Web Development Toolbox

I’m prepping for my next BSDG meeting right now, I’ve decided to show off what I consider to by my toolbox for debugging HTML. These tools are note framework specific, because they come into play after the web page has been written — and it still isn’t working right.

FireBug, which is one of the best html/css/javascript debuggers that I know (works only with FireFox). I consider this tool just as indispensable as ReSharper these days.

YSlow: why is your page slow? Use YSlow to find out. It is a FireBug add-in made by Yahoo!

IE Developer Toolbar: which tries to be FireBug for IE — and almost gets there, but lacks the elegance of FireBug, and editing CSS with it is a pain. But it is still better than every other tool I’ve seen for IE.

NotePad++: because NotePad isn’t enough anymore, and you still need a text editor.

Web Developer Toolbar: Not like FireBug, but useful none the less.

CSS Vista: a tool to compare css between IE and FireFox.

Visual Studio.Net 2008: This picks up where IE Developer Toolbar doesn’t get to. JavaScript debugging.

FireBugLite: actually, I just saw this today, so I can’t comment on it too much. But it looks cool. It is a javascript file that you include in your web page and gives you some of the features of FireBug.

Fiddler: if you really want to see EXACTLY what is being sent from the web browser to the server, this is the tool for you.

Cool part about all of these tools: they are all free, and many are open source.

OK, I’ve shown you mine, you show me yours. What tools do you find indispensable?

Happy Hacking.