
Firebug 2.0 - sroussey
https://blog.getfirebug.com/2014/06/10/firebug-2-0/
======
gkoberger
I use Chrome or Firefox built in developer tools, however I still think
Firebug fits my workflow the best. Unfortunately it's too slow to use.

The thing I miss the most is the inline display of AJAX call responses, and
being able to write/run multi-line snippets of JavaScript (without
ctrl+enter).

Somewhat interestingly, Firefox built their entire add-on architecture because
Joe Hewitt wanted dev tools (for debugging the actual browser moreso than
websites), and Firebug was split off from Firefox and made into an add-on. A
decade later, this has reversed and every major browser now ships with
integrated dev tools.

~~~
batuhanicoz
> The thing I miss the most is the inline display of AJAX call responses

If I understood correctly, you can have this on Chrome. In Chrome JS Console,
do a right click in an empty space, and select "Log XMLHTTPRequests" (or it
was something similar).

~~~
mistermann
Shamelessly hijacking your comment to ask a question....is there any way
(Chrome/Firebug, whatever) to somehow output to console or a log, _all_
javascript execution (ie: as any function is executed, output the function
name and the argument values). I know there is some way to turn on debugging
and breakpoints, but having very little expertise in javascript and no
knowledge of the code I'm looking at, the ability to just dump _all_ activity
so I could sift through it later would be tremendously useful.

~~~
niutech
Have a look at this Q&A: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5226550/can-i-
override-th...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5226550/can-i-override-the-
javascript-function-object-to-log-all-function-calls)

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JoshTriplett
I used to use Firebug extensively. These days, the built-in Firefox developer
tools seem to cover everything I need.

~~~
Viper007Bond
Same here.

Can any current Firebug users comment as to what they like about it over the
built-in tools?

~~~
acomjean
I got a similar question when someone asked me at a short firefox development
tools demo I gave: when would I use firebug over native development tools? I
didn't have a good answer. (they had noted I had firebug installed)

I liked firbugs javascript debugger a bit better. Firefox has been updating
the tools alot lately though and I like them. Though sometimes they tend to
flake out (javascript debugger blowing over breakpoints until restart...).

I'll give the new firebug a try.

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Sindrome
I really need to stop being so dependent on Firebug. I've done coding sessions
or interviews where the other developer only has Google Chrome. Since I use
Firebug so much, I am not as proficient with Chrome Dev tools. It makes me
look like an amateur when I fumble around. Half the time saying I am used to
Firebug is useless since they don't even know what it is.

~~~
jbeja
So what if you are the black sheep of the shed?

~~~
ChrisLTD
<strainedmetaphor>Gotta get into the shed before you can be the black
sheep.</strainedmetaphor>

~~~
thatthatis
I thought that shed was for storing bikes, not sheep.

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sroussey
Video walk through of what is new:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtgLX5vZZSI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtgLX5vZZSI)

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ep103
Still the best developer toolset, on any browser. Unarguably once its combined
with FF native tools, and the webdevtoolbar.

~~~
andrethegiant
I'm always surprised when I read comments about how the Firefox devtools offer
the best developer experience. Every single one of these new features (except
searching the dom via CSS selectors or regex) have been available in Safari's
Web Inspector for OS X for at least a year. Plus, I think the UI is more
thought out and easy to use in Safari. Can someone explain what Safari's Web
Inspector is lacking?

~~~
_puk
Now that Chrome and Safari inspectors have started to diverge significantly I
find the Chrome inspector far superior. It just feels like more time has been
invested in it.

Only issue I have is the fact it changes more or less every release, leading
to a day or so of re-learning how to do certain tasks.

Does Safari support source-maps yet?

~~~
mmuro
Yes, Safari supports source maps (has for a while).

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frik
Firebug 2 finally supports prettified JSON preview of XHR that start
"while(1);" and "for(;;);" that is commonly used (also by G+ and FB). Thanks!
I prefer Firebug over the other bundled DevTools in FF, Chrome and IE.

@Firebug 2 devs: Please make the JSON preview table-rows-width adjustable -
the JSON "key" row-width is too wide!

@Firefox DevTools devs: please finally fix support your JSON preview (see
above)

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tambourine_man
The first thing I see is the glaring lack of anti-alias on the Firebug logo.

It looks like a variant of Open Sans, if anyone would point me to it, I can
fix it.

