The developers of Firebug, the popular Firefox add-on for web developers, have released a new beta of Firebug Lite, the lightweight version of Firebug that works in any browser.
This new version is a significant update to Firebug Lite. While the full power of Firebug still requires Firefox (see our coverage of the recently released Firebug 1.5), Firebug Lite 1.3 adds some great HTML and CSS debugging tools to any browser, including IE6+, Opera, Safari and Google Chrome.
The lastest beta release of Firebug Lite -- which is bookmarklet script that you can add to your browser's favorites bar -- features significant speed boosts and many improvements to the HTML and CSS inspectors. The visual interface of Firebug Lite has also been revamped to match that of Firebug 1.3. For more details on everything that's new in the Firebug Lite 1.3 beta be sure to check out the release notes.
Google's Chrome browser gets some special attention in the latest release, with a new Firebug Lite beta extension that makes Firebug Lite feel like a part of Google Chrome. The Chrome extension still lacks the JavaScript debugger and the Net Panel found in Firebug proper, but otherwise is behaves much like Firefox version.
For other browsers Firebug Lite 1.3 remains a bookmarklet with the same functionality -- if not the UI integration -- of the Google Chrome version.
If Firefox isn't your bag, or if you don't need the JavaScript debugging tools of Firebug, the Lite version has you covered and will work in the browser of your choice. Keep in mind that this is a beta release, though we encountered no problems during our testing.
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