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If you’re looking to have an effective Shopify store, there’s no better way to do it than with qualified Shopify experts. You can focus on what you do best while allowing Shopify developers to work on the back end programming behind your store functionality and Shopify designers to deal with your visuals.
But these Shopify experts did not get to where they are without having the essential tools of the trade. From productivity and organisation, to development, communication and creativity, you better believe that when you hire Shopify Developers they are bringing an arsenal with them to actualise what you want!
In a short span of time, many tools have transformed from clunky, large, stand-alone programs into sleek and streamlined add-ons and plugins that go with your favorite browser.
If you’re looking to get into front-end web development, or looking to upgrade to dealing with high volume merchants in Shopify Plus, these are the best tools you can use.
1.Top Shopify Developers Use Chrome Developer Tools
If you want to hire Shopify developers, make sure they have the knowledge of Chrome Developer Tools or DevTools. Being built into the Google Chrome browser offers a smooth transition and a speedy way to easily diagnose coding problems. Shopify designers can also benefit from DevTools because they can easily iron out any layout issues.
2. Top Shopify Developers Use Trello
It is rare that when you hire Shopify developers and designers, these people live in your area. Many developers prefer working from home because of the frequently extended hours when coding or designing and when developing a Shopify store, it is important that the design and the coding teams are in sync or on the same page.
Trello, however, makes collaboration and communication of ideas between Shopify Experts as smooth as possible. It streamlines processes and allows you to easily see the tasks that are due, create checklists to follow for continuity and makes remote team management easy. Dashboard updates also allow leaders to delegate effectively and update the client from their own login without needing to communicate directly which is perfect for those working across time zones.
3. Top Shopify Developers Use Slate
Another web development tool that Shopify designers and developers favour is Slate because it provides a framework for building themes – regardless of the end design or intended use. This was introduced in April 2017 to help developers and designers alike to help speed up developing and deploying custom Shopify themes to stores.
4. Top Shopify Developers Use Sublime Text
To seasoned Shopify developers, coding can be considered easy. However, the whole process of coding, editing, and testing for bugs still takes up the bulk of the project’s timeline, particularly with Shopify Plus clients or bigger rollouts and multiple platforms. That is why you need to hire developers who produce quality results and have a proven track record of short turnaround times.
Sublime Text is a programmer’s dream because it’s more than just a text editor and allows Shopify developers to speed up the whole process, do multiple selections at once, interactively change multiple lines and even rename variables with ease. It’s highly responsive and also allows split editing for easier side-by-side coding. Aside from custom-built components, it also allows access to packages of program controls and commands developed by the programming community.
5. Top Shopify Developers Use GitHub
Store owners hire Shopify developers to spruce up what they currently have because while some sections of the store works perfectly, other areas need tweaking. This type of integration can be a hassle for Shopify developers because some developed code may not work (or works differently than intended) with an existing store’s coding.
Sometimes this can have disastrous results which is made worse if you have a large merchant in Shopify Plus, but this can be avoided by developers who use version control systems like GitHub. GitHub is a platform that helps people find solutions to their problems in the software they are building, giving Shopify experts valuable programming tools and access to a development community so they can get help from other Shopify designers or developers when they encounter a speedbump. With this selection of minds, troubleshooting takes less time and is more efficient, overcoming issues quickly.
6. Top Shopify Developers Use Shopify FD
ShopifyFD is a free, handy tool that makes the lives of designers and developers much easier. Its main purpose is to unify important JavaScript snippets into one easy-access tool which is available as a bookmarklet and a Chrome extension. It is not, however, supported by Shopify but the developer of this tool is very active in providing support through the Shopify forums, GitHub, and on Twitter and is now an employee of Shopify Plus.
Shopify development experts continue to use this tool because it has useful features that can speed up store development, for example the ability to edit metafields inline so you don’t have to open another window to do so. This saves time and helps you avoid inadvertently closing the wrong window allowing you to do bulk editing, tagging, and asset uploads to make you more efficient (perfect for using with larger shops and merchants in Shopify Plus.)
7. Top Shopify Developers use Power Tools Suite
Another tool that Shopify experts like to use is the Power Tools Suite. It is an easy-to-use add-on to your Shopify store that can help the customers filter through the store like they would in major online platforms like eBay or Amazon. The ease of use can help improve the overall customer experience as well as your SEO.
The Power Tools Suite can easily be installed, but if you need help, their support team can also assist you to do it properly. If you have a lot of products for any given category, your customers can easily narrow down their choices by using the filter style menu. If you want to run a sale on particular items, you can simply set the policies and then have it revert to the original price once that sale period is over. You can even automate your pricing and give discounts for bulk orders. A massive time saver for Shopify developers who also need to update content for clients.
8. Top Shopify Developers Use Slack
Communication is important, particularly across time zones and when you hire Shopify developers, designers and experts to upgrade your store, you don’t want anything to be missed. In slack, you can create groups or talk independently to segregate according to projects and processes as well as keeping up to date with one another, making it easier to manage overall.
Slack also incorporates many of the existing productivity and communication tools into one platform. Aside from organising conversations, you can also drag and drop files into the relevant chats to easily transfer them. Plus, with the search function, no one misses out when they join the group or loses information because they can search for relevant topics or discussions.
9. Top Shopify Developers Use Spotify
Working from home and late into the night is par for the course for many Shopify Experts. Working alone can help them concentrate, avoid distractions and get lengthy coding done in a comfortable atmosphere. But, music is important in the creative process and can give a much needed boost in the right direction. No one wants to sit in silence right?
Spotify allows you to set up your playlists from a bunch of songs available in the app and you can sync it across devices so that you can listen to it from anywhere. You can use your PC, Mac, or your mobile phone to stream the music that sets you in the mood and keeps creative juices flowing.
10. Top Shopify Developers Work on a Mac
It makes no sense to hire Shopify developers who are super talented but don’t have the required workhorse to complete the tasks. The more complicated your project, the better the hardware should be. The Apple Mac Pro helps the serious programmers and Shopify designers to edit and develop programs.
The Mac Pro is the priciest member of the Apple family but it is also the most powerful computer that the company offers. It offers the best experience in web development and for developers, it’s highly encouraged to use a Mac over other computer hardware brands. With a Mac, rendering videos and photos is a breeze with its high-powered graphics and if your development team requires specialised software, then the Mac Pro is for you.
11. Top Shopify developers use Sketch
For the serious designers, Sketch is a dream Mac design tool. It doesn’t require top-of-the-line specs so it can still run on a Mac Mini and it is easier to use and understand, unlike Photoshop. You can edit and resize anything you draw to any dimension, but the image still remains as sharp as the original.
Shopify Designers can render almost any design in Sketch as close to a finished web page which is very helpful for web developers who constantly use HTML or CSS because they can make sure that their designs look great in whatever version. It’s also great for anyone to use Sketch for things like user interface design, web design, or even mobile app development.
So, regardless of whether you’re working with a small startup or a big enterprise on Shopify Plus, make sure you have the right tools to hand to make it a success!
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