Today the following article popped up in my RSS reader:

22 Firefox 3 Plugins Web Designers Can’t Live Without

Having tried out a few of these extensions I can conclude that the title of that article is entirely accurate. Here's a few extensions from that list that are now my favorites:

• YSlow for Firebug. This extension plugs right into Firebug (another gem you do not want to miss as a web developer!). Upon activation, it scans the current page for performance issues. Where Firebug gives you the raw numbers, and leaves it up to you analyze and draw conclusions, YSlow states the problems in clear language, along with solutions. For example, it may tell you that you are making too many HTTP requests, that you have not minimized javascript, or that you have not compressed all resources. This is going to save me many hours.
• ScreenGrab! This extensions takes a screenshot of your current web page (portion, visible area, or complete page) and makes it available as a file or on your clipboard. There are desktop apps that can do this, but this one is free and built right into your web browser.
• IETab. This extension renders your current page using Internet Explorer, directly as a tab within Firefox. No more switching windows!

While we're at sharing tips, here's another one:

http://browsershots.org/

That site will render screenshots of your site in many OS/browser combinations. I've known about services like this before, but not one that is free and has no limitations.

Finally, I would like to share the best design site I know about:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

Smashing Magazine is my major source for design inspiration, CSS, AJAX, Javascript, XHTML, photography, Photoshop tutorials, you name it. Considering content is king, they are the masters. Although they mostly compile lists of external resources, the one-stop shop approach for design and web development content saves me a tremendous amount of time and puts me in touch with a very wide range of content from all over the web.

Enjoy!

CREATE A NEW COMMENT

	Name:
	Email:
	Website:
	Content:	HTML is not allowed. Hyperlinks will automatically be converted.