Some Helpful Links for Developers

There are a lot of unknown little knick-knacks spread all across the web to help Web Developers out. Everybody knows about different programs that they can purchase, and even though those would be very helpful, some people just can't spend that kind of money. So what do you do? Well, I have some links here that may make it a bit easier. Well, we can only hope, right?

My first link is to a website called www.tredosoft.com. They have some nifty freeware there, and one that I am particularly fond of is their Multiple IE software. Microsoft has made it very difficult to be able to install many versions of Internet Explorer to be able to debug and test out your websites, but this little tool helps you get that done.

Downloaded here, you can check out all of it's features with a few screen shots and some small descriptions of it. Multiple IE's will install Internet Explorer 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0. It dates back pretty far into Microsoft's history, and it is helpful because you can use it to test just Internet Explorer 6.0, or you can be really cautious and test back as far as 3.0. I would highly recommend downloading this one.

Another useful thing that has recently hit Windows is the Safari browser. Although still in Beta, it is available for public download and use. Although it will not run exactly the same on Windows as it would on a Mac, it can still be helpful for getting an idea of what your site may look like in the Safari Browser. That can be downloaded here.


Another good thing about this is the Private Browsing feature, which no other browsers have(as far as I know). When this is turned on, Safari will not save any cookies, searches, or page history. But once you turn it off, it will start saving it again. And unlike Firefox, where if you clear all of your cookies and history than they are gone forever, Safari will only clear the history of sites when you are in private browsing. So all the sites you visit before going into Private Browsing mode will still be saved. Pretty neat, huh? I would recommend downloading this, but it's not a necessity.

The last thing that I want to mention here is something that I am sure you have heard about a lot, and maybe you already have this. I have found this Firefox Add-On extremely useful, and any JavaScript coder will too. It's called Firebug, and it's a small Plug-in for Firefox. It basically sits in the bottom of the toolbar and either shows a green check when the page is clear of JavaScript errors, or it shows a red X when there is 1 or more errors on the page. You can them click the button to bring up a menu to show you all of the errors on the page. If you are trying to make a JavaScript code, this may just be the one Plug-in that will save your life. You can download it here.


In the screenshot above, I am using Firebug to check out G4TV's JavaScript code, and the small green arrow in the right hand corner shows me that it's all okay. And not only can I check out their JavaScript, I can also see their CSS, HTML, DOM, and much more. Firebug is possibly the most helpful addition for Web Developers, and I would very highly recommend downloading it, even if you are a little against using it at first. You will slowly learn to love it just like I did.

Well thanks for checking out some of these links, and hopefully I can find some more helpful links and post up some more in another entry.

And if you want direct download links, here you are:
Multiple IE
Safari Browser
Firebug(since this is an add-on, there is no direct link, so just click the "Install Now" button).