A year in the making, I am pleased to finally announce the 1.0 release of the Web Developer extension. This release contains a huge number of new features and bug fixes.
Some new features to look out for are:
- Display Element Information
- Display Ruler
- Edit HTML
- View Document Size
Other notable new features are support for opening the current page in another application through the customizable ‘Tools’ menu and viewing the source in an external editor through the customizable ‘View Source’ menu.
Please see the updated documentation for more information.
If you are upgrading from a previous version of the extension you are strongly recommended to uninstall the extension before upgrading.
If you are having problems after upgrading you should uninstall the extension in safe mode and then re-install.
Keep up the good work! This is an excellent tool, although it’s finding too many mistakes in my designs
lol
More like YEARS in the making. Congratulations Chris! WebDev is a lifesaver.
‘Edit HTML’, what with Edit CSS I see Live development If these features could be added to the top of Firefox rather than the side Live Development would be possible. Currently it pushes % off sideways which make it impossible to be sure that everythings right.
I am looking to improve the sidebar features in a future release to allow docking to any side of the browser as well as floating windows.
Thanks for your work — Web Developer is a great tool. Perhaps the most useful tool I’ve found in 8 years of web development.
Thanks for the job.
Whow.… thx Chris!
Keep up the excellent work!
The most interesting tool for my firefox, helping me to fix many problem in IE too! I LOVE the “View style information”!
The new “Display Element Information” works great but, if I can suggest, will be VERY usefull if the click on the Children or Ancestor elements listed will make something like open the DOM Inspector on the selected elements.
I talk as a dummy-users, I don’t know how this will be difficult, but extension like Inspect Element do this, and I find this feature usefull as far as Web Developer too.
Again thanks!
There are so many useful improvements in version 1.0 (Display Table Depth, View Document Size, Display Line Guides, …) — marvelous!
The BEST extension to Firefox — really. And the most important tool for webworkers, too.
Hands Down, the best firefox extension I’ve got.
Thanks for providing this to the community.
Keul — This is a good idea and I’ll look into it for a future release.
Holy CRAP. I thought this extension was essential before. Kudos upon kudos to you, sir! This is marvelous.
If I download the localized version of WebDeveloper, I obtain version 0.9.4 instead of 1.0
knocte — This is because the extension was released less than 48 hours ago so there are no translations for it yet.
The download is labeled as 0.9.4 and I will replace it with the 1.0 release when I have some translations.
Then me and my l10n group (NAVE: http://nave.escomposlinux.org/) can contribute. We will contact you.
Fantastic! Many thanks for such an essential tool for Web developers.
I love the WebDeveloper extension. The 1.0 version, — seem to have a problem when running together with Gmail. I am not able to open attachments received in Gmail. When uninstalling the 1.0 version, and reinstalling the. 0.94, — everything works fine.
I miss the “Clear Session Cookies” functionality in version 1.0.
Geir A.
Hey, this is a great tool, I use it every day!
–but i too miss the “Clear Session Cookies” — it made testing sites that uses cookies much easier. Now I need to close the browser (all tabs) to see the changes
Sweet! I wasn’t expecting to finally be able to hover from menu to menu just like that, so that’s a pleasant surprise… working with Web Developer just got a bit faster.
Excellent work, Chris!
An FYI — Firefox just notified me that an update was available for your toolbar. However, after I installed it, I had to reinstall Firefox because I lost all functionality of it. I couldn’t type a url, my bookmark toolbar disappeared, and no homepage pulled up on launch. After the re-install of Firefox things seem back to normal.
I DO greatly value your extension! Happy New Year!
Thanks a million!
Great work. Well worth the wait. Some of my favorite new features include: Edit HTML, Outline Positioned Elements, View Color Information, View Document Outline and Source and View Generated Source. As a result of the added features I can get rid of numerous other extensions and bookmarklets.
Milou: same thing happened to me, but after 3 Firefox restarts everything worked fine…
Oh, and thanks for all the work on the exentension Chris!
I had FF1.0.7 english WindowsXP. I updated to WebDeveloper1.0 using the internal update tool. All went fine and I restarted Firefox.
Then I could do nothing. I could see menus, toolbar and address field. But clicking menus or address field did nothing. It was like some hidden glass was on top of the browser window stealing all focuses.
