Firebug is a web development tool for tweaking CSS, debugging JavaScript and more. It is like juiced-up “view source” for seeing how others put a site together. Firebug really shines when used to streamline your own development.

In the last year, as the application surged in popularity, Firebug had some stumbles. It crashed in Firefox 3 builds. Sometimes it hangs. Resig lays out a plan to build a more stable Firebug:

• Document Firebug internals
• Create tests to protect against bug from new code
• Track the performance using Firefox’s tools

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Firebug as a code base is a little disorganized. It quickly became a major part of every developer’s toolset and it receives many patches to its 35,000 lines of code.

Resig is still new to the project. His eyes are fresh and he seems to have the passion to make a better tool. If his past projects are any indication, big stuff is coming for Firebug.

See also:

• Firebug Lite: Debugging Tools That Work in Any Browser
• Another Resig Project: Animation Library
• Dragonfly: Opera Releases Free Developer Tools