LiveReload
By Andrey Tarantsov
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Description
★ Top 10 paid dev tool in 30 countries! ★
The essential web developer tool: When you save a file, LiveReload preprocesses it as needed and refreshes the browser automatically.
Even cooler, when you change a CSS file or an image, the browser is updated instantly without reloading the page.
WARNING: Chrome 19+ (and some other browsers) require LiveReload 2.3.4 which you can find on help.livereload.com. If you get “Could not connect to LiveReload server” error, please get v2.3.4. I'm working with Apple to release it on the Mac App Store, but a bug on Apple's side is preventing that right now. Thanks for your understanding, and please email support@livereload.com if you have questions.
FEATURES:
Compiles CoffeeScript/IcedCoffeeScript, Compass/SASS, LESS, Stylus, HAML, Jade, SLIM.
Works great with many popular editors: Espresso, Coda, TextMate, Sublime Text, BBEdit, SubEthaEdit.
Tested with Rails, Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, ExpessionEngine, Express.
Works with multiple browsers, mobile devices and simulators, even inside preview windows of apps like Espresso and Coda.
IMPORTANT:
Please read about your specific usage scenarios, frameworks, compilers, editors and browsers in our knowledge base on help.livereload.com.
By default, LiveReload lives in the system menu bar on 10.7+ and in the Dock on 10.6. You can change that by clicking the gears button in the main window's title bar.
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Only monitors files with specified extensions. A nice fat list is hard-coded, but you can add your own ones in monitoring options.
CSS/image changes are applied live. Changing any other file (including HTML, PHP, Ruby, etc) triggers an automatic page reload.
Local files (file: protocol) are supported with some limitations.
Compilers often work out of the box, but some projects need additional settings or adjustments.
You can add support for your own compilers and editors.
REMOTE SERVER WORKFLOWS (if your development web site is running remotely):
Please read the knowledge base (search for “remote”).
Quick recap:
1. LiveReload only monitors the local file system, so the code you edit has to be there somehow.
2. Enable “Override URLs to serve modified CSS from localhost” in monitoring options.
3. Also configure “Wait X seconds before doing a full page reload” with an appropriate delay.
4. This supports Espresso, Sublime SFTP plugin and similar cases.
5. You can also use the same options to preview your local CSS changes against a live web site.
6. LiveReload is not an FTP/SFTP client, so if you use the compilers, you need to figure out how to upload their output.
GETTING STARTED:
1. Add your project folder using the plus button at the bottom (or drag'n'drop).
2. Insert the provided snippet or install the browser extensions.
3. Open the page to test in your browser. Turn the browser extension on if going that route.
Everything should be up and running now. A red dot in the menu bar icon indicates that the browser is connected to LiveReload.
QUESTIONS? IDEAS? NOT SURE? THINGS NOT GOING WELL? Just email support@livereload.com (or click the Support link on this page).
LOOK WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:
“Livereload has increased my productivity by about a zillion percent” @Jayphen
“LiveReload: every web developer should use this tool” @KuraFire
“Ah yeah and livereload - in hindsight, I'm not sure how I ever got anything done without it” @josscrowcroft
“LiveReload (livereload.com) will mean thousands fewer Cmd-R key presses per day. #fewerkeypressesperdaykeepthecarpaltunnelaway” @THEsteveclarke
“I love how LiveReload even works in the iOS simulator. So convenient. #css” @jakejohnson
“There's no good reason for you not to be using #livereload when developing websites” @bkthd
“LiveReload is rocking my world. Right now!” @jvhellemond
What's New in Version 2.2.2
1) All bundled compilers have been updated to the latest versions.
2) An option to keep LiveReload in Dock instead of in the menu bar. 10.6 users now default to the Dock option. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner to change.
3) A bunch of small bug fixes.
Screenshots
Customer Reviews
Has potential but its not ready
I bought this app hoping it would help me compile LESS on my projects. Unfortunately, the LESS functionality in this app is much more primitive than the free Less.app.
Even more concerning is that this app feels half baked. For example several features in the UI have coming soon notes, such as the use of a Node compiler, or "magic comments" which are touted on the UI but the support page indicates are not yet implemented. This is unacceptable for a small app selling at $10 in the App Store. I don't have a problem paying $10 apps product, but this one still needs work.
Thrilled
I am so thrilled with this app after 10 minutes of use that I came back to write a review. I'm only using the reload feature. I'm using CodeKit for LESS, etc. I update the code with PHPStorm. In this environment, this application works flawlessly. One note: it took me a while to figure out I had to turn on the browser add on within firefox after installing it. However, this was clearly stated in the directions, I just didn't read them :)
Great when it works
I like the software when its working, it's great but it crashes way to often to be useful now. At this time I do NOT recommend version 2.2.2 for purchase I'm hoping the next version will correct these issues.
- $9.99
- Category: Developer Tools
- Updated: Apr 04, 2012
- Version: 2.2.2
- Size: 8.5 MB
- Language: English
- Seller: Andrey Tarantsov
- © 2010-2011, Andrey Tarantsov
Requirements: OS X 10.6 or later, 64-bit processor
