Firefox Developer Extensions - Contemplations
So I’ve been using Firebug for about 6 months steady now. It’s changed my life for sure, and I was thinking that I should finally mention it somewhere public. I recently found Joe Hewitt’s (creator of Firefox and Firebug) blog, and it will be going on my blogroll shortly. I’m just so impressed by this guy. Anyway, every time I try to get my friends and colleagues to pick it up, I am met with resistance. This baffles me. People jump on extension band-wagons all the time, apparently just not the one I’m driving. But why?
Everyone downloaded the Web Developer Toolbar when it came out, and that thing is nothing compared to Firebug. It has it’s useful qualities, but seriously, its so “cheap” in comparison.
Back to Firebug, when I was first introduced to it by Nick Carter I did whine a little, as I always do, but the second I saw something on the page change live before my eyes, it was like “What??” You show it to people and their eyes light up like a whole new world has just been offered to them that they never had imagined would be possible. But they never pursue it after that. I’ve been told to do my Firebug thing for people, and they act like it’s some skill. If you’re developing or designing or both, for heck’s sake, do yourself a favor, and get this thing.
Dan M wrote:
did I resist your firebug sales pitch before? lol
Posted on 01-Aug-07 at 1:09 pm | Permalink
Nick Carter wrote:
Dude, Firebug does indeed rock, as does Joe. Have you seen he created an iPhone toolkit for JavaScripters? Crazy stuff, and I’ve run across at least one reg-ass site that seems to make use of it.
Anyone who doesn’t adopt Firebug has a bug up his ass. It’s worth the occasional crashes and if you’re not actively using it it’s not gonna cause a problem.
The main benefits of Firebug are when using it for scripting, but I won’t get up on a pedestal about it. They use it at Hanley Wood, happy to say!
Posted on 09-Aug-07 at 7:02 am | Permalink
Nick Carter wrote:
Just wanted to point out the most-useful aspects of the Web Dev Toolbar to me:
Disable JavaScript/CSS. This is my most-used feature in it. Any time I need to verify a site will degrade gracefully, this is what I turn to. (IE’s similar toolbar has a likewise similarly useful set of disablers)
Display Topographic Information. I got into using this from seeing vincent Hu use it. Any time it’s not absolutely clear what’s causing blocks to shove each other aside, it’s the secret weapon of sleuthing.
Validate Local HTML. I use this constantly when working on new designs to ensure quality code and to make sure I didn’t goof up! There’s a keyboard shortcut too, so it’s eminently usable!
Just wanted to make the case for not throwing out the old tool just because there’s a new one. Some old dogs know tricks the youn uns don’t yet!
Posted on 02-Jan-08 at 11:48 am | Permalink