Being a part time web developer its important I find to use the right tools to get a job done. Now normally every morning I get about 10 blog posts on my RSS feed saying “50 most needed tools for developers”. Half of them do the same as the other half and the other half have no point in life. So, I feel to be a good web developer you don’t need a lot to get the job done, they always say quality over quantity.

Firebug (Firefox)
This is probably my most important extension for firefox. With the built in javascript debugging and tools to see http requests it actually makes ajax and css quite fun. Its the sole reason I use firefox over other browsers. Along with many other features including page loading time statistics, it greatly helps you see what’s taking that extra 0.2s to load on your page.

HTML Validator (Firefox)
Now I don’t know how many of you actually check that your web pages are both HTML and CSS valid but this is getting an increasing issue. (I cannot claim all of my sites are valid since I am currently in the process of making them valid with this new tool). This tool sits in your status bar and tells you of any errors in the HTML code. You can also specify that it will only be enabled on websites of your choosing (e.g ones you are developing)

SVN
Its happens too many times, change a file and something breaks but you forget what you changed and then take several hours trying to get it working again. SVN is a version control system which means you will always have every change you made to your code. It can be unusual to use at first but after a while its a real godsend. If your just a small developer and don’t have an SVN server then try Tortoise. Its not just an SVN interface but also can create local repository’s on your computer.

IE Developer Toolbar
This does nearly everything Firebug does, but for IE. It even does a bit more. Another must since not all CSS designs work in both IE and FF.

Multiple IE’s
This is a great tool for windows which allows you to install multiple versions of IE on your computer at once. No more having multiple computers running IE6 & IE7. Also it means you don’t need to use BrowserShot websites to test every page. Another must have.

A Text Editor
There is no link here since this is a very personal choice. But find a good text editor you like and get on with and stick to it. I have tried a few (all for windows) and can say for small time developers HTML Kit Tools is rather good but for bigger developers PhpED is perfect.

So there you go. That’s what I use. Its not a lot but it gets the job done. I don’t belive in hundrends of programs to do everything for me, and what I do use I only want to help me if I ask for it.