Is it still usefull for a non web developer (including me)?
I’ve used Firebug some but now that I’ve used Eclipse and Java utilizing GWT (Google’s Web development toolkit), I’m not sure I’d want to go back to debugging native Javascript. I’m curious whether you’ve come across similar conclusions. I just completed an eval of GWT (in relation to a prototype I just completed). Eclipse as an IDE is very feature rich and its free (as is GWT). So debugging in Java seems like an easier and more structured effort. Any thoughts?
Jeff,
another add-on that you should check out is the HTML Validator extension by Marc Gueury.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249
Much easier than using the online w3c validator, or even setting up your own instance locally (which I have done in the past) - since it validates source between postbacks/etc. which is often tedious to do when you need to view source/cut/paste into the online validator and then check. The latest version uses the OpenSP lib’s that the w3c validator implements so the error checking is very much inline. Otherwise it can use the HTML tidy lib’s for its checking.
Was more than happy to kick a few euro’s Marc’s way for all his hard work.
You do realize that you can edit CSS and properties etc directly in FireBug and probably drop the WDE…??
And you’d obviously use http://ajaxwidgets.com as your Ajax Widgets library I assume… 
.t
Be sure to read http://www.bram.us/2006/12/11/my-foxification-pimp-your-firefox-to-be-a-web-all-star/ too
Firebug is the daddy! I have no idea how I coped without out it. It’s a dream for debugging CSS
You almost forgot IE tab. When plugged into IE 6 with visual studio installed, it even allows you to do the necessary IE debugging! Great Article!
I’m thirding the call about fiddler. I’m not an IE fan (i just drank some APPLE juice) but I’m still waiting for a firefox extension that does what fiddler does. Grab the fiddler 2.0 beta, it does full https real time request inspection!
Opera wins at speed and standards compilance, sorry guys!
viva firefox!
I’ve found IE’s Developer Toolbar to be equal to, and in some ways superior to, WDE on Firefox. But nothing in IE-land can touch FireBug. It’s da bomb.
Also definitely look into Aptana for all your Web dev IDE needs, they’ve got HTML/CSS/JavaScript pretty much down to a science (there are a few minor kinks to work out…) are killing it with Ruby/Rails thanks to the acquisition of RadRails, and have just recently begun integrating PHP functionality.
The JS debugger for Aptana is quite good (VS/traditional IDE style, not in-browser) and in the upcoming Studio version (commercial license) works perfectly in IE as well. (testing identically across environments is sick!)
And of course since it’s an Eclipse product, many many plugins become available to you once you’ve installed it. (XMLBuddy, Wicked Shell and Subclipse are the only non-Aptana-owned plugs I use somewhat regularly)
@joe
Opera wins at speed and standards compilance, sorry guys!
It’s true, i love opera for browsing mailing rssing and every ing i can,
but for developing nothing better than firefox
what’s wrong with you guys? IE??? are you kidding???
Serious web developers go Firefox/Safari, at least…
IE…hahahahaha
can any one plz tell me how can i outline div(not all the blocked element) like in IE developer tool bar.
if any one know plz mail me at
ahtes_ham@yahoo.com
can any one please tell me i wanted to close the window without javascript in eclipse . i don’t want to use javascript. i wanted to do that with coding . but i am not able to do that . i am stuck here , i am not able to get the soln. plz help me out. i am able to do the in IE6/7 and opera but don’t have soln for Firefox2.0/3.0.
I want solution for firefox 2.0 and 3.0.
I am using eclipse. please mail me krunpatel@hotmail.com
I use some of the Firefox developer tools including Firebug and the Webdeveloper toolbar. I can’t imagine how I managed without them. Thanks to the people who wrote them.
Even though the shop I develop at is solely IE, I made the switch to Firefox a few years ago for my browsing and debugging. I still develop my web apps in IE, but if I get a javascript bug I open it in Firefox. As anyone who develops web apps knows, IE’s javascript debugging is useless.
Firefox beats IE7 hands down for browsing, just based on the usefulness of Adblock Plus.
Also take a look at this JavaScript Shell http://www.squarefree.com/shell/
a nice addition to the toolbox
Some have asked what Web Developer Toolbar is good for when firebug is so awesome - here are a couple things I really like about it:
When you use JavaScript to “dynamically” generate markup and insert it into your code, you can use the “View Source…View Generated Source” option (which is also available via right-click context menu) and see what the code looks like that you generated.
It really helps when you’re trying to figure out what “that stupid div won’t align when I insert it”.
Another favorite is what I call the “CSS Disabler”. When there are multiple stylesheets, like if you’re using the YUI reset-fonts-grids.css and doing a bunch of re-styling, you can individually disable whole stylesheets, all of the page’s css, inline styles only, etc. It’s really great when you’re working on complicated CSS-based layouts.