Microsoft's new toolbar: first aid for web developers
Posted 15 May 2007 at 10:18AM by Simon Dickson in Website development
If you have any interest or business in running a website, you'll be pleased to see the definitive release of Microsoft's Developer Toolbar for Internet Explorer v7. It's a free add-on for the latest version of the Microsoft browser, compatible with XP and Vista, and offering a host of tools and tweaks to help you examine and trouble-shoot web pages.
I had a few problems getting it to install successfully: the installation process didn't force me to shut IE7 down, although it seems that was actually a necessary step, and the activation button didn't appear automatically in my browser interface. (If you have the same issue, right-click on your toolbar and choose 'Customise command bar' then 'Add or remove commands'. Select the 'IE Developer Toolbar' button, then 'add' it to your active set.)
The toolbar is actually more of a control panel, initially docked at the bottom of the browser window, although you can also detach it as a separate window. The various tools let you see the styling applied to any element on the page you're looking at; to see detailed reports of all images or links on the page; and to test for accessibility by resizing your window or disabling cookies, styling, scripts, and images.
In truth, it still isn't half as convenient and user-friendly as the free Web Developer's Toolbar for Firefox, which I've previously described as the single best reason to switch over to Firefox. It has all the same tools, and a lot more besides, packaged in a more familiar 'toolbar'. I particularly like the way it superimposes the detail you're examining on top of the web page itself, rather than in a separate panel. (Plus of course, because it's a Firefox add-on, it doesn't just work on Windows.)
That isn't to say the IE7 toolbar isn't worth having; you'll almost certainly find yourself in situations where something isn't working right in IE, and you'll be glad to have its toolbar's functions handy. Plus of course, it's free of charge, and doesn't take up much disk or memory space. But when I next find myself wading through HTML, or trying to work out how a website has pulled off a particular trick, I'll be sticking with the Firefox equivalent.
Tags: developer toolbar, firefox, internet explorer 7, microsoft
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2. At May 15, 2007 5:21 PM, uist wrote:
I agree the Firefox toolbar is by far the better option. Much easier to use and to install.
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1. At May 15, 2007 2:05 PM, kim wrote: