Tools that no web developer should live without

In order to create a website today, a developer needs the right tools for the job. These are a few that I use on a regular basis.

1. Multiple Web Browsers: When you build a site you need to test it. And knowing how that site will function on every available modern browser is essential to ensure that all users are experiencing the site how it was intended to be seen.
   
   Internet Explorer is not my browser of choice (although IE8 is making me think twice), but we all have to face the facts that it is still used my a majority of people browsing the web. IE6, IE7, and IE8 all have their own rendering quirks and your site should be tested in each one. IE8 includes an IE7 rendering mode in it's web development tools that can make this task a little easier, and you can install Multiple IE to install IE6 and earlier. Even though IE6 has been obsoleted for a long time now, it is still the number one most used browser on the web. It also happens to be one of the most difficult to deal with, but that's a topic for a another article.
   
   Firefox is currently my default browser, so everything gets checked there first, and I also test in Google Chrome and Safari to cover all the bases.


2. Firebug for Firefox: If I had to choose one tool that I truly could not live without, it would have to be Firebug. Once installed, the simplest way to invoke it is to right click an element and choose 'Inspect Element'. You will be presented with a fully color coded view of the source code in the left panel, and any CSS styles associated with the currently selected element in the right panel.
   
   The CSS panel allows you to edit styles and see the effect in real time without having to load files to your server or even reload the page. This is only scratching the surface of what Firebug is capable of.
   
   Note: Recently other browsers have begun to include their own web development tools. IE8, Google Chrome and Opera all have built in tools that are similar in function. But Firebug remains my top choice.


3. HTML-Kit Tools: Sure, you can code everything in notepad, but why on earth would you when there are so many great editors out there. I'm not advocating WYSIWYG editors by any means, but even for pure text editing there are so many helpful features in a full fledged editor.
   
   With a very active developer who really listens to his customers and new features being added with every release, HTML-Kit Tools has been my editor of choice for the last few years. There are too many features to list here, but I'll name a few. Tabbed interface with code folding, built in ftp support to allow for remote file editing and simultaneous local backup, search within files on remote server, customizable auto-complete, built in compare tool, document versioning and auto backup, multi-line search and replace with regular expression support.
   
   Just try it!


4. Filezilla: Great free open source ftp client. Gets the job done and the price is right, what else can you ask for?


5. Other useful Firefox addons
   • Colorzilla - Color eye dropper for your browser
   • MeasureIt - on screen ruler
   • Web Developer - very nice collection of useful tools
   • FireFTP - good for those quick ftp jobs on a computer that doesn't have a full ftp client installed
   • IE Tab - check IE rendering without leaving Firefox

I could never even begin to call this a complete list and depending on the type of development, the tool requirements can be drastically different. For just about every tool I talked about there are dozens of alternative choices that others will find more useful.

What are your favorite development tools?