11 ms·

Firebug extension has been discontinued

74 points by thejosh 10y ago

gespadas 10y ago
The end of an era. LLAP.
- smrtinsert 10y ago
  Came here to say the same thing except MTFBWY
- knz 10y ago
  "Live Long and Prosper" according to Google... I misread your comment as LDAP and spent a couple of seconds trying to work out what LDAP had to do with Firebug (and having flashbacks to trying to debug a call to LDAP with firebug many years ago). "May the force be with you" for the comment below.
Epskampie 10y ago
In my opinion Firebug started a revolution in web development, making JS webapps feasible for regular devs for the first time. Thank you for giving us a lot of the interfaces and tools that live on as "developer tools" in today's browsers.
- jeffjose 10y ago
  Precisely. The web-developer world we take for granted was singlehandedly brought to life by Firebug. What used to be alert("foo") was replaced with console.logs, and there was no going back. Its probably a good thing that Firebug is discontinued. It has fared well, and made the world a better place.
- navs 10y ago
  It certainly made it easier for me to copy code and dissect it :)
anonbanker 10y ago
Been a while since I've done web development; are the Firefox Dev Tools as good as Firebug?
- ue_ 10y ago
  I think the Dev Tools are better at some things (browsing the elements on the page) but not as good at others (seeing the contents of the POST/GET and contents of cookies).
- draw_down 10y ago
  Nope.
- vuanotinx 10y ago
  No, they lack a few features, and what's even worse, they are buggy sometimes. For example, the styles panel disappears for me completely sometimes. I'm really sad to see Firebug go.
  - indolering 10y ago
    debug.html is coming : )
- cunningfatalist 10y ago
  If you don't mind Chrome, it has the best debugging tools I know. I love Firebug, but I can understand why they are discontinuing it.
canada_dry 10y ago
Maybe a little melodramatic, but WTF 2016!?!
- krallja 10y ago
  It's not gone; it's built-in to Firefox.
nkkollaw 10y ago
I remember using Firebug years ago and it was absolutely awesome. It made developing on Firefox about 100 times easier than on any other browser. Then, of course Chrome came out and Firefox added built-in dev tools, so it makes sense to stop development. Still, such a good product.
flukus 10y ago
Firebug is the reason IE lost it's dominance. Once it was easier to test on firefox rather than IE (which was ~99% of browsers at the time) the compatibility problem solved itself.
- aindhaden 10y ago
  Ballmer was onto something.
ars 10y ago
Nooooo. I use both and Firebug is so much better :( :( :( For example Firebug outputs the entire nested array, while the dev tools just say "Array[len]" for nested arrays (or objects). The problem with that is if you are debugging and something changes the values inside that array (after you output it) you have no record of the old values, since clicking on the Array[len] shows you the new values, not the old ones. In general that's my biggest problem with the Dev Tools - it likes to reuse windows, and make you click on things for more info. So if you click on Network and want to see the response from two requests at once you can't - both show their info in the same window, and overwrite each other. In firebug in contrast you click + and it simply expands, inline, and you can see both at once. I don't suppose anyone knows a setting I can change to fix that and make Dev Tools more usable?
- abritinthebay 10y ago
  it's a bit hacky but you can solve that with: console.log(JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(myArrToDebug))); It fully clones the array (impossible to have odd refs hang around).
- aindhaden 10y ago
  Use console.dir(var) for a moment-in-time snapshot. The side panel you get when you click on a var is a debug view, which is a lot more useful as a "live" value watcher.
throwawygybj 10y ago
Firebug changed JavaScript debugging forever. Gone but not forgotten as they say
EJTH 10y ago
First TamperData now FireBug. Seems like Mozilla is not interested in having professionals on their platform anymore.
somecallitblues 10y ago
The best tool ever. I'd still be using it if Chrome didn't copy it and make it better. It's probably why Chrome took off so well. I even used Firebug lite in IE at some stage in mid 2000's to troubleshoot stuff in it.
leommoore 10y ago
Thanks to all who worked, supported and helped with Firebug. It was the first really great tool to help make the web and web development better for us all.
jofabian 10y ago
Farewell, my dear friend.
EdSharkey 10y ago
An unceremonious end to a go-to tool for me.

