Just look at this example side by side and tell me which one you prefer: http://i.imgur.com/tKr87.png
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/mozilla-labs-...
Bravo, Mozilla!
The other nice thing about FF for devs is that Chrome is a little too robust sometimes. I've had some egregious errors in my markup and Chrome still manages to do what I intended. But then it's broken on every other browser.
As far as I've experienced, anything that runs perfectly in FF runs perfectly in Chrome. But the reverse is not true.
I do wish it had better integration with the web console though. It just seems strange when you pop-up the web console tab to have a JS prompt for entering javascript directly above a Browser prompt for controlling the browser.
It'd be nice if you could just go into a javascript entry mode on the browser prompt itself and see the output appear in the web console. Even something as simple as adding a javascript command where the argument passed into the command is javascript would be useful (perhaps someone could create an add-on that does this)
The pagemod and inspect commands seem super useful. I hate having to click around an inspector to find the thing I want -- "inspect #foo > h3" just seems so much easier.
If you have to interface with HTML or CSS directly and frequently while writing your application, then you want to make sure your HTML and CSS are super clean and maintainable. But, as PG has said before, HTML can be treated like object code! There was once a time when everyone had to write super clean and maintainable assembly code, but now you rely on a compiler.
Ever look at compiler generated assembly code? It's quite scary!
What is the value proposition here? Perhaps I'm missing something but it just looks like a CLI interface over the top of JavaScript (as opposed to the GUI/CLI approach with firebug - which is a far more scaleable approach).
Is this thing going to need 1000 plugins installed within the plugin just to offer the same functionality as firebug?
I didn't understand the 3d view of web pages either and their GUI for their version of firebug is completely inferior (even though it looks fancier).
Looks are not everything.
Why has any of this stuff even been allowed to be prioritised over core browser performance and functionality.
It is a sad state of affairs to see what Firefox has devolved into compared to how it was in its glory days.
It's kinda sad that the world seems to have forgotten Tcl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tcl
In the case of tcl, you invert C functions (or another language with C-style calling conventions) to be callable by default as commands. You then have the [expr ...] escape hatch to toggle back to the non-default programing mode, that gives you expressions, arithmetic, and other general purpose programming language features.
I'd really love to see a Tcl++ type thing. It would be super cool if applications could easily drop a console, like this one from Mozilla, into their app. Bonus points if it comes complete with a help system, UI, completion, etc.!
Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/tWAXr.jpg
I am on Aurora/Ubuntu. The binding for the Debugger (Ctrl-Shft-S) doesn't seem to work for me and the Dev toolbar has no way to open the debugger view.
You can resize the view port to whatever size you want, even in Firefox 15. The resize handle is a little dark in 15, though.
I would probably amend the statement to be "Every app for programmers should have this."
Looking at proficient Excel users (I always claimed if my ex-wife got a basic course in operating systems principles, she would write one in Excel in a week :) = they tend to do everything by keyboard, and not in terms of shortcuts or chords, but entering commands. I also worked in a printing shop, and people working in layout program such as InDesign all day, would do everything by keyboard also - entering coordinates, align constraints, style names - and they were only slowed down by having to navigate all those little input boxes.
I also worked for a couple of years editing video in non-linear editing programs (Media 100, Premiere), and boy does this work get repetitive at times. I would have loved to have the ability to do things programmatically.
So, I think any power user could benefit from a command line driven interface in applications like those. Photoshop, non-linear video editing, computer aided design, layout, word processing, and even web browsing - I could see this option used by all kinds of people.
You can just type clear() if you're focused on the webconsole.
cat file1
in my PATH. Only because sometimes printf or some other way to print ESC's might not be available.
The idea of starting up X11 so I can start the super-sized code complexity experiment that calls itself "Firefox", all just to get to a command line struck me. The fact they are calling the approach at Mozilla as "responsive design" I found insulting.
Are they in denial about just how big and complex Firefox is? This is not how you attain responsive design.
"Not knowing the parameters" can come in two main forms. The first is when the user simply may not have used the feature enough to be able to instantly recall all of the parameters needed and how they should be set. For example, a print dialog displays three or four commonly tweaked parameters to a user, and gives easy access to as many as several dozen more advanced parameters. This is far more useful than a CLI would be, except perhaps to a very small minority of users.
The other form is when you may know what the parameters are, but need feedback to choose them correctly. For example, resizing a window is well-suited to a mouse. Obviously you know that the four parameters are the height and width of the window, but few people can glance at their screen and say "Oh, I need this window to be 348 pixels wide now".
Why is everybody always black and white about everything?
Regular human language is multimodal, with words, explicit gestures like pointing, and body language layered over both of these (Though most geeks are deaf when it comes to the latter).
Which is easier, "Look at that [finger pointing at target]" or "Look at that strange thing on your 2 o'clock"? We have many options and we use what's best in each circumstance.
In addition, good keyboard controls can make or break many programs. If you take a look at a program in the adobe suite, you'll normally notice two things. First, that using the program with the mouse generally involves awkward mouse manoeuvrings. However, keyboard shortcuts can eliminate 90% of this.
Third, do you personally recommend using a trackball? I've been experiencing some mild wrist pain lately and am looking for something better than a mouse.
