Best Firefox Extensions

I’ve separated my favorite Firefox extensions for web development. These are the ones I install first when setting up a new environment and that, day to day, save me time and headaches.

The combo starts with the classic FireBug, which remains unbeatable for inspecting and debugging HTML, CSS and JavaScript directly on the page. Alongside it, Web Developer offers quick panels to validate markup, turn off styles, simulate scenarios and reveal what’s behind each element. To get the palette right and not miss the detail, ColorZilla solves it with a precise eyedropper; when I need to measure spaces, Measure gives the size in pixels without guesswork.

On the quality side, HTML Validator helps keep the house in order and LinkChecker scours the page for broken links before the client finds them. For those working with back-end, FirePHP opens an elegant debugging channel between server and browser. In the publishing routine, FireFTP saves the day when you need to upload files without leaving the browser, and the del.icio.us bookmarks extension makes it easy to save references to find later: Bookmark, del.icio.us.

This is my base. If you have some hidden gem that should be on this list, send it in the comments. Good tools are those that disappear and let us focus on the code.