~~~
sroussey
[https://github.com/firebug/firebug/tree/master/extension](https://github.com/firebug/firebug/tree/master/extension)

~~~
tambourine_man
I don't see either the font file or the vector artwork in this distribution

~~~
mtrpcic
[https://github.com/firebug/firebug/tree/master/extension/ski...](https://github.com/firebug/firebug/tree/master/extension/skin/classic)

Look for firebugBig.png and firebugSmall.svg. I _think_ those are the files.

~~~
tambourine_man
Thanks, but that's not it. Nevermind

~~~
rafael-rinaldi
Haha trying to talk about .ai and .psd files with programmers is always funny
:)

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natmaster
But does it not slow everything down horrendously?

~~~
riquito
No, that's the old firebug. There was a platform bug in Firefox linked to the
usage of the old javascript debugger module. This version of Firebug is
completely unaffected.

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mmastrac
Pretty-printing: awesome! Unfortunately it's a little buggy when setting
breakpoints. I tested it using the minified version of jquery on the Mozilla
pages and it quickly went out of sync while stepping into a function.

I'd consider dropping Chrome for this feature, as Chrome broke pretty printing
in some cases in a recent update.

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ArtDev
Once Firebug support Sourcemaps, I can start using it again.
[https://code.google.com/p/fbug/issues/detail?id=5765](https://code.google.com/p/fbug/issues/detail?id=5765)

I prefer Firebug over other dev tools but it is useless without this feature.

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josteink
A word of warning to others: Not a good start. Trying replace my current
installation of Firebug with this one caused my Aurora to enter a constant
crash-loop.

Entering safe mode, uninstalling the existing version and attempting to close
all tabs related to Firebug seemed to fix the problem.

So you may want to try removing your existing Firebug before installing.

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conradfr
Great, it seems console.log works now (it seems other extensions were making
it non-effective since FF29).

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KNoureen
This is good news, Firebug is a steady companion in my work. The UI is
consistent, no elements moving around between releases. It works with Django
web applications, which the built-in devtools does not. And allows me to
persist the log of network connections between page reloads.

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n0body
No one mentioned ie dev tools. I had to use them in ie 11, and I was very
impressed. Firebug ftw though

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_karthikj
Not sure why Firefox chose to build their own developer tool when firebug was
one of the compelling reason to use firefox and started the trend of having an
extensive tool for debugging/inspecting webpages.

~~~
stuaxo
I may be wrong .. Originally firebug had to be really slow because of the
interfaces available for debugging, the internal tool could work without
slowing everything to a crawl.

With the newer debugging interface it seems like firebug can work and the
browser can be fast.

~~~
_karthikj
Yeah, you are right. But i meant to say that firefox could have made firebug
as its own developer tool and continue to make it better instead of building
their own.

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schobesam
One thing that i would love to see the callback on event listeners. And one
feature that i was missing a couple weeks ago in the firefox dev tool was the
ability to preserve network logs when changing page.

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psilva261
It's indeed really fast. Also it's possible to deactivate Firefox' default
"Inspect Element":

about:config -> devtools.inspector.enabled -> false

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wnevets
I used to use firebug religiously, however I've been using chrome's tools for
the past two years and haven't felt a need to go back.

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nodweber
I switched from Firebug to Firefox new DevTools and I didn't have any
problems, yet. maybe I'm not developing for front-end too much.

~~~
ArtDev
I had to do the same because of Source map support. I find Firebug more
responsive and faster to use, however.

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dillon_easyeda
I used Firebug to debug the javascript, but nerver use it again when I use
Chrome. Firefox's development tool is better than Firebug.

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pbreit
Isn't a promise of Firefox that the energy spent on something like Firebug
could instead be utilized on the built-in dev tools?

~~~
perlgeek
Who would have promised that? The firefox developers? Or the firebug
developers?

In general, in the open source landscape, people work on whatever they want to
work on, not on what somebody promises.

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ibarrajo
Am I the only one using firebug for javafx webview debugging? java lacks a
proper javascript debugger.

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lampe3
Maybe someone can help.

Can I inspect Websockets with Firebug? Or maybe newer Firefox versions ?

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razorshine
this was one of the original must have extensions in the early days of FF..
haven't been back though since the browsers integrated them in by default. not
sure why i would?

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doque
Firebug is still the best tool set on any browser. I still recall the times
where you had to debug IE using alert() statements without any sort of
debugger.

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skybrian
Any plans for sourcemap support?

~~~
sroussey
Yes:
[https://code.google.com/p/fbug/issues/detail?id=5765](https://code.google.com/p/fbug/issues/detail?id=5765)

It wasn't ready in time to coincide with Firefox 30 (which removed our default
debugger interface, so our release had to go out).

You can star the issue to get updated on progress.

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dc_ploy
Still no SASS integration?

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esalman
I wish Firebug had proper JS stack trace. I find Chrome/Webkit's
implementation essential for debugging.

~~~
sroussey
What do you mean?

