chrispederick.com
Sep
19
Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar
- Web Developer
- 15 Comments
- 2 years ago
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then I am honored by the beta release of the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar. While the AEVITA Web Inspector was a blatant rip-off, the IE Developer Toolbar, although clearly inspired by the Web Developer extension, is a separate and potentially useful tool.
The structure of the menus resembles the Web Developer extension with 'Disable', 'Images', 'Misc', 'Outline' and 'Resize' all being common between the two tools, as well as the 'Validate' menu correlating to the 'Tools' menu in the Web Developer extension. Most of the features have an equivalent in the Web Developer extension, although the IE Developer Toolbar contains fewer features - particularly those related to CSS.
Interesting Features
There are three unique features of the IE Developer Toolbar that stood out for me.
Firstly, 'View DOM' which is similar to the DOM Inspector in Firefox. What makes this feature unique is the option to 'pin' the DOM Explorer as part of the browser window which is useful.
Secondly, the 'Show Ruler' feature which gave Ben some ideas on how to improve the 'Display Ruler' feature that is part of the Web Developer Alpha.
Finally, the 'Outline Positioned Objects' feature which I have already added to the to-do list for the Web Developer extension and I am hoping to include in the next release.
A Promising Start
Overall, I think the IE Developer Toolbar is an interesting tool which, while clearly immature, shows some promise and it will be interesting to see how it improves going forward. For a more in-depth review of the IE Developer Toolbar with screenshots check out Cow's Blog.
15 Comments
I'm happier with yours, Chris. Not interested in using a tool that is trying to play catch-up to something I have been using for a long time.
my comment is the same as above except for
using = permanently attached and entirely dependant upon
a long time = a long long long long long long time
It's interesting that Microsoft copied the Web Developer Toolbar. They know that the Web Developer Toolbar is a big reason why a lot of people stick with Firefox. But there are also a lot of other web developer extensions for Firefox (I list a few on my site). I hope that any extra features that MS adds to their toolbar will be incorporated back into the real Web Developer Toolbar to keep people using Firefox. The Web Developer Toolbar is probably the best feature of Firefox (along with tabbed browsing). I've gotten quite a few people to switch to Firefox just by showing them the Web Developer Toolbar.
Can you imagine the rainfall of lawyers had the releases been reversed? Does MS actually create anything on their own, or only re-engineer others' ?
Just tried the IE tool and it just keeps crashing on me. I've been relying on your tool for the past year and it just keeps getting better. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Hi mate, long time no catch up.
I've got the toolbar running and while it appears to be inspired by some higher entity ;), it's a relief to have something that almost works on IE, particularly when developing websites for clients who don't give a toss what browser it works in, as long as it works in IE (which is the majority, to be honest). It's a useful tool to start working through the plethora of IE CSS bugs.
It crashes as all MS Betas seem to, but not beyond the point of frustration. I liked the layout of the DOM inspector (pinning a 3rd column for style properties). The updating of properties in the View DOM is really clunky though, which is a shame.
I for one am happy that it exists - slightly awkward though it may be. If you're developing websites for the common market, then you are going to have to account for IE and its bugs if you're using CSS to develop anything more complex than a single column layout. Anything that can help you troubleshoot the layout has to have something to commend it.
Anyway, hope you get to sue M$ for infringement of lovely-developmentness.
I've just tested the IE Toolbar. It seems indeed that MS is not able to develop itself its own software.
I agree with you : it will be interesting to see how MS will improve its web developpement toolbar. Will they be satisfied to follow the others by copying their ideas, or wille they be able to innovate ?
It seems for the moment that the only goal of this Toolbar is to switch people who have firefox towards IE.
It is a pity that microsoft decide today of its development only from one marketing point of view, rather than by revolutionary ideas.
I have just installed the toolbar to find a fault with a page rendered in IE. Not as comprehensive as WebDevT but hey, good on MS for providing something useful to the dev community.
Hahaha! I can't believe... But the IE's box model is still rotten. LOL
They shoud pay you royalties!
Chris I agree with I was very impressed with these new features as well.I agree with you J Cohen I am more impressed with Firefox then IE and have told alot of friends about it and they switched as well.
Sounds like some great tools to try out, I will have to give yours a shot. I never use IE for any work, so using the IE toolbar really isn't a viable option anyhow..
I loike the idea of the ruler though.. Thanks to you, and everyone else who is developing tools to make things easier for webmasters! Now if all the big guys would focus on standards, we may have an easier future, instead of an increasingly more complex one.
Seeing as though CSS and xhtml is defintiely where the future should be, I find it strange that msoft would leave that out.. perhaps when a newer version arrives it will have css support... I sure hope they do, I want to see more standards, and something like this could get people to work with that more!
That's hilarious that the bigger giant of data processing is not able to develop a simple developper toolbar itself. They have already many lawsuits for this kind of business. You could prosecute Microsoft too, like Fabiana says, and request royalties.
It must be cool to know that microsoft of all people is taking your idea and making it available to the whole community.. would be nice to get some credit for it.. but we all know how that goes.. I have some great ideas taken by others that turned into successes too. I can still pride myself in kowing that I had a good idea, and just spurs me on to create new ideas... I'll have to give your a try next time I use IE...
Bill Brown
2 years ago
September 20, 2005
This makes testing in IE bearable. Nothing like FF with Web Developer. Can't wait for your new version!