I could use right-mouseclick to open context menu. Reinstalled FF1.0.7 did not help. Workaround:
* Started in safe mode: firefox.exe –safe-mode
* Uninstalled Webdeveloper1.0
* restarted FF and all is fine now.
Other extensions I have:
Dom Inspector 1.0, Live HTTP Headers 0.11, View Cookies 1.5, ViewSourceWith 0.0.7.8, Adblock 0.5.2.056
Fixed FF1.0.7 freesing problem:
* Started in safe mode: firefox.exe –safe-mode
* Uninstalled Webdeveloper 1.0
* Close Firefox
* Start firefox in normal mode
* Installed Webdeveloer 1.0 again
* Restarted Firefox and now it seems to work ok.
So maybe Webdeveloper autoupdate is not recommended, must first uninstall old version then install new one.
Geir — The extension works fine with GMail for me. I would suggest uninstalling and re-installing the extension or trying it under a clean profile.
Geir and Soren — ‘Clear Session Cookies’ is still available, but has been moved to a new ‘Cookies’ menu. If you are not seeing this menu then please read the FAQ.
asdf — I think the auto-update works much better in Firefox 1.5, but if you are having problems please read the documentation for troubleshooting recommendations.
Kudos. The best Firefox extension for any web developer out there, it’s a must.
However, the editCSS/HTML seems a lot slower than previous versions. Also, it would be nice to have the option to open the editCSS/HTML in a new window or tab, instead of sidebar, as this restricts the size of the site/is small to edit in.
trovster — Please see my previous comment about the sidebar. As for performance, there are no major changes that should have affected the speed — you could try tweaking some of the settings for the sidebar in the options.
I installed the new version this morning, and now Firefox won’t start in regular or safe mode. Any ideas? Do I need to reinstall everything!?
Just a quick note of thanks — WDT is the gold standard for HTML/CSS/HTTP troubleshooting.
Dan — The extension should not be able to stop Firefox starting in safe mode. Make sure you have no copies of Firefox running in the background and then run again in safe mode.
Greetings from Russia
Thanks for a pretty hard job. We all sure appreciate this.
A few notes:
– it would be nice to include 1024×768 to the Resize options.
– disabling images was better in the previous version. One extra click is needed now.
– disabling images w/o refreshing the page would be splendid.
– elements should be outlined with different colors (ex. absolute — red; fixed — green and so on)
Thanks for the work again
Great work with this update Chris. I’m only an amatuer web developer making pages more for myself than anyone else but your extension is still really useful. However I also have some bad news to report: The rip-off is back, with the same stolen icons and the same copied-verbatim feature descriptions.
Flack:
- The resize list is configurable so you can add it yourself — please read the FAQ.
– Disabling images is under an extra menu, but this was done for consistency as part of the menu reorganization.
– Unfortunately disabling images is an internal feature to the browser and requires a refresh. Any change would be a change in the browser not the extension.
– I’ve added the unique colors for the ‘Outlined Positioned Elements’ feature to the to-do list.
Ian — I had noticed that and will be contacting them about it again.
- My bad, sorry.
– OK, roger that. But still it was more usable
– Yup, I see. But may be there could be another way? Like “Make Images Invisible” with displaying the alt-text.
– Great!
THANKS! This is awesome!
I ran into the same issues that Milou and Kent did. I had to restart Firefox in Safe Mode just to be able to use the browser. Fixing this is simple: when I read the installation documentation, I realized I needed to uninstall the previous version of the toolbar. However, the first time through I had no reason to read the documentation since I hadn’t run into problems yet.
Chris: Would you be so good as to mention on the main WDT page the fact that current users need to uninstall first? I figure it could save some people a lot of confusion.
*Donated*
Thanks bro.
aliotsy — I’ll update the page with a note about this.
Dustin — thanks!
Hi there, thanks for a great extension!
I use the View Source button alot since I’m in a help channel for #CSS. Problem is that you have changed the View Source button to make me click twice to see the source, this makes is unless imo, since I can easiliy rightclick anywhere and select view source there… Anyhow, you problably think I’m lacy but is there some way I can manually change this in just my version?
Thank you for Web Developer extension, it has saved me considerable time and my sanity on a number of occassions.
