Web Developer Extension for Firefox

ejcross's picture

He has: 27 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

One of the first things I learned when I began developing sites is how invaluable it is to do local testing of the site. I found a great tool to use for Firefox that allows has numerous options for testing, such as turning off CSS, validation, tracking and viewing element information, and outlining block elements, just to name a few.

The Web Developer Extension for Firefox was developed, and is maintained by Chris Pederick and can be found here:

http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/

I have found this tool to be an excellent resource for both development and using it to also see how other sites are put together. Take a moment and check it out!

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

He has: 1,502 posts

Joined: Sep 2006

Here's a link to download it from Mozilla's site if you prefer -> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

CSS Viewer and MeasureIt are two other extensions that makes testing websites a lot more efficient.

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

If you want to take it a step further, check out Firebug Smiling

Web developer toolbars are also available for Opera and IE. I find they all have their strengths and weaknesses Smiling

ejcross's picture

He has: 27 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

Firebug looks like it definately has some good possibilities! I just started playing around with it too, so I'm not sure about it yet. The one thing I do like is the ability to modify the css code and see instant results on the screen. This will make local development a lot easier for sure!

I'll check out the other two as well, and thanks for those!

sitesupport's picture

He has: 190 posts

Joined: Jun 2007

Thanks for the links! Smiling

ejcross's picture

He has: 27 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

Ok, so I've been playing around with Firebug and I really like it!

The greatest part is I prefer to develop my sites locally using XAMPP, so this really helps me to be able to see the site, and make changes to it right there in the browser window without having to switch back and forth between so many screens all the time.

Thanks for that help there, it ROCKS!

JeevesBond's picture

He has: 3,956 posts

Joined: Jun 2002

I've been using Firebug for a while now and find it absolutely indispensable.

ejcross wrote: The one thing I do like is the ability to modify the css code and see instant results on the screen.

Agreed on that! Only problem is if you make a whole load of changes, then they have to be ported back to the CSS files, if you're working on a site with a lot of CSS it's easy to lose track of what you've changed! Smiling

a Padded Cell our articles site!

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Today I discovered another handy tool, the HTML Validator (for firefox). This simply shows a valid/invalid message in the status bar, along with the number of errors (if you choose to show the text as well as the icon). I don't know about you, but I don't exactly go around running the validator on my web pages all the time. This is a handy way to catch validation errors without really trying.

ejcross's picture

He has: 27 posts

Joined: Jul 2007

Yeah, this is a good extension for Firefox. I have been using it for sometime and it does a good job. It's really neat too, because I usually leave it on, and it is amazing the number of sites that I frequent, just how many of them aren't valid.

It gets my curiosity up, and of course, ya just gotta look!

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