If i wasn’t a web designer, i would probably be using Google chrome as my default browser. But my browser of choice any day is Firefox.  This is because of the wide range of add-ons available to extend the browser’s features.

In this post, I’ll show you a few add-ons that will make your design/development more productive.

Firebug

There is a reason why i put this first; It’s a must-have! Download it here

MeasureIt

MeasureIt is simply a ruler for Firefox. Use it to get the dimensions (width & height) of elements on the webpage.  Get it here

FireFTP

FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers. It’s like FileZilla. Download it here

Clear Cache Button

Adds a clear cache toolbar button. After installing the extension, find the clear cache button in the toolbar customization panel. Download it here

Web-developer toolbar

Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools. Download it here

YSlow

YSlow analyzes web pages and suggests ways to improve their performance based on a set of rules for high performance web pages. YSlow is a Firefox add-on integrated with the Firebug web development tool. Download it here

ColorZilla

Advanced Eyedropper, Color Picker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies. With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. Download it here

CodeBurner (Firebug)

CodeBurner is a Firefox add-on that integrates with Firebug, to extend it with reference material for HTML and CSS. Download it here

Extended Status bar

This add-on adds speed, percentage, time and loaded size (similar to Opera’s status bar) to Firefox’s status bar. Download it here

Dust-me Selectors

This add-on help you find unused CSS selectors from your style sheet. Get it here

Mozilla Archive Format

[screenshot here]

This add-on allows Firefox save & open .mht (internet explorer) archive format. Get it here

ShowIP

ShowIP shows the IP address of a website in the status bar. Get it here

If you have any other add-ons that has greatly increased your productivity, please share it in the comments.

ngBot is a portal of various applications specifically tailored (but not limited) to the Nigerian/African community [Powered by devedgelabs.com] has added yet another site to the portal. The fast-growing portal recently introduced ngBot answers.

Before i cover what ngBot answers entails, lets do a quick run-through of a few solutions from ngBot/devedgelabs.

ngBot mobile:

Nigeria’s mobile community. Though still in its beta stage, this fast-growing site offers free mobile downloads (ringtones, wallpapers, games, applications etc.) tools, tips & tricks, hacks, SMS, share and learn and much more to cater for Africa’s largest & fastest growing mobile market. Users also get to contribute to every section of the site. The site is also accessible through mobile devices here @ http://mobile.ngbot.com/m.

nairaMngr:

NairaMngr (Naira Manager) is a java (J2ME/MIDP 2.0) mobile application for day to day earnings and expenditure recording. It helps you keep tab of how much you earn and how much goes out. More info here: http://devedgelabs.com/mobile/nairamngr

download version 1.1 (free): http://mobile.ngbot.com/downloads/apps/10

nubley (public beta):

Nubley is a directory of micro-bloggers on various micro-blogging platforms including; Twitter, NaijaPulse, Identi.ca and so on. The service also features tools such as URL shortener, feed updater, auto-responders etc. Try it here: http://www.nubley.com/

ngBot Answers:

ngBot Answers is a site where users can ask questions and get answers on various areas of interests. Users can also follow questions asked by others and get email notifications when they are answered. The site is also strictly moderated. Sounds like a forum, huh? Well, not really.. This is strictly for questions and answers.

Thinks about it; let’s say you need to find out where a certain place is located in Lagos, and the ‘mighty’ Google can’t help? You simply ask a question on ngBot answers and other users offer suitable answers. Still not convinced? Find out more: http://answers.ngbot.com/about

…or just try it out: http://answers.ngbot.com/

Submit your web app: Do you want us to feature your web application, why don’t you tell us about it. Contact us.