chrispederick.com
Aug
10
Web Developer Alpha
- Web Developer
- 6 Comments
- 2 years ago
Today I released an alpha version of the next release of the Web Developer extension to a select group of individuals to get their initial thoughts and bug reports.
Before the comments and emails start coming in requesting to be a part of the alpha release - I am sorry, but I will not be releasing the alpha to any other people.
This alpha release contains most of the core functionality that will be included in the next release and the to-do list shows what has already been built. There are a few extra features that I want to include in the final release, but I am not looking to add in anything too major at this point.
Being an alpha release there are a few known issues - most notably 'unlimited customizable bookmarklets' and 'Validate Tided HTML' not being complete - as well as almost certainly a number of bugs. The plan is to get feedback from this alpha release on the new features and any bug reports.
Release Plan
Once the necessary changes and fixes are made I will then be releasing a public beta for anyone to try - with the caveat that there will most likely still be some bugs, but hopefully nothing too major. Again bug reports and feedback will be incorporated before the final version is released.
As for the inevitable question around the timing of all of this - I cannot commit to dates as I only work on the extension in my free time and it really comes down to how busy I am.
So that is the latest news on the extension. Sorry if you wanted to try the alpha release, but hopefully the beta release will be available soon.
6 Comments
As the FAQ states - I do not support alpha builds. However, the extension will be fully compatible with Firefox 1.5 when it is released.
I tried hitting up one of the other folks you let use the alpha release (since I work with one of them). He did his job quite well on not letting it leak out. I gave him crap for it, but just consider your friends very trustworthy. You've got the alpha release in good hands.
If it ever goes beta and you're still letting a few select use it, then I'm definitely going to hit 'em up (or you) again 
Keep up the awesome work man. You've re-scoped the way web developers work.
All the best.
Hehe - I threatened him if he passed the alpha release on to anyone else, so he did well!
But don't worry, when the beta is released it will be available for anyone to download.
Just change the Deer Park version number to 1.0 under about:config and the web developer extension will install. This is not supported, but does work. As far as I know, once you have installed the Web Developer Toolbar, you can reset the version number.
Oops, I guess changing the version number doesn't work anymore. Sorry.
Allan Rasmussen
2 years ago
August 11, 2005
Hello Chris, nice to see you keep developing on this magnificent extension! I've used it on a daily basis, ever since - well, since I installed Firefox practically, which means back when it was 0.7 or 0.8 I think. Anyway, it's with great sorrow I see it isn't compatible with the Deer Park Alpha 2, and that just actually may make me go back to 1.0.6 again, unless it changes sometime soon. Since you haven't mentioned anything about it in your post, nor on the to-do list, I figure the next release won't be compatible with DPA2 either, but I figured I might as well ask: will it be compatible?
If not, then hopefully I've managed to make you prioritize that part of the development in the future, just a bit more...