Web Developer Tools & Resources
phpFastCache is a distributed object caching system that helps speed up your dynamic web applications by alleviating your database load. This leads to faster load times for your users through better utilization of resources.
Leave it to The Onion to create something like Fartscroll.js. It does exactly what it sounds like it does: it makes your website make farting noises as users scroll.
Intern lets you run tests on your web app using the browser or node.js. Istanbul gives you full code coverage reporting, and you can write tests using object, TDD, or BDD styles.
GitX is a Max OS X GUI for using git. It includes a detailed history viewer, fast workflow, the ability to explore the tree of any revision, and more.
SVG.js is a lightweight JavaScript library for animating and manipulating SVG. It has an uncluttered syntax, is only 7k gzipped, has various useful plugins, and much more.
API Status Board gives you the real-time status of every API that Zapier runs on. While Zapier isn’t a free service, this chart is accessible to anyone, and includes the status of APIs like Basecamp, Bigcommerce, Campaign Monitor, Facebook, GitHub, Harvest, LinkedIn, Podio, YouTube, and many more.
Plot.ly is a data analysis and sharing app, that lets you build graphs that are better than Excel, Google Docs, or MATLAB. It offers publication-quality layout and color options, and automatically creates beautiful graphs.
Unveil.js is a lightweight version of Lazy Load (which loads images only once they’re in the viewport) that supports high-res images for retina displays. And it’s all less than 1K.
iio Engine is an open source application framework for easier creation and deployment of HTML5 apps. It has a feature rich SDK, a cross-platform deployment engine, and an advanced debugging system.
GemLou.pe is a bookmarklet that lets you easily view the full dependency tree for any Ruby gem before you install it. Use it directly from RubyGems.org or Ruby-Toolbox.com, or type in the name of the gem from anywhere else on the web.
CSS Modal lets you build modal windows entirely in CSS, without any JavaScript necessary. It works with all screen sizes, and can even be used as a Sass plugin.
Editr is a browser-based playground for HTML, CSS, and JS that you can host on your own server. Easily switch between the result and each type of code to see how each is done.
Two.js is a two-dimensional drawing API that is built for modern web browsers. Since it’s renderer agnostic, the same API can draw in multiple contexts, including webgl, svg, and canvas.
Least.js creates random and responsive HTML5 and CSS3 image galleries that include Lazyload. Installation and usage is simple, and the end result is quite beautiful.
The Clown Car Responsive Image Technique uses media queries within SVG files to load the correct image, with all the logic remaining in the SVG file itself. It’s called the “Clown Car” technique because all of the images are stuffed into a single SVG image file.
Here’s a Pure CSS3 Breadcrumb Navigation method that creates pixel-perfect menus. It addresses many of the issues in other pure CSS3 ways of creating these kinds of menus, including lack of borders and inability to animate linkes along with arrows.
Verlet-js is a Verlet integration physics engine written in JavaScript and released under the MIT License. It can handle simulations, composites, particles, and constraints.
If you want to show off your coding prowess, Masterbranch makes it easy to do so. Connect it to your code repositories and it will automatically keep your projects updated on one neat little profile that you can share with other developers or potential employers.
If you’ve ever wanted to see how a neural network works, then Brain.js is worth checking out. In the demo, you can train if to recognize color contrast, and then see how your training compares to the YIQ formula. And of course you can use it to create your own simple neural network functions.
Unirest is a set of lightweight, simplified HTTP libraries in Java, PHP, Ruby, Python, and Objective-C. Each one is fully documented and handles a variety of functions.
PathFinding.js is a path-finding library for creating grid-based web games. It can run on Node.js or in the browser. Usage is simple, though it is capable of advanced functionality for more complex games.
app-UI is an open source collection of “application container” UI components helpful in creating interactive apps with HTML and JavaScript, particularly mobile apps. It works great with PhoneGap applications, and can be easily customized and styled with CSS.
PHP Mobile Detect is a lightweight PHP class for detecting mobile devices, including tablets and smartphones. It detects a mobile environment using the User-Agent string along with specific HTTP headers.
Interested in robotics and physical computing? Artoo is a micro-framework for robotics that makes it simple and extensible. It’s a powerful domain-specific language (DSL) and makes it easy to connect multiple, different hardware devices so they work together.
jQuery Builder makes it easy to create your own custom version of jQuery with just the modules you need. Select the version, whether you want it minified, and then if you want to include ajax, CSS, dimensions, effects, and/or offset.
JSDares is a series of tutorials that will teach you step-by-step how to program JavaScript via game development. You complete “dares”, short puzzles, by copying the example with as few lines of code as possible. Right now it’s a proof of concept with examples, but soon there will be dare collections to start with.
JavaScript Patterns is a huge repository of patterns for functions, jQuery, jQuery plugins, design, object creation, and much more. It’s updated on a continual basis, with new functions tweeted as they are added.
If you have multiple users uploading content to your site, then you really need to have a Content Security Policy, which lets you restrict where content embedded on your site can come from. This Content Security Policy Header Generator makes it simple to create your own CSP in just a few easy steps.
CSSCSS analyzes your CSS files to see which rulesets have duplicate declarations. This makes your CSS lighter and easier to maintain. It’s simple to install as a ruby gem and runs in the command line.
Bees with Machine Guns makes it simple to load test your web apps by creating multiple micro EC2 instances. It’s dependent on Python 2.6, boto, and paramiko. Just remember that you’re basically creating a DDOS attack, so don’t point them at servers you don’t own!
Chocolate is a webapp framework built on node.js using Coffeescript. It includes source control with Git, an HTML markup language for building web UIs with pure Coffeescript, and an online documentation editing tool, among other features.