Unemployed Developer

I am quite sure most web developers use Firefox as their main browser when developing. I’d like to pass on some tips that we as great and discerning developers should know.

• View Source Line Number

  When I was checking this site for HTML Validation, I found a couple errors in my code, so when I went to view source to see where the issue was, the lack of line numbers makes it hard to find where the issue(s) might be. Pages with multiple lines of code, become a nightmare to debug through this method, unless we use Ctrl-L(Windows and Linux) to search for the line number. This saved me a lot of time when I was doing this HTML Validation debugging!

• Line Scrolling

  Sometimes I find the default middle mouse scrolling button too much for me. Instead of changing the settings globally, I can hold down Alt and use the middle mouse scroll button to scroll down one line at a time.

• Finishing URL TLD(Top Level Domain)

  These keyboard shortcuts are helpful when having to type in urls all day.

  • .com – Ctrl+Enter
  • .net – Shift+Enter
  • .org – Ctrl+Shift+Enter

• Manual Overriding of The Cache

  This works great when I am finding my pages that I am developing are showing cached versions of the page, instead of going into the menu’s I quickly hit: Ctrl+F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R and I am presented with an un-cached version of the page.

• Bonus – Set Cache Settings – The Advanced Way

  If you want to change Firefox’s cache settings without the use of a plugin/extension you can do this through Firefox’s settings.

  In your browser address bar type: about:config. This should bring up a warning that changing these settings might void your warranty. Keep in mind these settings are to be only changed if you know what you are doing, hence the warning. These settings you will see, should you decide to proceed are advanced settings you won’t see in the normal menu bar. To repeat the warning, they are hidden for a reason, proceed are your caution.

  You will see a list of settings that you can change, search for: browser.cache.check_doc_frequency. The default setting for this is: 3. You can change it to one of the following as you see fit:

  • 0 : Once er session
  • 1 : Every time
  • 2 : Never
  • 3 : Automatic

  Remember this is a use at your own discretion!

• View Source v.s. View Selection Source

  Sometimes, I want to see portions of code instead of the whole page, so I select the area I want and right click and choose “View Selection Source”. This enables me to view the only code of the HTML elements that I’ve selected. Deselecting and selected content and right clicking to choose “View Source”, I will be presented with all the source code. The difference between the two is the “View Source” option acts as an entire page refresh, if you made any changes to your code since loading the page initially you will be shown the new code. “View Selection Source” gives you the code as it was at the time of compilation.