Web Development Tools

For web developers, &brandShortName; provides several tools to aid in developing and debugging web applications. Some of these are optional installs. To access these tools, open the Tools menu and choose Web Development.

• Error Console: a console window that reports problems with JavaScript and CSS code in web applications and the &brandShortName; application itself. By default, CSS parsing errors and JavaScript errors are displayed. The console can also be used to display logged messages from XUL and JavaScript code.
• DOM Inspector: a tool that can be used to inspect and edit the DOM of any web document or XUL application.

  Online resources:

  • Introduction to the DOM Inspector (Ian Oeschger)
  • DOM Inspector FAQ (mozilla.org)
  • Creating Applications with Mozilla - Appendix B3: The DOM Inspector
• JavaScript Debugger: also known as Venkman, this utility allows you to debug JavaScript in &brandShortName;. It supports stepping, breakpoints and many other features.

  Online resources:

  • Venkman JavaScript Debugger Homepage
  • Learning the JavaScript debugger Venkman (Svend Tofte)
  • Debugging JavaScript Using Venkman (webreference.com, article series)
  • Venkman Development Homepage