Browser Tools / Add-Ons
Luckily there are some great tools available to help us with troubleshooting and learning how pages are built. FIREBUG and the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox are two indepsensible tools that a web developer/coder must include in their aresenal.
Firefox
There are numerous tools available to help out in the web development and troubleshooting process. Each browser has their own strengths and weaknesses on their own, browsers capabilities can be ‘extended’ through the use of plug-ins, extensions, and add-ons.
FIREFOX
Extensions and plug-ins are available by going to firefox.com and clicking on add-ons.
Here are a couple of plug-ins you will want to download and install.
SAFARI
Safari has developer tools built in, they just have to be turned on to be visible.
- open up the Safari preferences
- click on advanced
- turn on developer
- there will now be a Develop menu available
- try turning on the Web Inspector from the Develop menu – you will be able to inspect items on web sites/pages.
Other Extensions are available for safari by going under the Safari menu and clicking on the Safari Extensions Gallery.
There are tons of tools available for every browser – some work better in different browsers, for now just download these two tools to keep from overwhelming yourself, one can easily drown in the amount of options available. We will look at a webtoolkit later in the course.