I just cleaned my Firefox addons and wondered:
Which features does Firebug have that make it unique?
Which features are available in both Firebug and the Firefox Developer Tools?
Firebug was discontinued last year (2017). So it's sad that Firebug is now reaching end-of-life in the Firefox browser, with the release of Firefox Quantum (version 57) next month. The good news is that all the capabilities of Firebug are now present in current Firefox Developer Tools.
Firebug is a discontinued free and open-source web browser extension for Mozilla Firefox that facilitated the live debugging, editing, and monitoring of any website's CSS, HTML, DOM, XHR, and JavaScript.
As you might have heard already, Firebug has been discontinued as a separate Firefox add-on. The reason for this huge change is Electrolysis, Mozilla's project name for a redesign of Firefox architecture to improve responsiveness, stability, and security.
Firebug can be opened by pressing F12. To open it to inspect an element it is possible to press Ctrl + Shift + C / Cmd + Opt + C . The DevTools share the same shortcuts, but also provide shortcuts for the different panels.
Firefox's native developer tools have come a long way since this question was written. The differences have mainly reduced to the following points:
There are more things missing, which are tracked in a bug report filed for all the gaps between Firebug and the Firefox DevTools.
Firebug integration
Firebug is now built on top of the native developer tools. Since Firefox 48 there's also a Firebug theme that looks like the Firebug extension, letting you feel at home if you're used to Firebug. Once multi-process Firefox is enabled, pressing F12 or clicking the Firebug button opens the Firefox DevTools and with the Firebug theme.
There's also a migration guide explaining the differences between Firebug and the Firefox DevTools.
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