74 points by thejosh 10y ago

gespadas 10y ago

The end of an era. LLAP.

smrtinsert 10y ago
Came here to say the same thing except MTFBWY
knz 10y ago
"Live Long and Prosper" according to Google... I misread your comment as LDAP and spent a couple of seconds trying to work out what LDAP had to do with Firebug (and having flashbacks to trying to debug a call to LDAP with firebug many years ago). "May the force be with you" for the comment below.

Epskampie 10y ago

In my opinion Firebug started a revolution in web development, making JS webapps feasible for regular devs for the first time. Thank you for giving us a lot of the interfaces and tools that live on as "developer tools" in today's browsers.

jeffjose 10y ago
Precisely. The web-developer world we take for granted was singlehandedly brought to life by Firebug. What used to be alert("foo") was replaced with console.logs, and there was no going back. Its probably a good thing that Firebug is discontinued. It has fared well, and made the world a better place.
navs 10y ago
It certainly made it easier for me to copy code and dissect it :)

anonbanker 10y ago

Been a while since I've done web development; are the Firefox Dev Tools as good as Firebug?

ue_ 10y ago
I think the Dev Tools are better at some things (browsing the elements on the page) but not as good at others (seeing the contents of the POST/GET and contents of cookies).
draw_down 10y ago
Nope.
vuanotinx 10y ago
No, they lack a few features, and what's even worse, they are buggy sometimes. For example, the styles panel disappears for me completely sometimes. I'm really sad to see Firebug go.
- indolering 10y ago
  debug.html is coming : )
cunningfatalist 10y ago
If you don't mind Chrome, it has the best debugging tools I know. I love Firebug, but I can understand why they are discontinuing it.

canada_dry 10y ago

Maybe a little melodramatic, but WTF 2016!?!

krallja 10y ago
It's not gone; it's built-in to Firefox.

nkkollaw 10y ago

I remember using Firebug years ago and it was absolutely awesome. It made developing on Firefox about 100 times easier than on any other browser. Then, of course Chrome came out and Firefox added built-in dev tools, so it makes sense to stop development. Still, such a good product.

flukus 10y ago

Firebug is the reason IE lost it's dominance. Once it was easier to test on firefox rather than IE (which was ~99% of browsers at the time) the compatibility problem solved itself.

aindhaden 10y ago
Ballmer was onto something.

ars 10y ago

Nooooo. I use both and Firebug is so much better :( :( :( For example Firebug outputs the entire nested array, while the dev tools just say "Array[len]" for nested arrays (or objects). The problem with that is if you are debugging and something changes the values inside that array (after you output it) you have no record of the old values, since clicking on the Array[len] shows you the new values, not the old ones. In general that's my biggest problem with the Dev Tools - it likes to reuse windows, and make you click on things for more info. So if you click on Network and want to see the response from two requests at once you can't - both show their info in the same window, and overwrite each other. In firebug in contrast you click + and it simply expands, inline, and you can see both at once. I don't suppose anyone knows a setting I can change to fix that and make Dev Tools more usable?

abritinthebay 10y ago
it's a bit hacky but you can solve that with: console.log(JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(myArrToDebug))); It fully clones the array (impossible to have odd refs hang around).
aindhaden 10y ago
Use console.dir(var) for a moment-in-time snapshot. The side panel you get when you click on a var is a debug view, which is a lot more useful as a "live" value watcher.

throwawygybj 10y ago

Firebug changed JavaScript debugging forever. Gone but not forgotten as they say

EJTH 10y ago

First TamperData now FireBug. Seems like Mozilla is not interested in having professionals on their platform anymore.

somecallitblues 10y ago

The best tool ever. I'd still be using it if Chrome didn't copy it and make it better. It's probably why Chrome took off so well. I even used Firebug lite in IE at some stage in mid 2000's to troubleshoot stuff in it.

leommoore 10y ago

Thanks to all who worked, supported and helped with Firebug. It was the first really great tool to help make the web and web development better for us all.

jofabian 10y ago

Farewell, my dear friend.

EdSharkey 10y ago

An unceremonious end to a go-to tool for me.