Should We Use Browser as A Web Development Tool

Browsers As A Web Development Tool

Exploring the Internet is not possible without the browsers on any device, be it on desktops or on tiny smartphones. Technically browsers render the code and enable us to view the outcome of our source. Therefore, we initially and still today use browsers as the instruments to view source.

Since the beginning, browsers are performing this basic need of view source by providing enough tools. Just like other technologies on the web sphere, browsers too evolved with the pace of time and now many experts eyeing to make it a web development tool with some amazing capacities. Before discussing on the debate of browsers as a web development tool, let’s check its evolution history.

Evolution of Browser Technologies

As we know browsers have used as an instrument to view source. When we view source along with its rendering results, we simply learn one or two things in our coding and its debugging by experimenting with code and its tools. Therefore, browsers act as a learning tool rather than building tool. Thus, I can say that when we intended to write or test our scripts or markup in browser, we have many limitations.

Technically, when you are going to write code, using JavaScript, you need to have a controlled environment against the inherited run-time environment of the browser. We need these because we have to insert the breakpoints, run and pause code, and test code line-by-line during our writing and testing procedure during web development.

Of course, these are some of the basic functions in web development, but now our advance web development demands more things to do very intricate ways and using highly advanced tools in an established IDE. Therefore, I advocate refraining from browsers to establish as a web development tool. No doubt, Firebug of Mozilla was an evolutionary add-on to offer such intricate debugging capacities to the browsers. Firebug was making writing code easy, debugging JavaScript, inspect DOM, and watching styles applied to the particular node of HTML.

Later on Google has achieved same capabilities in Chrome using its developer tools and begun a new era of offering developer tools in each modern browser. In fact, the craze of developers tools seems somewhat illogical, as we have highly advanced standalone separate IDEs to perform our writing and even testing tasks quickly and accurately. Why we should run behind the browsers like things were challenges are infinite and progress is slow?

Where Are We Heading To

If we want to integrate our run-time testing tools of browsers with the controlled environment of IDEs like tools then we are at right path to incorporate writing and testing tools in the name of developer tools in the browsers. Fortunately, today we have several developer tools such as for DOM inspecting, speed auditors, coding panels, JavaScript consoles, memory profiles, text editors, screenshot takers, color eyedroppers with advance functionality.

Now, question is that should we think of visual CSS editors, accessibility auditors, or an entire FTP/SFTP client in the browsers. What about the size of source code of browsers, their performance, and their basic functionality to render code? Should we send every process to the servers to save clients and their resources? Are we heading towards miniature of browsers in tiny handsets still capable to do entire coding of a website or web application using server resources and cloud technologies?

Do You Have Answers

If you have answers of the some of the questions regarding browsers and their usage in web development let’s have chat on instant messengers of our web development team at Lujayn and PSD to Joomla web designer and web developer teams in particular.