Cool web tools I've been bookmarking lately
I still install heavy apps when I need them, but lately I have been collecting lighter sites that solve one job well and stay out of the way. None of these replaced my whole workflow, and each one earned a bookmark after I used it on a real task instead of a demo tab I closed the next day. Here are three I keep reopening.
| Tool | What I use it for | Install needed |
|---|---|---|
| Timezzon World Clock | Compare local times before I ping someone overseas | No |
| IT-Tools | Quick encodes, hashes, and format checks in the browser | No |
| Excalidraw | Sketches and flow diagrams I can share as a link | No |
Timezzon for when my team is spread across time zones
I coordinate with people in the US, Europe, and Australia on the same week, and I got tired of typing "what time is it in Sydney" into a search box every time I wanted to schedule a call. Timezzon World Clock puts major cities on one page with live local times, and I can search the city list when I need something smaller than the default board.
What hooked me was how fast it answers the boring question: is this hour reasonable for both of us. The site also links out to a converter, meeting planner, and holiday info if I need to go deeper, but most days I only need the clock grid. I still double-check daylight-saving weirdness on critical launches, because no site replaces reading the invite twice.
IT-Tools for small dev chores without opening a repo
I hit IT-Tools when I wanted a JSON formatter and a Base64 encoder in the same place, without installing another CLI or hunting for a sketchy paste site. It is a collection of utilities in the browser: hashes, regex testers, color pickers, cron parsers, and plenty of other one-off jobs that come up when you are debugging or writing docs.
I like that each tool loads quickly and stays isolated, so I am not signing into anything or pasting secrets into a random widget I found on page six of a search result. It is not a replacement for your production toolchain, and I would not put live credentials through any web form I do not trust, but for local test strings and format cleanup it has saved me from spinning up throwaway scripts.
Excalidraw for diagrams that look human
When I need to explain a flow to someone who will not read a fifty-line message, I open Excalidraw and sketch boxes and arrows in a hand-drawn style that does not pretend to be a polished slide deck. I can share a link, export an image, or drop the drawing into a doc, and the editor stays simple enough that I actually finish the diagram instead of tweaking fonts for twenty minutes.
Collaboration works when the other person jumps into the same board, and the file format is open enough that I do not feel locked in if I want to move something later. It will not replace a full diagramming suite for huge system maps, but for "here is how the request moves through three services" it is the right weight.
What I would do differently next time
I would still keep all three bookmarks, and I would add Timezzon to my calendar workflow earlier instead of doing mental math in my head. If you work across time zones, start with the world clock; if you live in JSON and hex, try IT-Tools on your next debug session; if your explanations keep turning into long paragraphs, try one Excalidraw board before you send the message.