Firefox Developer Edition is intended specifically for web development. At first sight, the browser looks quite similar to the general-purpose version of Mozilla Firefox; however, its real power can be realized when you open the Inspector panel, which allows refining code to build your layouts.
The browser is remarkably fast, thanks to the implementation of a powerful CSS engine. There are tabs to access different development tools, such as Console, Debugger, Network and Style Editor. For instance, the Console lets you modify a website’s code in sandbox mode. Likewise, it lets you pinpoint CSS, JavaScript, security and network issues. There is also the possibility to use the Debugger to detect problems in JavaScript code. Moreover, there is a tool to monitor network activity.
Firefox Developer Edition has various advantages. For instance, it is excellent that it lets you preview what your project would look like on different screen sizes, which is essential for developing responsive websites. Similarly, it comes with various tools intended to design with CSS Grid.
Not everything is perfect with Firefox Developer Edition. For instance, depending on the version, it may be buggy as it is not built on the latest stable version. Moreover, it automatically sends feedback data to Mozilla, which affects your privacy. Finally, in terms of development, it lacks the possibility of simulating different data transfer speeds to see how a given site would behave on different kinds of network.
All in all, Firefox Developer Edition is not intended for common Internet browsing tasks. In this respect, it is definitely heavier than the standard edition. Still, it has a lot to offer web developers and designers in terms of available tools as it is compatible with most HTML, CSS and JS standards.
