Firefox 31 Brings New Tools to Developers
By Sean Michael Kerner
Mozilla’s Rapid Release Schedule Continues to Deliver
Firefox 31 follows the Firefox 30 release that only debuted on June 11. Firefox has a rapid release development cycle, with new browser releases coming approximately every six weeks.
Developers Can Now Easily Identify Colors
Among the new developer tools in Firefox 31 is an eyedropper that enables users to quickly identify the color value of any location on a Web page.
Web Design Editing Comes Inside the Box
Inside of Firefox 31’s developer tools, it is now possible to modify the box model of a given Web page to try out different dimensions of page elements.
Scratchpad Gets New Features
Mozilla’s JavaScript Scratchpad for developers gains new features in Firefox 31, providing new code selection capabilities including Sublime Text key bindings.
Add-On Debugging Lands in Firefox 31
Add-ons that provide additional functionality to the browser now also get the developer treatment in Firefox 31. A new integrated add-on debugger enables developers to gain insight into add-on operations.
New Tab Gets Search Box
When users open a new tab, Firefox 31 now provides a search box, in addition to a listing of recent and commonly visited locations.
WebIDE Is Coming
Looking beyond Firefox 31, Mozilla developers are testing a new developer tool called WebIDE, which is intended to be a full integrated development environment (IDE) for the Web.