The Five Chrome Extensions Every Developer Needs
Confession time: Somewhere down the back of my T-shirt drawer
there's a black tee with a red dinosaur and the word "Mozilla"
in blocky soviet-industrial type. It's from a time when Firefox was young
and easy and free, and we were in love.
Ah, Firefox. Whatever happened to us?
Taking Chrome out was no big deal at the time -- just for a lark at
first. It felt smart and airy and clean, but I'd always wander home to
Firefox when it was time to for serious stuff.
Chrome was my fun weekend "sweet ride," while Firefox was my
sensible work SUV with trailer.
The problem was, I was taking longer and longer to come home. One day I
realized I hadn't opened Firefox in a week.
I was now a Chrome user.
Maybe you've been flirting with the idea too, but have been thinking,
"Oh, I'd miss extension X too much."
Well, perhaps not. Let me run you through the five Chrome extensions
I've come to rely on.
Pendule
One of the earliest and most enduring developer extensions for Firefox
has been Chris Pederick's wonderful Web Developer
Toolbar.
Its closest Chrome equivalent is Christian
Frey's Pendule.
Pendule in action
Pendule opens as a single large panel opening from the Pendule button and
offers the veritable Swiss Army knife of web development tools, including
validators, generated source views, image dimension views, color pickers,
screen rulers, and more.
In short, indispensable.
It's also probably worth mentioning Filippo
Baruffaldi's Chrome Web Developer Tools, an unashamed clone of Chris
Pederick's extension. Although it packs a lot of punch, the labyrinthine
UI needs some work before it becomes really useful.
It's certainly one to watch in future.
Firebug Lite
I suspect that the single biggest reason developers might feel anchored
to Firefox is Joe Hewitt's
revered Firebug extension.
Before Firebug came along, elite developers were part shaman, part
browser whisperer -- gifted humans with the uncanny ability to
look into the mind of a troubled browser and understand it.
Firebug was the first extension to let anyone get inside the browser's
head and see exactly what it was thinking.
This was a revelation for many of us.
Firebug Lite
Currently
Firebug is only available in its Lite incarnation on Chrome. This means
there's no access to the Net and JavaScript debugging panels. That may well
be an issue for you, but it certainly has no big impact on the way I work
most days.
Then again, you may even have no need for Firebug at all. Chrome's
built-in Web Developer Tools panel (shared by Safari, of course) has a
sophisticated tabbed interface that echoes many of Firebug's coolest
features, with even a few new ones up its sleeve.
Chrome's increasingly advanced, built-in Web Developer Tools
Webpage Screenshot
There are two approaches you can take here. Both Aviary
and Picnik
make nice screengrabbing extensions that are designed to interface directly
with their excellent online editors. These are great, but often I just want
a full-page screengrab that I can paste straight into Fireworks or
Photoshop for remodeling.
Happily, Webpage
Screenshot fits the bill perfectly. The cute camera icon lets you
choose between capturing the visible screen area only or the entire
rendered page. It also throws in some basic image-labeling options. And
that's all there is to it. It's super simple and just works.
Resolution Test
Although the current trend towards fixed-width design has made it less
important than it was, we all test our sites in a range of resolutions. Resolution Test gives you quick access to a ready-made
set of common screen sizes, plus the ability to set custom screen
dimensions. Enough said.
Webpage Screenshot
If you're looking for an alternative, Window
Resizer performs a similar task and includes some interesting screen
presets. These include "iPhone, Android, Palm Pre," "Old
Computer," and "Not That Old Computer."
Eye Dropper
Eye
Dropper is another pared back, perfect, one-trick pony of an extension.
I'm quite sure you can guess what it does.
Although it's true that Pendule incorporates a simple color picker too,
I prefer Eye Dropper, as it lets you sample screen colors as well and mix
colors from scratch.
Eye Dropper
Wrap-up
Let's be clear: in general, Chrome's extensions are currently a little
less polished than their Firefox counterparts. The Chrome platform and
community is obviously still in its early stages, and there's every chance
a given extension will be lacking minor features or some reliablity. I
would also add that in my experience the Chrome Mac is currently a little
more raw than the Chrome Windows.
On the other hand, the Chrome extension library is growing in size and
sophistication daily. We also know from experience that marquee Google
products (for instance, Gmail, Docs, Maps, Android, and so on) develop
continuously and rapidly, so expect the gap to shrink swiftly.
And one other small but significant joy. Chrome lets you install and
remove any extension without having to restart your browser.
Yes, I know this seems fairly inconsequential, but I
love it.
So, what do you think? Is your relationship with Firefox rock-solid
enough to withstand a trial separation?
And yes, that's a dare ...
I'm a huge Chrome fan and have also found myself less & less in Firefox. Some nice plugins to help stay in Chrome.