When it comes to growing sites and WebPages we can all use a little help now and then when it comes down to the actual detail. Fortunately there is a huge array of tools available to programmers which could be of use when it comes to creating, monitoring, evaluating and debugging web pages. Here are some features which have found useful through the years.
Web developer toolbar
The Web Developer Extension adds a menu and a toolbar to the browser. For anybody who uses Firefox that is interested in accessibility and CSS web development, this is a vital must-have for analyzing web pages.
Web accessibility toolbar
The web accessibility toolbar is available for Internet Explorer. It can perform just about any accessibility evaluation on a web page, such as HTML and CSS validation, colour checking, HTML structure analysis, and much more.
Firebug
Firebug is an extension to the Firefox web browser and is an essential tool to any web programmer. It allows viewing inspecting and edits HTML, CSS and JavaScript reside on any web page also helping to debug a high number of possible issues
YSlow
YSlow is a plug-in that is integrated with the Firebug net extension for Firefox. it is an excellent tool to help cut the amount of HTTP requests necessary to render a page. It analyses the webpage and summarises the page’s elements, displays data and suggests ways to improve its functionality.
Fangs
Fangs is an extension to the Firefox web browser. It leaves a text version of a web page similar to how a screen reader would read it. Additionally, it offers a list of links and headings which are on the webpage. It will help to quickly find out whether there are any accessibility problems on a web page for screen reader users.
Aardvark
Aardvark is an add-on for Firefox browser. It outlines any components over which you put your cursor and displays the HTML tags and the CSS styles of the components chosen. Additionally, it has one fantastic feature which makes it worth installing an anti debugging before printing. Simply pick the area of the webpage that you wish to publish usually the primary content area and it is going to make sure that only this gets published, resizing it perfectly on to the newspaper.
IE tester
Detester is a free web browser that contains different versions of Internet Explorer, from 5.5 through to 8. You can now test websites in several versions of Internet Explorer all through only 1 browser.
Windows magnified
It is essentially just a very standard screen magnifier bundled in with Windows XP. It is great if you would like to quickly check how your website looks through a screen magnifier. Check out this program on Your Computer in Start > Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Magnifier.
