Alternatives
A few other not-to-miss color tools are Color Hunter, Colour Lovers, CSS Drive Colors Palette Generator, Color Scheme Designer, as well as Colrd. Note that although these tools work more or less the same (create color palette based on image input) but the auto-generated the color codes may be different due to difference in color extraction algorithm. I suggest you to try each for at least once. To learn more, visit these tools online: Color Hunter, Colour Lovers, CSS Drive Colors Palette Generator, Color Scheme Designer, Colrd.
Category #2: Robots.txt Generator
Functions/Details:
- To generate robots.txt file based on user’s input.
- All these tools come with a set of preset list of bots – which is quite limited if you ask me. You will need a longer list of bots in order to do more with your robots.txt.
SEO Cleo Robots.txt Generator
SEO Cleo – click image to visit online.
What’s a robots.txt?
Robots.txt is a simple text file (that you can just create on a notepad) located in your server root directory. When a search engine bots come to your site, they will first look for this robots.txt to learn which web pages of your site should be indexed or followed; and which web pages should be ignored. If you screw up your robots.txt accidentally (ie, request the search engine to ignore your entire site), you’ll screw up your website’s search rankings. The robots.txt file is also used to block certain undesired bots from your website (surprisingly many of these bad bots to obey the rules).
Other free robots.txt generators
Some other robots.txt generators worth looking at are: IM Ninja, SEO Book, Submit Shop, Clickability and Yellow Pipe. These tools normally come with a default list of search robots – this allows you to set rules specifically for certain bots in just a few clicks.
To learn more, visit: Clickability, SEO Book, IM Ninja, Submit Shop, and Yellow Pipe.
Category #3: Website Screenshots Generator
Functions/Details:
- To quickly create website screenshots for inspection or content purposes.
- To create thumbnail of a website at ease.
Shrink The Web
Shrink The Web – To learn more, click to visit online.
Personally I find Shrink The Web is the best screenshot tool online. It’s quick, scable, user-friendly, and most importantly, it creates watermark-free screenshots.
Page Peeker
PagePeeker – Click imageto visit online.
Capture Full Page
Capture Full Page – Click image to visit online.
Thumbalizr
Thumbalizr – click image to visit online
Websnapr
Websnapr – Not recommended though – I tried using this and the tool took forever to load. To learn more, click imageto visit online.
Web Thumbnail
Web Thumbnail – click image to visit online.
Am I Responsive
Am I Responsive – click image to visit online.
Am I Responsive is not really a webpage screenshot generator. However it’s a tool that must not be missed – The app checks the responsiveness on any site with a single click. It’s a huge time saver for those who are developing a responsive theme.
Category #4: Favicon Generator
Primary function:
- To generate favicon based on user’s input – be it an uploaded image or in-app drawing.
Favicon CC
Favicon cc – click image to visit online.
De Graeve
DeGraeve – click image to visit online.
Iconfier
Iconfier – click image to visit online.
Other Similar Icons and Favicon Tools
Alternatives: Favicomatic, Gen Favicon, Favicon Generator, InMotion Favicon Generator, as well as Faviconr.
Category #5: Web Backgrounds Generator
Functions/Details:
- To generate background images in various styles.
- Some of these tools require you to download the background image; some will provide you the CSS codes only.
Strip Mania
Strip Mania – creates colorful stripes backgrounds. Click image to visit online.
Tartan Maker
Tartan Maker – Background in tartan styles. Click image to visit online.
Zen BG
Zen Bg – Generate background in various colors and textures. Click image to visit online.
Colorzilla
Colorzilla – Generate gradient backgrounds in CSS codes.Click image to visit online.
Dotter
Dotter – generates dot style background. Click image to visit online.
Alternatives
Other similar tools: Stripe Generator, BG Patterns, and Border Image.
Category #6: Web Elements Generator
Functions/Details:
- To generate web elements like buttons, ribbons, or tabs at ease.
- This type of generators are less popular these days – mainly due to changes in web design trends.
Generate CSS
Advance CSS/CSS3 generator – generates tons of web elements such as button, sliders, table, or even text effects in CSS/CSS3.
Tabs Generator
Tabs Generator – allows you to tweak size, colors, corners, generate your design and then download and use in your css style sheet. Click image to visit online.
