Colorzilla

A simple but incredibly useful plug-in for Firefox.  Colorzilla provides a small eye dropper in the status bar of your browser which can be used to determine the color of any DOM element.   But it does more than this, it can also generate a palette based on your selection, allowing you to develop websites with matching colour palettes.

MeasureIt

Another simple but essential plug-in.  How many times have you found yourself wondering if a set of elements line up properly, or wondering just how far apart they are.  MeasureIt allows you to draw a box on the your browser providing you with the exact dimensions in pixels.  It couldn’t get much more simple than that.

Firebug

Quite possibly the most powerful utility in any developer’s tool-belt.  It allows you to inspect the HTML and CSS and even tweak them on the fly.  You can easily identify JavaScript errors with Firebug, something that is almost impossible to do in Internet Explorer.  One of the most interesting things about Firebug, and one of the things that makes it most powerful, is that it has plug-ins of its own.  Some examples of such plug-ins are FireCookie, FirePHP and newest to the scene Google Page Speed.

Web Developer

The oldest and most heavily used tool hanging from my belt.  I can’t even begin to detail all of the features this plug-in offers.  Some examples include outlining table cells, resizing the browser’s view port, showing comments or hidden elements, validation tools, etc.  Even after using this tool for many years I am still discovering new features, and I sometimes find myself wonder if they just recently added it or if it’s been there for years and I’ve never noticed it.

UrlParams

Far too often I see developers printing out their GET and POST variables using a print_r or similar method. Little do they know how much more simple they can make their lives by adding this handy plug-in to their arsenal. UrlParams not only allows you to view your GET and POST variables but it allows you to tweak them on the fly.

I’m sure all of you have your own personal favourites, there are many I considered listing but decided to limit it to my five most treasured plug-ins. If there are any you feel should be on this list, by all means please share them in the comments.

Brad Fettes

A seasoned Senior Solutions Architect with 20 years of experience in technology design and implementation. Renowned for innovative solutions and strategic insights, he excels in driving complex projects to success. Outside work, he is a passionate fisherman and fish keeper, specializing in planted tanks.