14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla spent the last year beefing up the dev tools in Firefox. The end result is a set of tools Mozilla can be proud of. They're not as comprehensive as Chrome's, but they look rather slick and come with some advantages.
Still, there's more to be done, so Mozilla technology evangelist Paul Rouget reached out to web developers and asked them what they'd like to see next in Firefox.
He's now revealing the results, the most requested features, and what Mozilla plans to do about it. What's nice about this is that Mozilla moved very fast, a little over a week after asking for suggestions, Mozilla already has answers or plans for the most popular ones.
Built-in editor and code editor integration
One big feature that Mozilla is already working on is editor integration. Having to switch back and forth between a code editor and the browser is annoying.
To fix this, Mozilla is putting together a Python library, to be used as a plugin by the code editors, which taps into Firefox's built-in dev tools. This is possible because Firefox supports dev tool access via the network, used to debug the mobile version of the browser. Mozilla already has a proof of concept built.
The second option is to build an editor into Firefox itself. There are several web-based code editors out there, so it's possible, but this is not a simple task. It's going to take at least a couple of months for a Python plugin to be ready and more for a built-in editor.
Network panel and timeline
Another feature that a lot of developers wanted is a network panel, like Chrome and Firebug have. Mozilla is already working on it, there's even a working prototype ready. So a network panel in the Firefox dev tools should be landing in the next few months.
Firebug integration, right-side panel, repaint tracker
Speaking of Firebug, there is work on integrating the plugin into the Firefox dev tools. Firebug's main developer is already working on it.
There were other requests Mozilla is addressing. Developers asked for an option to dock the tools on the right-hand side, rather than at the bottom. The feature is already available in the Firefox Nightly channel. Also in the Nightly channel is the ability to track repaints, for performance optimization.
CoffeeScript support, CSS transitions and animations debug
Also in the works is support for CoffeeScript, the JavaScript "replacement." Finally, a tool for debugging CSS transitions and animations is being worked on.