Tools for faster, better web development

Over the years most web developers will have built an arsenal of tools or "tools of the trade". Recently I discovered rsync and I am surprised how I managed to live without it all these years. What tools do you consider to be the most compelling? Please stick to the ones you use on a regular basis and swear by. They can also be frameworks, platforms, editors and whatever else you think web developers ought to be using (jquery, joomla, xdebug, vi, notepad++, etc).

I'll start off with a couple:

1. rsync - 'One click' sync to live servers or vice-versa

2. mysqldump - used alongside rsync to sync the databases

3. test styles bookmarklet - live css editor bookmarklet which beats the heck out of the 'edit > save > reload' cycle by allowing live editing.

4. javascript shell - javascript shell window attached to a window

5. firebug - advanced javascript/css/dom debugger

6. php-shell - I use this regularly for quickly testing statements, functions, classes or scripts

7. CSS-Discuss Wiki - I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a solution to your CSS problem on this wiki (in which case you should add it)

8. Font Matrix - Helps me choose font stacks

9. PHPMyAdmin - I'm certain everyone uses this for managing their MySQL databases but thought I'd add it to the list for good measure


Even though I have highlighted tools in the LAMP environment, you may mention tools you use in your environment.


SOURCE: stackoverflow.com