Quick Ribbon
Quick Ribbon – lets you create a custom ribbon, insert a link in it and place it in the top right corner of your website via JavaScript. Click image to visit online.
GR Sites Button Generator
GR Sites – generates buttons in pre-set styles and colors. Click image to visit online.
Alternatives
Similar tools worth visiting: Dynamic Drive Ribbon Rules and Button Generator, Menu Cool, HighDots CSS Tab Designer, Webestools Button Maker, and Rounded Corner.
Category #7: Meme Generator
Functions/Details:
- To generate customized meme at ease.
- A meme is a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.
Meme Generator
Meme Generator – click to visit online.
Quick Meme
Quick Meme – click to visit online.
Other meme generators
Alternatives: Troll Me, DIY LOL, and IMG Flip.
Category #8: Form Generator
Functions/Details:
- To generate easy-to-embed forms for websites.
Form Logix
Form Logix – simple copy-n-paste form generator – WYSIWYG editor available. Click image to visit online.
PHP Form
PHP Form – Create HTML forms in 3 easy steps, no signup needed. Click image to visit online.
Formoid
Formoid – Generate beautiful, responsive form with a no-coding drag-n-drop GUI.
More form tools
Alternatives: Jot Form, Boot Snipp, and Form Smarts.
Category #9: Logo Generator
Functions/Details:
- To create logo at ease.
- Some of these sites provide customization service at extra cost.
Online Logo 24/7
Online Logo Maker 24 – Create and download free logos in high resolutions. Click image to visit online.
Square Space Logo
Square Space – my personal favorite. Good logo tool if you like minimalist designs. Click image to learn more.
Hipster
Hipster – minimalist logo generator, hipster style! Click image to visit online
Logaster
Logaster – create logo and business cards at ease. Click image to visit online.
Your other choices:
More logo tools: Logo Type Maker, Logo Type Creator, Graphic Spring, Logo Genie, and Zillion Designs.
Category #10: Dummy Texts Generator
Functions/Details:
- To create filler texts for all layout needs.
Blindtext Generator
Blindtxt generator – click image to visit online.
Baconipsum
Baconipsum – click image to visit online.
There are quite a lot of good dummy texts generators around. So besides picking some of the best, I have also included a few funny ones in this list. For example, Baconipsum generates only texts related to meat. For example, here’s what I have generated seconds ago:
Bacon ipsum dolor sit amet flank sausage jerky fatback, andouille ham shankle kielbasa pork loin tri-tip beef ribs. Tail meatball ham, pork belly porchetta hamburger flank salami ground round shoulder meatloaf swine filet mignon capicola. Tail porchetta pancetta, salami bresaola t-bone brisket corned beef fatback short ribs landjaeger chuck. Tri-tip chicken pastrami ham ball tip, ham hock shankle jowl. Shank boudin doner, leberkas hamburger tenderloin pancetta ham brisket ball tip spare ribs prosciutto beef chuck.
Fatback leberkas swine filet mignon cow pork chop landjaeger turkey shoulder sausage pancetta. Leberkas chuck shankle kielbasa porchetta pork. Meatloaf porchetta brisket bresaola, ham tail flank frankfurter pork corned beef. Brisket pancetta hamburger beef, tenderloin ground round pork belly.
Meatloaf tri-tip spare ribs, shoulder ham kielbasa brisket sausage tenderloin capicola shank. Landjaeger spare ribs fatback biltong pork belly flank hamburger swine chuck bacon kielbasa capicola turducken. Corned beef pork belly tail, shank tri-tip jowl turkey flank cow landjaeger drumstick chicken. Shankle pork drumstick venison turkey.
Feeling hungry yet? :)
Other text generators
- TV Ipsum – Generates cheesy quotes from 70s and 80s tv shows as dummy text.
- Cupcake Ipsum – Generates dummy texts with delicious cupcake-related treats.
- Veggie Ipsum – Creates fillet texts related to vegetables.
- Beer Ipsum – Nothing but beers-related dummy texts.
- Adhesion Text – Generate dummy texts in eight different languages.
- Lipsum – A normal dummy text generator.
- Fillerati – Filler text generator.
Over to you!
Did I miss something? Share your favorite web generators in the comment section.
