The most tedious part of the web development is the inevitable code>preview in browser cycle. That’s why Adobe integrated the Web kit rendering engine in DW CS4. Live View lets you run and render your page right within DW’s Design View.
This allows you to see the rendered code directly, without having to PIB.
Not only is the CSS rendering as it would in the browser, but you also get full javascript interactivity. Drop-down menus work, roll-over images roll over.
For cross browser testing, grab Adobe’s BrowserLab Extension, which gives DW CS4 users added functionality, such as testing local content and different states of interactive pages.
Wonder what Adobe will unveil at the CS5 launch April 12 … what would you most like to see in future releases of Adobe Creative Suite apps?
As a Mac user, I only recently downloaded Google’s Chrome browser.
The Mac version of Chrome doesn’t run extensions sadly. You need Windows Vista/XP SP2+ to access these goodies, at least for the moment.
Despite its lack of extensions, Chrome quickly became my default browser.
Although there are certain sites it had trouble with, I agree with Google’s promo blurb about Chrome. It does start-up and load lightening fast. And the search from the address bar feature is way better than typing into Firefox’s tiny search portal.
Developer Tools for Chrome
The best feature for developers is the Developer Tools found under the page icon to the right of the address bar.
Use this by pulling it up on the site you want metrics for. Check in Resources to see how long each element takes to load what the file size is.
Easily view CSS, HTML code and test JavaScript with an integrated debugger.
An article in Mashable says that Dev Tools is virtually identical to Safari’s Web Inspector. That may be true, but I can’t get Safari to play nice with Flash, so I have abandoned it.
And Firefox has some great extensions, such as Firebug and Web Developer, but that I find Firefox loads so slowly in comparison to other browsers.
What is your default browser? What do you think about the recent news – stemming from the Chinese hacks on a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 and Windows XP – that France and Germany have advised citizens to abandon Internet Explorer?
