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linglau
29th Oct 2010, 09:00 am
Thought I'd bring this up as we learnt about it last lesson.

Basically, Firefox has an extension called foxGuide (http://meherranjan.com/foxguide) which brings up horizontal and vertical lines over a webpage, like we saw in Photoshop. You use it in the same way, to structure and lay out a grid for your website. It looks quite useful so I'm going to download and give it a go! I'll let you know how useful I find it. ;)
Tom
29th Oct 2010, 08:11 pm
Is it intended for one's own website or for other people's websites.
linglau
30th Oct 2010, 10:30 am
It's intended for your own. It gives you pixel dimensions and line guides on-screen (like in Photoshop). This means it is easier to adjust your layout in coding, as opposed to simple guess work (in terms of pixel dimensions) in moving elements around on-screen. Pixel-perfection has become one step easier!

However something that is majorly wrong with it is that the Web Developer toolbar, at the top of browser window, disappears and to access it you have to go to Tools. I think this is such a shame as it's pretty useful otherwise.
David
30th Oct 2010, 10:31 am
Oh, I like that. In the past I've always taken screen grabs and pasted into Photoshop to use the guides - now I don't have to. I'm trying it out and will report back.
David
30th Oct 2010, 10:39 am
Hmm, well it works as advertised but unfortunately it causes the Web Developer Toolbar to become invisible. I think I'll wait until v1.1

I suppose it does say "beta" so hopefully this will be fixed soon.
linglau
30th Oct 2010, 10:54 am
Yes, I'm hoping it will be fixed, otherwise it's a great extension :)
David
30th Oct 2010, 11:03 am
I just had an exchange of emails with the developer. He has already fixed this bug and has submitted v1.1 to Mozilla for testing. The new version will be available shortly.
linglau
30th Oct 2010, 01:17 pm
Fantastic, thanks for doing that!
peteski
30th Oct 2010, 11:49 pm
Any of you with a Mac might want to check out Xscope (http://iconfactory.com/software/xscope) by Icon Factory. It's a paid app but it has some pretty handy design tools. I find myself using it a lot when it comes to layout adjustments.
linglau
6th Nov 2010, 01:04 pm
Just a note to say that it has indeed been updated now and there are no clashes with the Web Developer toolbar, so we can all start gridding away!
David
6th Nov 2010, 08:48 pm
Yep, it's now on my list of must-have FF plug-ins along with Firebug and WD Toolbar.
kc005
7th Nov 2010, 07:43 pm
Great I will put it back on - very useful tool