Replacing Firefox with Chrome
For years I have been a devoted Firefox user and by devoted I mean borderline evangelist. Without question it is one of the best browsers you can use and if you’re a developer, like me, its pretty much indispensable. However, after seeing a twitter survey from Kevin Rose, I realized something completely shocking – I’ve stopped using it. On pretty much all of my computers, in an almost ninja like move, it has replaced the default browser. After realizing this, I’m really not that surprised; factoring in all the add-ons and memory issues, Firefox makes my machines crawl. In contrast, Chrome treats individual tabs as processes and, even with extensions, seems to run smoothly. In fact, it has pretty much everything Firefox has – including a pretty sweet set of developer tools that, while not Firebug, can still hold their own. It is with this in mind that I offer you a quick list of Chrome extensions that will help you to transition over to the wonderful world of Google Chrome.
The Extensions
CSSViewer – While this won’t act as a replacement for the CSS viewer in the Chrome debugging tools, it is a great way to quick view the styles applied to each element on the page.
Eye Dropper - This is a nice color picker tool that keeps a history of the colors you have selected.
Regular Expression Checker – The title of this one should explain exactly what it does and I will say it does it pretty well. I’ve used this one a number of times recently thus securing its spot on this list.
Resolution Test – This is a nice little extension that allows you to quickly change the window size of Chrome for various screen resolutions. With the size of my iMac’s screen, this make life SO much easier; a definite must have.
Web Developer – This is the actual port of the Web Developer toolbar for Firefox. While it doesn’t have all of the features of its Firefox brother, it packs all the ones that I used.
XML Tree - as many of you may have run into, Chrome doesn’t have a great display mechanism for XML. In fact, it doesn’t have one at all. Thats where this little extension comes in; it automatically detects XML data and displays it in a color-coded and indented style.
Those extensions combined with the built in Chrome developer tools should get you exactly what you need to transition to Chrome for yourself. If you have any extensions you use and think I missed or just want to tell me about your personal transition, hit me up in the comments; I’d love to hear about it.
