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Mac Safari's cool new Inspector

By | December 5, 2007, 6:48am PST

Summary: As a reluctant web page developer on StorageMojo and for friends, I often wonder how a page I like is done. With Safari’s cool new Inspector I don’t have to wonder any more. Here’s is what the Inspector looks like: It makes it easy to pick out the CSS, documents and other components of a [...]

As a reluctant web page developer on StorageMojo and for friends, I often wonder how a page I like is done. With Safari’s cool new Inspector I don’t have to wonder any more.

Here’s is what the Inspector looks like:

safari_inspector1.jpg

It makes it easy to pick out the CSS, documents and other components of a page. Check the “Show implicit properties” box for even more data on the page.

A quick tour
This shows the Inspector as an independent window, but if you click 2nd from the left icon at the bottom of the window it will show up at the bottom of the Safari window. Click on “body” and the body code will appear, highlighted.

Enabling the Inspector functionality requires a quick trip to the Terminal (located in your Utilities folder). At the prompt enter
defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true

Restart Safari, right click on a web page and you’ll see a new “Inspect Element” option.

Comments welcome, as always. Firefox’s Firebug add-on is an option for devoted FF users.

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Topics

Web, Apple Macintosh, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Window, Web Page, Mac Safari, Construction, CSS, Channel Management, Scripting Languages, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Marketing, Robin Harris

Robin Harris has been messing with computers for over 30 years and selling and marketing data storage for over 20 in companies large and small.

Disclosure

Robin Harris

Robin Harris is a president of TechnoQWAN, a consulting and analyst firm in northern Arizona. He also writes StorageMojo.com, a blog which accepts advertising from companies in the storage industry, and has a 25 year history with IT vendors. He has many industry contacts, many of whom are friends and all of whom he has opinions about. Robin has relationships with many companies in the technology industry. Every company he writes about may have sought to influence his opinion through carefully-crafted marketing messages and self-serving white papers, gifts ranging from desk calendars, t-shirts, lunches and trips as well as analyst or consulting assignments. He also invests in some technology companies. He may accept payment for services in stock as well. Robin discloses financial investments in or client relationships with companies named in Storage Bits. To help readers sort out the gold from the dross in his writings, Robin tries to communicate his reasons as clearly as he can. If you agree, you are intelligent and discerning. If you disagree, well, you disagree. In all cases, Robin encourages readers to subject everything they read, see or hear on the internet or from politicians to some simple questions: * What assumptions are implicit in the world view and judgments of the author? * What, if any, is the factual basis for the opinions the author expresses? * Is it reasonable, logical and clear? Your critical faculties: use ‘em or lose ‘em!

Biography

Robin Harris

Harris has been messing with computers for over 30 years and selling and marketing data storage for over 20 in companies large and small. He introduced a couple of multi-billion dollar storage products (DLT, the first Fibre Channel array) to market, as well as a many smaller ones. Earlier he spent 10 years marketing servers and networks. After leaving corporate life he founded TechnoQWAN, a consulting and analyst firm. He also developed StorageMojo into one of the top storage industry blogs.

Robin writes, consults, coaches and lives among the mountains of northern Arizona.

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Very neat feature
John Musbach 9th Dec 2007
This looks like a very neat and useful feature indeed, I have executed that terminal command to enable the feature on my mac. I'd give a thumbs up for Apple enabling this command by default.

- John Musbach
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
IE7 has a great tool too
NonZealot 5th Dec 2007
IE Developer Toolbar

It's even made by Microsoft so that is a bonus.
0 Votes
+ -
Your a Tool using a MS Tool
NoPumpGas 6th Dec 2007
Sounds like another vector for exploits that has made MS famous the world over.

wink

wink *snicker*hack*cough*smirk*smirk*snicker*lol*burb wink

wink
0 Votes
+ -
Firefox->Tools->DOM Inspector
D T Schmitz 5th Dec 2007
nt
0 Votes
+ -
Firefox->Tools->Web Developer
brilang 6th Dec 2007
Oh that's right, you have to install the Web Developer extension first from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60
I'm going to check out Firebug, and the Safari one too. It's always better to have multiple routes to a solution.
0 Votes
+ -
It should be noted Apple forked KHTML for Safari
D T Schmitz 6th Dec 2007
Apple worked on development in-house of revamped KHTML for about a year and then forked under LGPL their changes to WebCore and WebKit.

The differences between KHTML and the Apple fork are significant and regarded beneficial to the extent that Qt-WebKit will most likely replace KHTML in KDE 4.1!

Konqueror, the KDE 3.5.7-integrated browser relies on KHTML.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Mac Safari's cool new Inspector
ebernet 6th Dec 2007
Better yet, just do:

defaults write com.apple.Safari includeDebugMenu -
bool true

That will give you the debug menu that did all the
things everyone else mentioned here all along AND
turn on the inspector. The debug menu is too
extensive to detail here....
0 Votes
+ -
Very neat feature
John Musbach 9th Dec 2007
This looks like a very neat and useful feature indeed, I have executed that terminal command to enable the feature on my mac. I'd give a thumbs up for Apple enabling this command by default.

- John Musbach

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