TOOLS - CSS: Professional Techniques for Modern Layout - page 4

FIREBUG
Firebug (see Figure 1-1) is one of two utterly essential tools in any Web creator's toolbox. (For
the other one, jump ahead to the “Web Developer Toolbar” section.) It's a completely free
extension to the completely free Firefox. If you're using another browser, keep reading: You
can get in on the Firebug action too!
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Figure 1-1: The Firebug home page.
To get your copy, go to getfirebug.com in Firefox. Click the Install button (it's on the
upper-right as of this writing) and let it install. Relaunch Firefox and prepare to be amazed.
h ere's no way I can cover everything Firebug is capable of doing in this single tip; in fact, a
whole chapter would not be enough. Here are some highlights.
h e HTML tab (see Figure 1-2) shows you the document structure on the let (with twisty
arrows to expand or collapse subtree of the document). Note that when you hover over an
element name in the HTML tab, that element is highlighted in the page itself. h is includes
showing you the content area and padding and margins of the element via color-coded
regions, which is just fantastic. As of this writing, the content area is light blue, padding light
purple, and margins light yellow, but the colors aren't as important as the fact that you can just
see them right there on the page.