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Super Useful Web Dev Tools


OMG, it’s been a whole month since my last update.

I have draft posts about all kinds of Good Stuffâ„¢, but none are quite publishable yet. So today I’m just going to point you at a few great resources I use all the time while doing my web development magic:

Before I start on the list proper, I’m going to assume you already know and love firebug, if not, go away and don’t come back till you’ve got it. I mean really, firebug has moved js development forward no end.

Cool (free) Tools That You Need:

  • php.js – a project to port PHP functions to Javascript. Ever wanted to use number_format() in JS? Or date()? Now you can.
  • IETester – a program that bundles Internet Explorer 5.5, 6, 7 and 8 together so you can open each one in a new tab and test your website in multiple versions of MSIE.
  • The Regex Coach – you type the target string, then type the regex. It highlights the matches as you edit the regex. This will save you hours.
  • Xenu – a program that recursively checks a URL for broken links. This should really be the final stage before go-live of any project.
  • SQLYog – like phpMyAdmin in an application, but faster and more robust. Does need the firewall opening up though. Nagware.
  • Paint.NET – If MS Paint and Photoshop had a baby, paint.net would be it. The image editor of choice for those of us who “just want something a bit better than paint”.

That’s my list of essentials. Sorry this isn’t a “proper” blog post. Hopefully one or two of the tools there will help you out. The Regex Coach is truly great. And completely compatible with PHP’s preg functions (ereg is now deprecated), and javascript regular expressions engine. Yay.

Any “OMFG I can’t believe he missed that” additions? btw, does anyone have a good color picker – one that I can easily copy the current colour from? Because most of the time I have to just remember that it’s #FE38C4 or whatever. Being able to Ctrl-C directly would be nice.

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This entry was posted on March 17, 2010, 5:25 am and is filed under Firefox, javascript, PHP, Productivity, Programs. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. #1 by godka on April 21, 2010 - 5:25 pm

    try the Geany editor, it has a built in Color Picker, code completition, code highlight for a lot of languages, html close tag, matching brackets, etc

    ohh and, try Ubuntu Linux, there’s nothing else you need for dev and it’s all FREE

  2. #2 by DrBomb on May 17, 2010 - 3:35 pm

    Well, i haven’t read well your blog but in case you didn’t post other firefox extensions, MeasureIt, as its name says to measure in pixels, and for color pickers colorzilla, eyedropper with auto-copy in various formats, also color-picker and other things
    Great blog, i’ll have a look

  3. #3 by mhitza on June 28, 2010 - 7:07 am

    I to have used Regex Coach while developing on Windows, and I must admit it’s a very good app. But since I did not do more than test/write regular expressions I ditched it while switching to linux.

  4. #4 by Mythic Tech on February 21, 2011 - 3:47 pm

    Thanks for the tools, can never have too many free resources

    Trevor Seabrook
    Mythic Tech – Toronto Web Design

  5. #5 by Kalamazoo Web Design on February 24, 2011 - 7:11 am

    Great list. We use Xenu all the time to make sure we account for all 301 redirects when redisigning a clients website.

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