20 Useful Tools to Make Web Development More Efficient

1. CSS Grid Builder

CSS Grid Builder is an online GUI for customizing the YUI Grids CSS – a lightweight CSS
framework developed by Yahoo! that comes with over 1000 page layout combinations. The CSS
Grid Builder allows you to rapidly generate a CSS-based, web-standards compliant page layout
in a matter of minutes (or even seconds). Once you’ve got the page layout the way you want it,
all you have to do is press "Show Code" and it generates the HTML for you.

You don’t even have to host the CSS file on your web server (saving you some bandwidth and
maintenance hassles), the generated code links to the appropriate stylesheet found on Yahoo!’s
Developer Network API.

2. CSS Sprite Generator

Using CSS sprites is an excellent way to improve web page performance by reducing the number
of HTTP requests needed for rendering images, but it can take a lot of planning, measuring, and
coding if done manually.
CSS Sprite Generator allows you to upload all of your images (you have to place them in a .zip
file first) and it will combine the uploaded images into a single sprite and also generate the CSS
for you.

3. Blueprint: A CSS Framework

Blueprint reduces the amount of CSS code you have to write by including common styles that
developers typically use such CSS reset and page layouts. A demonstration of a web page that
uses Blueprint can be found here.

4. CSSTidy

CSSTidy is an open source application that parses, fixes, and optimizes CSS code to reduce file
size and also to standardize CSS code formatting automatically. It also finds and removes
redundant styles and properties. You can adjust CSSTidy’s settings to your preferred
compression level but even the default setting can often give you 30% compression according to
the creators of CSSTidy. Check out the "before and after" examples to get a feel for how
CSSTidy works.

5. logicss: CSS Framework

logicss is a collection of CSS files and PHP utilities aimed at reducing web development time. It
allows developers to create customizable fixed, elastic, or fluid (liquid) layout grids. Check out
the preview of their CSS code generation tool.

6. ___layouts

___layouts is a very simple CSS framework that can be used to create web-standards compliant
page layouts. ___layouts was inspired by Yahoo!’s Grids CSS and offers 5 preset widths that
supports fluid-width or fixed-width layouts. Much like Yahoo!’s Grid.css, ___layouts also has a
web-based Layout Builder that was developed for the Firefox browser. Caution: the Layout
Builder is still in its early stages of development, so things may be buggy at times.

7. Clean AJAX

Clean AJAX speeds up Ajax development by cutting down the amount of code you have to write
(and rewrite), giving you access to common and proven design patterns used in Ajax
applications. Clean AJAX can be used with any server-side technology such as PHP, RoR,
and .NET because it’s JavaScript-based. Check out the demo page so you can see Clean AJAX in
action.
8. Sajax

Sajax (which stands for "Simple Ajax Toolkit") is an open source framework developed to speed
up the creation of Ajax applications. It supports major sever-side technologies such as ASP, Cold
Fusion, PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby. Sajax has a fairly large community of over 39,000
registered users on their forums – so if you run into any troubles while developing a Sajax-based
application or if you want to showcase your work, you’ll be sure to have an audience.

9. DOMTool

DOMTool was created to cut down the time it takes to code DOM structures. Creating DOM
statements is as simple as copying your HTML code into the DOMTool and then clicking a
button. It’s not meant to be used as a simple copy-and-paste solution and you should verify and
optimize the output, but it gives you a great starting point.

10. JavaScript Code Improver

JavaScript Code Improver is a simple, no-frills application that allows you to quickly tidy up and
format your JavaScript. It’s a great way for a team of developers to standardize JavaScript code
format for easier readability and collaboration.
11. JSUnit

JSUnit is a unit testing framework for JavaScript. Testing JavaScript manually is time-
consuming and prone to errors, but JSUnit provides the developer a simpler, automated way of
doing unit tests to ensure thorough testing at a fraction of the time it would take to test manually.
JSUnit allows for the execution of automated tests for multiple browsers and operating systems.

12. Test plugin for JavaScriptMVC

The Test plugin for JavaScriptMVC is another excellent JavaScript testing framework to help
make development speedier. It was created with the concept of "JavaScript testing sucks… so we
want to make it easier" in mind. The Test plugin is a comprehensive set of utilities allowing you
to do unit tests as well as simulate user interaction that can occur in a web page.
13. Venkman: JavaScript Debugger

Venkman is a JavaScript debugging environment for Firefox 2, Netscape, and Seamonkey. It

gives you a GUI for stepping through JavaScript code and setting break points. It also comes
with a command-line interface built in. Venkman is an extension that you can easily install and
download through the Firefox Add-ons section of Mozilla.org.

14. Firebug

Firebug is a Mozilla Firefox extension that gives you plenty of web development tools and
features. Firebug has a built-in JavaScript debugger that lets you step through your script as well
as allowing you to perform benchmarks to see why your script is slow/sluggish.

You can quickly hunt down CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and XML errors through Firebug, and it
even allows you to filter and search for specific errors. Another handy feature is the DOM
inspector pane which outlines a web page’s structure; very handy if you’re working on a big
website or an open-source application that you’ve recently gotten involved with. It’s an awesome
tool though I find that disabling Firebug when I’m not using it is helpful in speeding up normal
browsing (such accessing Gmail, for example).
15. Web Developer extension for Firefox

Web Developer extension is a very handy and time-saving extension for Firefox. I’ve written and
recommended it plenty of times and is an extension that I use daily. You can rapidly validate
your XHTML, find JavaScript/CSS errors, visualize a web page’s structure, quickly fill out web
forms for testing purposes, clear your cache with a shortcut key, change XHTML on-the-fly
(great for working remotely on a web design), inspect HTTP headers information, and much
more.

16. Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar

Even if you prefer Firefox (or Safari) to develop and test your web pages, you have to test your
stuff in the Internet Explorer browser for cross-compatibility. Whenever I test in IE, there are
plenty of times when I wish certain features in Firebug and the Web Developer extension are
accessible through IE, such as the DOM inspector option or the CSS Information option. IE
Developer Toolbar is the IE add-on that provides me the features I like in my Firefox extensions.
17. Yahoo! Design Pattern Library

The Yahoo! Design Pattern Library is a large collection of proven optimal web design patterns
to save you time in creating highly-sophisticated design solutions. Some things that you can find
in the Design Pattern Library are: breadcrumb navigation, auto-complete for web forms, and
drag-and-drop solutions. It speeds up development by offering solutions to common design
needs so that you don’t have to re-invent the wheel.

18. Test Everything

Test Everything is a web-based application for multi-purpose testing, reducing the time it takes
you to use online services and validators. Test Everything is an aggregate of over 100 tools
reduced to just one web page. You can validate your XHTML for web standards and
accessibility, test your design in several browsers (using the Browsershots service), check page
rank, and more – all in one location.

19. Pingdom Tools

Pingdom Tools is web-based application that you can use for easily testing the performance of
your web pages. It can give you information on the total loading time of a web page and the total
number of objects required to render the page to give you insights on things you can leave out or
combine. It gives you a visualization of how page objects are loaded and you can sort the results
by load order, load time (helpful in seeing what’s taking so long to load), file size, file type, and
URL.

20. Aptana Studio Community Edition

Aptana Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) designed for Ajax-based

applications. It has JavaScript debugging, an Ajax and JavaScript library that includes some
popular frameworks (such as the Dojo Toolkit) syntax colorizing, HTML/CSS/JavaScript code
assistance (auto-complete and tool tips) and much more. It makes Ajax development simpler and
gives the developer time-saving ways of organizing and managing multiple projects.