I am new to web development and might not know as much as you do. I use Firefox daily and develop the CustomTube extension, which involves a lot of CSS.
I have heard people say that Chrome’s development tools are better and that it’s a dealbreaker for switching to Firefox. I do not get that at all. I find Chrome’s tools frustrating and usually stick to Firefox for development.
Here’s why:
Editing Injected Rules: In Firefox, I can edit CSS rules directly in the development tools, including the filename and line number. Chrome, however, doesn’t show this info and makes it hard to edit injected rules. This disrupts my workflow.
Autocomplete: Firefox suggests “!important” when I type “!”, while Chrome requires “!i”. It’s a small but annoying difference.
Performance: development tools in Chrome feel slower compared to Firefox on my machine.
I am wondering why so many prefer Chrome’s development tools despite these issues. Is there something I’m missing in the CSS that causes Chrome to fall short? Any insights would be appreciated!
Many tutorials presume you are using Chrome dev tools, thus many new programmers become comfortable with them. When you are acclimated to Chrome, switching is simply a cost.
That would make sense. I did not follow any tutorials; instead, I just jumped in and figured it out, while also consulting sites like W3Schools and MDN.
As a new web developer working on the CustomTube extension, I find Firefox’s development tools superior to Chrome’s, especially for CSS. In Firefox, I can edit injected rules directly, seeing the filename and line number, which isn’t possible in Chrome, disrupting my workflow. Firefox also suggests “!important” with just “!”, while Chrome requires typing “!i”. Additionally, Firefox’s tools perform faster on my machine. Despite many preferring Chrome’s tools, I don’t see the appeal. Am I missing something in CSS that makes Chrome better? Any insights would be appreciated!
Hello, loginben It’s wonderful to learn about your satisfaction with the development tools offered by Firefox! You make strong arguments concerning general performance, fast access to “!important,” and altering inserted rules. Even though Chrome has slightly different debugging features and is integrated with other Google services, which makes many developers prefer it, it sounds like Firefox better fits your approach, especially for CSS work. Using the tools that increase your productivity is always a smart idea. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.