Firebug 1.3.3

This is probably my most used and most usefull add-on.  Firebug adds a wealth of web development tools to your browser.  You can edit, debug and monitro CSS, HTML, and javascript live in any web page.  You can access the features via a small discrete button at the bottom right of your browser, so it doesn’t interupt your browsing experience unless you need it.  Once you click the firebog icon, you are welcomed by some really helpful tools that can do the following for the page you are on:

• Inspect and edit HTML
• Tweak CSS to perfection
• Visualise CSS metrics
• Monitor network activity
• Debug and profile Javascript
• Quickly find errors
• Explore the DOM
• Execute javascript on the fly
• Logging for Javascript

Visit site

ColorZilla 2.0.2

This next add-on gets used occasionally, ever seen a colour 0n the internet and thought it could be useful for a project? With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes.

Visit site

MeasureIt 0.3.8

This is quite a basic add-on, you draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.  This can be handy for a few things.  If you are having some cross browser issues with elements on your page (Probably with IE6) then you can measure them with this tool to make sure they aren’t been proccessed incorrectly.  Maybe you come accross a site with a nice container width, you can quickly check to see how wide it is in pixels.

Visit site

Screengrab 0.96.1

This is a nice little add-on that allows you to capture whatever is on your screen. “This can be done without an add-on” I hear you say, well yes, that is true.  But there are some extra little features with this one.  The option to capture the complete page/frame,  the visible portion, a selection of your choice or the window you are in. For all of those options you can either save to disc or copy to the clipboard.  Very handy indeed.

Visit site

TwitterFox 1.7.7.1

Use Twitter much? This is a must for twitter users. The extension adds a tiny icon on the status bar that notifies you when your friends update their status. Also it has a small text input field to update your status.

Visit site

Foxy URL

This is another good add-on for twitter users and still handy for none twitter users alike.  You can use Foxy URL as a tool to ease your daily URL sharing routines. Sending Foxy URLs to your friends instead of the regular long addresses aids your email’s readability, looks better in chat windows and helps boosting up your techie image.

Visit site

That conclude my list of add-ons.  I hope that you were either using these already or are now on the download to pimp your firefox.  I’d love to hear about the add-ons that you use and couldn’t live without.  Web designers out there, am I missing any add-ons that you think I should have in my arsenal?

The blog is in its infancy and we are both commited to the project in the long term.  We’ve got some great plans for this project so watch this space and get our RSS feed to keep up to date with what’s going on in the bar industry.  This was also a chance to show that web designers do actually go out and have a little drinky winky from time to time!

The brief for the site was to give the site design a professional look with neutral, natural colours to compliment the products that are available on the site.  The e-commerce system was also something that needed to be improved.  The new system has a very simple, yet feature rich user interface that makes the whole process of adding products, keeping track of orders and running promotions a doddle.

So if anybody is looking for a one stop shop to look after all your wedding needs, why not give Ivory Rose a visit.

I recently read a great article over at FreelanceSwitch about the myths that surround freelancers. They went something like this…

• Freelancers spend the day on non-work related activities. I don’t think they do any work.
• Freelancers don’t have the resources of large companies. I’m afraid I won’t get quality work.
• Freelancers don’t have the leverage of a large company. It is easy to drive down their fees.
• Freelancers are unsupervised. I’m afraid they won’t finish the work on time.
• Freelancers are financially insecure. I’m afraid this guy won’t be around when I need him in the future.
• I could never be a freelancer. It takes too much initial investment.
• Freelancing is too risky. It’s all or nothing.
• I’m not a salesman. If I started freelancing I’d never be able to get clients.
• Freelancers spend all day on their own. They don’t have a social life.
• Freelancers are always under pressure. They never have a day off.

To put all these myths to rest, why don’t you go on over the FreelanceSwitch and read the full article.

My focus has been on having a content driven site that showcases everything that I am in involved in.  Whether it be welcoming a new client, featuring a web site I have worked on, sharing new techniques that I have used or an inevitable Wolves win on the weekend. I hope that the minimalistic look will promote the content on the site and make it easy for the user to access whatever information they wish.

So I invite you to take a look around and pop back now and again to see the developments of the site, and please leave a thought of your own if you have the time.

Thanks,

Mitchell Renton