Huvet — The button has been expanded for the extra features such as ‘View Frame Source’ and viewing the source in an external editor. There is no way to change this just for your version.
Brilliant work as usual Chris, thank you so much for this outstanding extension.
Brilliant extenuation… I have become so dependent on it, I have difficulty developing websites without it!
Anyway, going along what “Huvet” was saying… On the options, “View Source” page, would it be possible to have a tick box to convert the “View Source” menu back into the single button — those new features in the menu are great, but I personally prefer the single click.
Also, I know I have the bookmarks menu, but it would be really good if the links to the W3C documents came back… having all the web dev stuff together really helped.
Anyway, you amaze me again, I did not think it could get any better… but it looks like there is allot for me to play with today (yay).
Awesome job on this extension, Chris.
I can’t get it to work properly.
I started in Safe mode, deinstalled, installed 1.0, but simply none of the options work. Only view source, about the likes.
Disable styles do not work, Outline XX elements (I tried several) anything I clicked in Information menu.
Any ideas? I reverted back to 0.9.4. which works fine.
(my previous comment seamed to be made too early
, based on fixed list)
Download error. Any ideas?
YewWWW!!!
Thanks for this. You make me work harder — or better — not sure but either way this extension is a must have if your a web designer. *5 stars* in my book.
A heartfelt thanks for a job well done. You made my life easier, more efficient, and overall, happier.
Thanks!
Aleksandar — My only suggestion would be to try the extension under a clean profile.
Alex — Please read the installation troubleshooting section of the documentation.
Thanks so much for this, Chris. I love the new edit HTML feature, as well as… well, all the others. I think your extension also converted someone from Opera to Firefox today (quite unintentionally).
You rock. Keep up the good work!
Fantastic! Just when we thought that this extension couldn’t get any better, you go and outdo yourself with version 1.0. All those extra features, with the brilliant Edit HTML feature too. How long I’ve been looking for that feature!
*Please* keep up the incredible work!
I would like to join the throngs applauding your work. My absolute favorite feature is View Generated Source — indispensable in troubleshooting scripts that write to the page.
I am about to donate, and I was going to ask you: all these people who thank you, do they also donate? How are we users doing in supporting you?
D’de
Davide — As for donations supporting me…let’s just say I won’t be quitting my day job any time soon!
However, I have had about 15 people donate since the release and those donations (along with yours) are greatly appreciated.
Well, with friends like these …
Ben,
Just so you know, those two are buddies anyway, so that post you linked was all in good fun as they’re ‘ol time buddies.
I personally know Wally as that type anyway. He’s a good friend of mine as well.
WOOOOOOOOW !!!!!!!!
The best just got better!
Its the first extension I reach for, almost always spots the flaw first, is a pain in the a## for pointing out the bad stuff.… but you end up with a perfect page!
Thanks for your replay Chris.
I have to agree with Craig a checkbox in the options would be a great addition in the next version. I can’t belive this minor issue is annoying me so much but it does.
The extension is great! Easy to use and very powerful.
Is it possible to edit the HTML of a frame? I tried several ways, but I always got the source of the frameset to edit.
The tooltip of all the menu items of the web developer toolbar is the last tooltip that was displayed in anywhere Firefox (except tooltips of bookmarks) — if I look at the tooltip of “CSS” (in the toolbar), every item has “CSS” as tooltip, if I look at the tooltip of the reload button I get “reload page” as tooltip.
The Web Developer Toolbar is a great tool that is a must have for any web designer! Keep up the great work!
Installing 1.0 broke my Fx 1.07. Menu and address bar inaccessible, no homepage loaded, you cannot do anything.
I had to start in safe mode and deinstall 1.0 right away.
Could this be a sign that it’s high time I upgraded to Fx 1.5?
Huvet — I’ll think about some sort of compromise, but this is certainly not a high-priority for me. The keyboard shortcut is a solution in the meantime.
Windows-Zerstoerer — Please see the known issues about ‘Edit HTML’ not working with frames and this forum topic about the tooltips.
Paul — Please see the note at the top of this page and the multiple forum posts about how to fix this.
Awesome job, I love the guides and the ruler– nice work!
I love this extension. I’ve just started to mess with CSS/HTML about 2 months ago. This makes learning so much easier! Thank you, please enjoy my very small donation.
