Firebug

Developers and programmers are sure to enjoy the functionality provided by the free and open source web development tool Firebug. By integrating with the Firefox web browser, this tool puts numerous development tools at your disposal. You can use the tool to edit, debug, and monitor any website’s CSS, HTML, DOM, XHR, and JavaScript.

Having the Firefox browser installed on your machine is a must if you want to use Firebug – as previously mentioned, Firebug is an add-on for the Firefox browser. The good news is that the application is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and that it takes little time to get the browser up and running. If you already have Firefox, then you'll be glad to know that getting the Firebug add-on is a simple process that goes along smoothly.

You can access the Firebug interface by clicking the icon in the upper right hand corner or by using the F12 hotkey. By default, Firebug shows up as a pane in the lower part of Firefox interface. If you want to, you can change this default location (put Firebug on the sides or at the top instead of down at the bottom) and you can also open Firebug in a separate window (you can do that with a simple mouse click).

Firebug is a powerful tool that has a lot to offer: view console messages and execute JavaScript commands, inspect and manipulate DOM nodes, inspect and manipulate CSS stylesheets, debug JavaScript, inspect and manipulate DOM properties, analyze network traffic, inspect and manipulate cookies. So to sum it up, you are presented with a powerful set of tools that can prove to be quite useful for development and debugging purposes.

Firebug is a free and open source tool. Mozilla suggests you donate $10 to support the application’s development.

With the powerful debugging functionality it has to offer, Firebug is a must have for developers.