10 useful tools to develop, monitor, evaluate or debug web pages

When it comes to developing websites and pages we could all use a little help now and then when it comes down to the real detail. Fortunately there's a wide variety of tools on offer to developers that can be of use when it comes to developing, monitoring, evaluating and debugging web pages. Here are 10 which I've found useful over the years.

Web developer toolbar

The Web Developer Extension adds a menu and a toolbar to the browser.

For anyone who uses Firefox that's interested in accessibility and CSS web development, this is an essential must-have for testing web pages!

Click here to download the web developer toolbar.

Web accessibility toolbar

The web accessibility toolbar is available for Internet Explorer.

It can perform virtually any accessibility test on a web page, such as HTML and CSS validation, colour checking, HTML structure analysis, and much, much more!

Click here to download the web accessibility toolbar.

Firebug

Firebug is an extension to the Firefox web browser and is an indispensable tool to any web developer.

It allows to view, inspect and edit HTML, CSS and JavaScript live on any web page as well helping to debug a large number of potential problems.

Click here to download the Firebug extension.

Yslow

Yslow is a plug-in which is integrated with the Firebug web extension for Firefox.

It's a great tool to help reduce the number of HTTP requests needed to render a page.

It analyses the web page and summarises the page's components, displays statistics and suggests ways to improve its performance.

Click here to download the Yslow extension.

Fangs

Fangs is an extension to the Firefox web browser.

It renders a text version of a web page similar to how a screen reader would read it. It also provides a list of headings and links that are on the page. It helps to quickly find out if there are any accessibility issues on a web page for screen reader users.

Click here to download the Fangs extension.