10 Useful Bookmarklets for Web Designers and Developers

You may not be away of bookmarklets which are an underused tool in web designer or developer’s toolbox. A bookmarklet is a a term that merges bookmark and applet to add functionality to a web browser. They can be stored in the bookmark bar of any browser and used from there to perform useful tasks and consist primarily of Javascript code.

As Javascript is synonymous with web development, some clever developers have created some extremely helpful bookmarklets that can improve your day to day work. Here are ten of the best available.

1. Firebug Lite

All web designers and developers should be familiar with Firebug (if for some reason you’re not then go now) and Firebug Lite is a striped down version that works on all browsers. Especially useful for fixing IE issues.

Interesting fact: Firebug inspired the name for Inspect Element.

Use on this page.

2. MRI

Enter the name of any selector into the text box and click the MRI button and this bookmarklet will highlight all of those selectors on the page.

Use on this page.

3. Design

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4. Resize Viewport

Very simple, click on the following links to resize your browser window to these common resolutions. Only works in Firefox but that’s most of you who read Inspect Element.

1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050

5. ReCSS

One of the most useful bookmarklets for development is ReCSS. It reloads the CSS file independent of the HTML which speeds up work considerably when you’re only writing CSS code.

Use on this page

6. Save to Delicious

Delicious is one of, if not the most, popular way of saving articles especially in the web design and development community. This bookmarlet provides a quick way to save the current page to Delicious. Give it a go and save this article to Delicious!

Bookmark this page on Delicious

7. Edit Current Website

Sure, you can preview edits of HTML text using Firebug or WebKit’s Web Inspector but this bookmarklet turns the whole page into a WYSIWYG editor. Of course these changes aren’t permanent and are only local to your machine but gives you a good idea of what changing content does to the page.

Edit this page!

8. XRAY

Similar to Firebug Lite in that you can inspect elements on a page but much clearer to see what you have selected. Also seems to be quicker.

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9. Layout Grid Bookmarklet

Having trouble lining up elements on a page? Andy Budd’s layout grid bookmarklet will come in handy as it overlays a transparent image of a grid, complete with pixel rulers along the X and Y axis.

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10. Favelet Suite

The Favelet Suite bookmarklet is the Swiss Army knife of the web design bookmarklet world. It includes the following features:

• Color List


• Document Tree Chart


• HTML Attribute Viewer


• HTTP Header Viewer


• Hidden Field Modifier


• Javascript Object Tree


• MODIv2


• Mouseover DOM Inspector



• Object Dimensions


• Page Info


• Remove Children


• Resize Fonts


• Ruler


• Show Source


• Style Sheet Tweak


• Style Sheet Viewer

Use it on this page.

Google OS Set To Explode Next Week

Google and it's record breaking industrial complex within the search engine world, has broken many barriers by creating interesting new products which fans go mad about. They first exploded with the search engine in 1998, and since then have not only become a giant worldwide in just indexing, but a well oiled machine in the software world as well.


Google has broken walls and created a foundation with it's innovations, allowing itself to not only become number one in the search category, but one of the best email services available, with Gmail. They since developed "Gears", which is an "active" production wheel of services that keep Google products adapting to your operating system.

Some knew this was a prequel to the future, and their beliefs were proven true when Google unveiled the mighty Google Chrome browser, which has become a powerhouse in competing with the number one ranked Mozilla Firefox, and the original Internet Explorer from Microsoft.

Google did not stop there. Google for the last year, have been implementing "Android" Google based "mobile operating systems" into cell phones, and have claimed a huge amount of market share in the ever growing handheld/mobile industry. Google had claimed it's throne as the "king of kings" in the online and multimedia categories.

Google though, had been planning something greater, the highly anticipated Google operating system for personal computers, which has still yet to reach the markets. It promised a linux-based engine, which would of course slaughter Microsoft Windows in performance. That day of reckoning is near, where as next week the Google OS will finally be revealed. Google busts out yet again, with a new force, but none are sure of how compatible it will be.

None the less, this new OS, will be another breakthrough for the powerhouse ran by Eric Schmidt, which many expect to be a huge success. Although there are doubters, many claim that drivers necessary for a smooth running platform OS will not be available immediately. Only time will tell.

The code-named "Chrome OS" is slated for the first public release next week, even though some analysts claim it will be pushed back. The future succession of the OS is yet to be seen, as Linux based operating systems and open source platforms have been available for a very long time, free of charge, and have yet to hold a firm grip upon the market.

Microsoft dominates, clearly in the world of operating systems, but, another brand of competition, let alone a financial giant such as Google, could prove to be a challenge for Microsoft. We shall all see soon.