20 key tools to make web development a piece of cake

20 key tools to make web development a piece of cake

Today web developers are rushing from one project to another, expected to complete them at an increasing speed and improved quality. That’s why many web developers support themselves with an arsenal of powerful tools that help them to make the most from time spent working on a project. Here are 20 key web development tools to help you become…

For some time I've been using the excellent Disconnect extension for Chrome (http://disconnect.me/) to prevent third-party and search engine tracking. However I recently caught myself out when testing a twitter script addition to a web page where I ended up spending a reasonable amount of time figuring out why the script was functioning perfectly in Firefox and IE but would always initially fail to execute in Chrome. Disconnect is so discrete that I didn't even contemplate that it could've been blocking the script, temporarily disabling the extension allowed testing to continue.

Originally published on June 20, 2011.

To check browser compatibility, you usually view your design in different browsers on your system. If you want to check it on a lot of web browsers, you have to install all of them on your machine. That could be quite a hassle especially if you don't have the system resources to spare. This is where Browser Shots comes in.

Browser Shots uses several computers to take screenshots of your web design on different browsers across different operating systems. All you have to do is enter the URL of the web design you want to test and pick which browsers and operating systems you want to test it on. Your submitted URL will be put on a job queue and you will be given an ETA on when your screenshots will be ready. Also, your URL will have its own page where the screenshots will be displayed.