Unidev Tech Blog

Posts Tagged ‘web browser updates’

Web developers and programmers test on the Internet constantly.  Web browsers and software updates all help make browsing faster, easier and more customizable to your needs.  But did you know that many developers use thousands of applications, add-ons and extensions to further the user customization experience in each browser?  Compiled by our development team, take a look at some of these extra features for popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari, and this week, Mozilla Firefox.

Must Haves:

Web Developer 1.1.9 by chrispederick

With over 21 million downloads you can assume this app does something right.  Web Developer adds a toolbar to Firefox that arms the user with a plethora of tools including coding options for forms, CSS, images, resizing, and full w3c validation all within a couple quick clicks of the mouse.

Firebug 1.9.1 by Joe Hewitt

Like the Web Developer app, Firebug has similar features but shines particularly in debugging processes.  Also see FlashFirebug 3.4.2 by O-Minds when working with AS3 and SWF files.  Firefinder for Firebug 1.2.2 by Robert Nyman is another add-on to Firebug, this one helps in finding HTML elements matching the developer’s chosen CSS selector(s) or XPath expression.

YSlow 3.1.0 by YSlow

Is your webpage running slowly?  Find out why with this app.  YSlow analyzes and grades your page using either three predefined rulesets, or a user-defined one.  Giving both valid feedback and suggestions, YSlow is a great way to improve your website’s speed.

JavaScript Debugger 0.9.89 by James Ross

Also known as “Venkman,” this app provides the developer with a strong JavaScript debugger and profiler.

Other Useful Tools

ColorZilla 2.6.4 by Alex Sirota

Like the eyedropper tool in most photo editing software, this tool allows the user to capture any color that you see while browsing through the web. Especially when redesigning a website, this tool can help guarantee that you are using the same colors as the previous site.

Mind the Time 0.4.7 by Paul Morris

This is a handy time management app especially if you fill out timesheets at your place of employment.   This tool will keep track of how long you’re Firefox session lasts as well as time spent on the current website.  Note that it will only calculate the time spent while remaining active as it has an idle status that kicks in after a minute of inactivity.

Session Manager 0.7.8.1 by Morac

If you find yourself going back to the same websites day in and day out, this is the add-on for you.  Session Manager can record your sessions opened in Firefox and make them easily accessible for you the next day with just a simple click.

ColorfulTabs 11.2 by Binary Turf and Tab Scope 1.1.5 by Gomita

These two add-ons help organization when you tend to have an excessive amount of tabs open at once.  ColorfulTabs highlights each tab with a different color, making them a little more distinctive.  Tab Scope allows a mini preview of the website simply by hovering over the tab preventing a frantic click and search trying to “find that one page you were on.”