FireFox Stands Alone
Ok, seriously. First there was the scare I had when I updated to FF 5 and FireBug was gone again.
Now, Google Toolbar (GTB) won't be supported on FF5+?! FireFox may not be a sinking ship but the rats are scattering like it is.
I suppose it makes sense for Google to distance themselves from Firefox. Their own browser, Chrome, has been gaining a lot of traction. Why should they actively encourage users to utilize another browser?
At least the Google search box is still safely ensconced in the top right of Firefox. There, and of course if you type search terms directly into the address bar. But you knew that right?
Google search is practically ubiquitous already. I don't think Google is worried about losing search share by taking away support for this toolbar. I think what you will see is continued updates to Chrome's built in functionality to poise it as the go to browser for developers and non-developers alike.
Check out the list of built in Google Toolbar-like functions in Chrome.
FYI - the Google Toolbar is not officially supported for FireFox 5 but that doesn't mean you can't use it still. As near as I can tell there isn't anything broken yet. The announcement is more likely a heads up. You can go ahead and download the toolbar here, and then the compatibility reporter add-on here in order to enable it.
There is also an unofficial Google Toolbar add-on called Google Toolbar Lite. I have yet to try it.
Any other alternatives out there? Can FireFox keep up with all these changes? Every time something drops off without warning, there's another group of users waiting to jump ship.
FireBug Still Blazing
DOM-Hungry Bug
Despite the recent announcement that John J. Barton is leaving the FireBug team,the little bug that could is still owning the DOM.
I've been on a short hiatus from web development. Spending a lot of time upgrading some .Net applications and super charging aging MS SQL entities.
This was a blessing really. While the latest FireFox upgrade schedule is a vast improvement in terms of stability and features, it also meant the FireBug addon kept breaking!
Issues like this are what make developers switch in my opinion.
Google Chrome has decent built in debugging tools but not enough to make me change over from FireFox as my main development browser. You know what it's like when you get used to a tool that works. Changing without major improvements is just time you could be spending developing awesome apps.
Back to the point. Despite Barton's departure, I was really happy to find a new release of FireBug when I found myself needing to tweak some CSS this week. FireBug 1.8 is compatible with:
- Firefox 5.0
- Firefox 6.0
- Firefox 7.0 (Aurora)
- Firefox 8.0 (Nightly)
Also, belaying my initial fears, the rest of the FireBug team seems committed to maintaining the code base with the additional help of the FireFox developer tools team. We can only hope that they can keep up with the aggressive new release schedule FireFox announced. Time will tell which browser will reign for development but for now at least I'm staying foxy.
If you are on FireFox and you haven't tried FireBug, it will change your life, or at the least your dev style.
Are you already a FireBug fan? Will you stick with FireFox for dev? Or do you have an alternative that can finally break my dependence on this cycle of catch-up and release?
About Jon Reid
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