The world wide web is a very, very big place. According to Internet Live Stats, right at this moment there are 928,097,324 websites in existence (the number constantly hovers just under 1 billion).

That’s a lot of websites.

Finding the legitimately good websites through all that garble sounds daunting and scary. Referrals are the key to finding the real gold – and lately, we’ve gotten a lot of solid referrals. Being the selfless publication that we are, we want to share those website gems with all of you.

Here’s our first edition: sharing websites/web-based applications that help with efficiency. And get this – they’re all free to use! (Stay tuned for web-based apps in design, devs, students, and some that are just plain cool.)

 

1. Trello.

Trello was first referred to us by some cool people over at Unseen Ministries. With a free sign-up, it’s the ultimate tool to help manage your to-do lists, and any other project management type needs. It gives you a To Do list, lets you create Boards, and gives you the option to connect and communicate with other team members’ Trello boards.

2. Slack.

Slack has become quite popular, but if you have not yet heard of it, check it out. It’s a great website/mobile app that allows teams to easily communicate in a style that’s a blend between e-mail and text messaging – without being either. We use it here at Emerging Prairie, and surprisingly, it’s much more pleasant to use than e-mail and also keeps the inbox a little more clutter free.

 

3. Toggl.

One of my personal favorites. Toggle is time-tracking made easy. All you need to do is type in what you’re doing, and hit start. The timer goes. When you’re done, you hit stop. Clear and simple, without any other fancy schmancy tricks. It tracks each thing and at the end gives you a nice review of how you spent your time. It even sends you warnings when you leave your timer on (not like anyone would do that…), and gives you fun little awards like “Workaholic award” when you clock a lot of hours in a day.

 

4. WorkFlowy.

Thanks to Beach Interactive for this one. Besides having just a cute name, WorkFlowy is like the king of list-making. For those who take great pleasure in interfaces that are clean, smooth, and efficient, go and make a list on WorkFlowy right now. By clicking on the little dot, you open up the list. By hitting the plus sign, all the lists pop out. The concept is so simple, yet so useful… and oh so flowy.

[Fun fact: WorkFlowy was the basis for what is now Slack.]

5. Typeform.

If you’ve ever needed to create a registration form, a market research survey, a questionnaire, or any type of form, check out Typeform right now this instant. It’s truly a beautiful piece of work. Not only do their templates make filling out a form feel kind of… fun?! But they also make it extremely easy to create the forms as well. It’s a win-win.

 

There you have it folks, 5 of our current favorite websites that improve efficiency. We’ve got a lot more up our sleeve so stay tuned. Oh, and if you’d like to add your own additions, put them in the comments!

 

Feature photo courtesy of Negative Space.