I can’t tell you how useful i find this extension extension I seriously use it about 20 times a day and have gotten every developer I know hooked on it.
Everyone who builds websites needs this tool. Total genius.
I have a feature request: is it possible to simulate not having flash installed — “Disable Flash”? It’d be mucho useful for testing Flash detection scripts.
Just in case you have not heard it enough, congratulations and thank you on a job well done. Unless I’m missing it somewhere I do miss the CTRL + SHIFt + U for the View Source, I keep hitting it and then realize that it is gone! Thanks again.
Chris!!
I must say, Web Developer is wonderful piece of artwork, software, whatever category it is.
Rulers and Guidelines are amazing
Thanks
I’ve been using your Web Developer extension since 2004, and it is hands down the most useful Firefox extension out there. I wouldn’t be able to do my job without it. Thanks for all of your hard work!
Tom — Please see the to-do list.
mightybs — Someone else noticed this and I’m not sure what happened to the shortcut, but I have added it back in to the patch release I am working on.
The release is simply superb, and I’ve been using this for nearly a year now. What I love about this software is that any user can grow with it over time.
I was wondering about the base href that gets thrown in to the code. Is that a necessity for webdeveloper to operate? The only reason is that I was whipping together some code for an Ebay listing to then throw into the Ebay description, but Ebay won’t accept anything with a base href in it. I obviously just edited that line out and moved on, but it would be nice if it wasn’t there to begin with.
But if it is a necessity, then I can certainly live with it.
Thanks again.
AG — The base href is a known issue and I’m looking into a way to fix it.
Just one thing to say: IMPRESSIVE
A really need for any webdeveloper. Keep on the good work!!
Greetings from Spain.
Just another thankfull message for this
GREATEST extension
Great tool for web developers, a must have!
I know it’s been said many times before but it needs to be said…
Cudos on the best and most useful — by far –extension available for Firefox.
One feature request I have is to incorporate a “find” toolbar within the “Edit CSS” and “Edit HTML” sidebar. Much like the bar that shows at the bottom of the browser/document pane when you press CTRL/CMD+F.
Keep up the good work man! If you need a hand with anything let me know, I would love to lend a helping hand.
ChadL — Search is already on the to-do list for ‘Edit CSS’ and I’ll add it for ‘Edit HTML’.
Same problem — version 1.0 doesn’t work, nothing except View Source and Resize works, no CSS, Forms etc… Deinstalling doesn’t fix the problem. Reinstalling back 0.9.4 works, 1.0 version not. Any ideas? I am using 49 extensions, it would took an hour to get it running a clean install…
Chris, just to let you know — I reinstalled Firefox completely (thus started with clean profile) and install went fine. I have no idea what caused the problem in the original install.
WDE is definitelly worth more than these 5mins it took me to deinstall and get all my extensions and theme back. Great stuff you have here. I never gave a donate so eagerly.
Peep — If uninstalling and re-installing does not work then my only suggestion is to try with a clean profile, sorry.
Thanks for continuing to work on this extension. I made a small donation through PayPal, hopefully others will do so as well.
Feature Request: Disable Flash
Brian — ‘Disable Flash’ is already on the to-do list and thank you for the donation.
This is the most fantastic extension I’ve seen added to Firefox! Thank you so so so much for a tool that is actually something I can’t do without. In fact, I’ve got this on computers where the user isn’t even a Web developer. I would surely donate if I was an adult (I’m just a geeky teen) and my parents allowed me to.
ABSOLUTELY AWESOME — How about find functionality in CSS edit sidebar? CSS could be readonly and when you click on a particular rule set it would open up in its own textarea for editing. I really don’t know what the best way of implementing this is…or even if it’s possible.
Just wanted to know if you got a little something if someone clicks on the Google toolbar on your home page and then installs it. I don’t have the toolbar yet and will click from your page if it’s good for you. ~margaret
Margaret — Yes, I get a small referral fee if you click and install from the Google button…so click away!
Hi Chris!
Phenomenal tools — thanks!
I didn’t follow instructions for upgrading — uninstall/install.
On Firefox I just selected the Web Developer and clicked the Update button.
Bravo! Congratulations! You made THE tool for web development.
Great work. Keep on going.