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View Full Version : Firefox Addons - For an easier life


ahallicks
11-23-2006, 09:55 AM
Apologies if this has already been created and/or there is an existing help page for designers who use Firefox Addons, but I thought I'd create a nice little helpful guide to easier creation and manipulation of web pages for you budding designers out there :)

A little tip. When you can't understand why something does not look right, or there are extra little gaps displaying where you don't want them too, particularly in Firefox? Why not get the colorZilla (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/271/) add-on and mix it with the EditCSS (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/179/). When you click on the newly installed eye dropper (found in the bottom left of the Firefox window) and move it over the page it will highlight each individual div you have created with a small red dotted border so you can see where each div is being placed on the page, as well as showing you the color values and page position of the divs, AND whether they are ID's or classes etc. That way if something has the wrong width, or height or is not in the right place you can more easily see why.

For IE create a 1px red border around everything to see where they are being placed and what size they are showing at. This doesn't work in firefox because the 1px pushes everything around but seems to work fine in IE.

I definitely recommend getting the color/EditCSS mix tho because it becomes invaluable to designers of web pages with CSS as you can see on the live site where the browser is placing your divs and spans and other content/styling.

I also recommend getting the IETab (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/) addon for Firefox as it saves you having to use two browsers and simply renders the way IE would in the Firefox Window :)

_Aerospace_Eng_
11-23-2006, 10:09 AM
Listed below I think are must haves when it comes to web development.

- ColorZilla (http://www.iosart.com/firefox/colorzilla/) 0.8.3.1
- CSSViewer (http://www.google.com/search?q=Firefox%20CSSViewer) 1.0.2
- EditCSS (http://editcss.mozdev.org) 0.3.6
- Html Validator (http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/) 0.7.9.5
- IE Tab (http://ietab.mozdev.org/) 1.2.0.20061113
- IE View (http://ieview.mozdev.org/) 1.3.1
- MeasureIt (http://www.kevinfreitas.net/pro/extensions/) 0.3.6
- View Cookies (http://www.bitstorm.org/extensions/view-cookies/) 1.6
- View Dependencies (http://mozilla.queze.net) 0.3.2.0
- Web Developer (http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/) 1.0.2

ahallicks
11-23-2006, 10:16 AM
Okay and I've just found the greatest little tool for checking links and making sure the pages looks great on different links: Cooliris (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2207/)

GJay
11-23-2006, 10:54 AM
Firebug is invaluable for anyone who uses Javascript in their sites:
http://www.getfirebug.com/

NancyJ
11-23-2006, 12:54 PM
cooliris is really annoying - I got it a few weeks ago and got rid of it in just a few days, its really annoying to have an almost full page preview pop up every time you mouse over a link - I know there are a lot of configuration options and I probably could get it set up to be less obnoxious - eventually but I found it was just a pita. I would keep turning it off and it would turn itself on for every single table or new window.
Its a nice idea but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

BonRouge
11-23-2006, 01:01 PM
For IE, this web dev toolbar is very useful:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e59c3964-672d-4511-bb3e-2d5e1db91038&displaylang=en

1212jtraceur
11-23-2006, 01:51 PM
Yeah, I got sick of Cooliris, too. It kept on adding url#cooliris to my history for any page I used it on. Besides, I can just open in a new tab, then close.

ahallicks
11-23-2006, 02:03 PM
It has some bugs too I've noticed, like changing the rate by which the mouseover allows the popup has a lot of bugs in it. I do like the way a link stays coloured once you have viewed it tho.

There are tools to stop it from appearing on every link and I've found it quite useful as I use a lot of pages in my sites with a lot of links, so just to check a destination works it's great as you don't have to navigate from the page and back again.

Plus reading these forums is so easy. I am currently typing in the opened window from hovering over the link to this forum. Means I can refresh the forum list and hover over changes to view them without going in and out.

AND googling a word more often than not brings up THOUSANDS of entries. It saves you having to click on any of them, you can simply hover over a link that looks right and see if the page in question has what you need. If not try another, if so click the link or play about in the popup window!

I'll probably get sick of it soon enough, but for now I like it :)