This will be nothing new to anyone who’s been doing web development for a while, but just in case you’re new to this path I can’t neglect to provide at least one post on this blog to promote the Web Developer Toolbar. This handy, dandy (and need I say FREE) toolbar will help immensely in analyzing other people’s site structure as well as tracking down problems with your own work through the QA process.

Visit this link and download and install the toolbar. I’m usually anti-most browser toolbar add-ons (because usually, all they’re doing is adding on the ability to TRACK you better, go away big brother!) but this is the only one I have installed and I use it daily. It’s helped me out of many a bind (especially when I’m trying to figure out where in the code a problem is) which is tricky these days with everything coming from outside files and very little in-line coding. (Not complaining, just commenting!)

I could probably do a series of blog entries on all the things you can do with this toolbar, but there’s tons of that content on the developer’s site itself (check out the forums at http://chrispederick.com/forums/) so I’ll just highlight a few and you should take my word for it and download this today, visit one of your favorite sites, and start picking through the code. My favorite items?

Disabling and enablilng CSS styles on a web page.
Clearing and/or disabling cookies, this is right up there with Clearing Private Data.
Disabling images and/or enabling alt tags – I’m always concerned about providing content to people with disabilities as the internet can be the great information equalizer, but only if you enter in and then check your alt tags!
Anything in the Outline sub-nav – outlining frames, headings, links, tables – it’s a good way to see what’s you have going on.
And of course, how can I forget, anything and everything under the Tools menu, where you can validate your code.

So if you’re a coder or not, even if you’re just curious how the heck the web works, this is a worthwhile download. And yes, I said it’s FREE, however this is a great opportunity for you to support the developer community and donate to Chris Pederick so he can continue to improve this tool. You can donate to him, or for more fun, buy anything off his amazon wish list.