Wireshark: Go deep.
Network Protocol Analyzer. Runs in X11. Looks like X11. Geek quotient – hardcore. The point here is you can see traffic. You need that to analyze ajax requests.

YUI Library: Logger
A component of Yahoo’s YUI javascript libraries. Useful if you’re using YUI, otherwise, not so much. I’m using YUI for some things right now but will probably use other tools for debugging anyway.

FirePHP – Firebug Extension for AJAX Development
Use this with Firefox and the Firebug extension. Log messages to the Firebug console from your PHP scripts. It works on the server response side of AJAX rather than the client Javascript side.
The best explanation of what FirePHP is and does was written by the guy who created it. Christoph Dorn – Integrating FirePHP for Ajax Development

There’s also Aptana but I’m taking a break from the whole Eclipse platform.

Symfony refactor of the Zend Quick Start Tutorial

My friends & colleagues have used Zend Framework (ZF) for a while, and I do my best to avoid it and use the Symfony PHP framework. Initially I was open to learning ZF, I was just curious why people liked it. The more questions I asked, the more I realized there were no good answers other than standards for standards sake, and variations on the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

I built a site using ZF some time ago and felt guilty about how little I enjoyed it. Symfony is not as simple as CodeIgniter or even Cake. But it doesn’t feel clever for the sake of being clever. The focus on getting things done and doing them properly is pretty tight. I may never get some of the people I work with to buy into this but I can live with that. There will be plenty of opportunities for me to build some skills with this toolset.

DHTML eXtensions – professional AJAX components for advanced Web UI – in your PHP, JSP, .NET, ASP and ColdFusion applications

jQuery: The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library

jQuery Grid Plugin

Ext JS – Client-side JavaScript Framework

Prototype JavaScript framework: Easy Ajax and DOM manipulation for dynamic web applications

script.aculo.us – web 2.0 javascript – For prototype

The other approach is to have someone teach you the principles of how it works and then spend 15 or 20 minutes systematically getting your wheel true and round. I’ve tried both and I recommend doing it this way.

CSS is just like this. You can get your page to look the way you want through trial and error and piling on more classes, adding more divs, and generally making a mess of things. It’ll take a long time but in the end it might work. Or you can learn the CSS Specificity rules and the principles behind CSS selectors and get it done in a fraction of the time and with much cleaner code. Again, I’ve tried both approaches and I’d recommend the second.

This article in Smashing Magazine is a good read and a great reference. I’m going to keep it handy. I predict the process of building my next iPhone web app will take a lot less time and be a little more sane.

Taming Advanced CSS Selectors | CSS | Smashing Magazine