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Web development tools

Apple has brought its expertise in development tools to the web. Safari includes Web Inspector, a powerful tool that makes it easy to modify, debug, and optimize websites for peak performance and compatibility on both platforms. And with Responsive Design Mode, you can preview your web pages in various screen sizes, orientations, and resolutions. Access these tools by enabling the Develop menu in Safari’s Advanced preferences.

Web Inspector

Web Inspector is your command center, giving you quick and easy access to the richest set of development tools ever included in a web browser. It helps you inspect all of the resources and activity on a web page, making development more efficient across Apple platforms. The clean, unified design puts each core function in a separate tab, which you can rearrange to fit your workflow. You can even debug memory using Timelines and tweak styles using widgets for over 150 of the most common CSS properties.

Elements. View and inspect the elements that make up the DOM of a web page. Clicking elements from the fully editable markup tree on the left reveals the node’s styles in the middle sidebar, with more details in the right sidebar.

Console. Type JavaScript commands in the console to interactively debug, modify, and get information about your webpage. View logs, errors, and warnings emitted from a webpage, so you can identify issues fast and resolve them right away.

Sources. Find every resource of a webpage, including documents, images, scripts, stylesheets, and more. Use the built-in debugger with data type and code highlights to troubleshoot and understand the script execution flow.

Network. See a detailed list of all network requests made to load every web page resource, so you can quickly evaluate the response, status, timing, and more.

Timelines. Understand all the activity that occurs on an open web page, such as network requests, layout and rendering, JavaScript events, memory, and CPU impact. Everything is neatly plotted on a timeline or recored by frame, helping you discover ways to optimize your site.

Storage. Find details about the data stored by a web page, such as application cache, cookies, databases, indexed databases, local storage, and session storage.

Graphics. Preview animation keyframes and their classes from HTML5 canvas, JavaScript animations, CSS animations, and CSS transitions. Dial in the motion and the visual design of web pages.

Layers. Visualize compositing layers in 3D to understand where layers are generated and in what order they'll render. Use layers to help find unexpected memory consumption or excessive repaints on a web page.

Audit. Preform audits against a web page to certify that common code and accessibility errors are addressed. Confirm that a web page follows design guidelines and specifications of modern web pages.

Responsive Design Mode

Safari has a powerful new interface for designing responsive web experiences. Responsive Design Mode provides a simple interface for quickly previewing your web page across various screen sizes, orientations, and resolutions, as well as custom viewports and user agents. You can drag the edges of any window to resize it. And you can click on a device to toggle its orientation, taking it from portrait to landscape — and even into Split View on iPad.

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How to Activate the iPhone Debug Console or Web Inspector

Use Safari's web developer tools to study problematic websites

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What to Know

• Activate Web Inspector on iOS: Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced and move the Web Inspector toggle switch to the On position.
• Use Web Inspector on macOS: Connect your iOS device to a Mac and choose the URL to inspect from the Develop menu.

If you run into a bug or another issue with a website on Safari mobile, use the Web Inspector tool to investigate. This article explains how to use the Safari console for iPhone to debug errors with the help of your Mac computer. Instructions apply to iPhones with iOS 14, iOS 12, or iOS 11, and well as Macs with macOS Big Sur (11.0), macOS Catalina (10.15), or macOS Mojave (10.14).

Activate Web Inspector on Your iPhone or Other iOS Device

The Web Inspector is disabled by default since most iPhone users have no use for it. However, if you're a developer or you're curious, you can activate it in a few short steps. Here's how:

Open the iPhone  Settings  menu.

On an iPhone with an early version of iOS, access the Debug Console through Settings > Safari > Developer > Debug Console . When Safari on the iPhone detects CSS, HTML, and JavaScript errors, details of each display in the debugger.

Scroll down and tap  Safari  to open the screen that contains everything related to the Safari web browser on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Advanced .

Move the Web Inspector toggle switch to the On position.

Connect Your iOS Device to Safari on a Mac

To use the Web Inspector, connect your iPhone or another iOS device to a Mac that has the Safari web browser and enable the Develop menu .

With Safari open, select Safari from the menu bar and choose  Preferences .

Select the  Advanced  tab.

Select the Show Develop menu in menu bar check box and close the settings window.

From the Safari menu bar, select Develop and choose the name of your attached iOS device, then select the URL that appears under Safari to open the debug console for that site.

After you connect your device, use your Mac to inspect the website you want to debug and have it open in the Safari mobile browser.

What Is Web Inspector?

Web developers use Web Inspector to modify, debug, and optimize websites on Macs and iOS devices. With Web Inspector open, developers can inspect the resources on a web page. The Web Inspector window contains editable HTML and notes regarding the styles and layers of the web page in a separate panel.

Before iOS 6, the iPhone Safari web browser had a built-in Debug Console that developers used to find web page defects. Recent versions of iOS use Web Inspector instead.

With Safari 9 and OS X Mavericks (10.9), Apple introduced Responsive Design Mode in Web Inspector. Developers use this built-in simulator to preview how web pages scale to different screen sizes, resolutions, and orientations.

To set up Web Inspector on your iPad, open your iPad's Settings and select Safari > Advanced , then turn Web Inspector On . Connect the iPad to a Mac computer, then open Safari on the Mac and select Safari > Preferences > Advanced , then turn on Show Develop menu in menu bar .

You cannot just connect your iPhone to a Windows PC and start using Web Inspector through Chrome like you can with a Mac. Installing package manager software can provide you a sort of workaround, but it's not recommended unless you're familiar with the package management app you intend to use.

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4 Easy Ways to Inspect Element on an iPhone

Last Updated: August 8, 2023 Fact Checked

• Safari Developer Tools
• Web Inspector
• JavaScript Bookmark
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This article was written by Luigi Oppido and by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA . Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 37,897 times.

Need to debug a website on your iPhone but can't find "Inspect Element?" While this common browser feature isn't built into Safari on your iPhone, there are still ways you can inspect website elements without paying for an app. The official way is to use Safari Developer Tools, which requires you to connect your iPhone to a Mac. If you're not near a computer, you can install a free app called Web Inspector, or create a JavaScript bookmark (which also works on Chrome). Or, if you're not debugging a web app and just want to change the way a website looks, you can use an iPhone shortcut called Edit Webpage.

Things You Should Know

• Use Safari Developer Tools to inspect elements by connecting your iPhone to your Mac.
• To inspect an element without a computer, install the Web Inspector app, or use a JavaScript bookmark.
• To edit text or remove images from a website, try the Edit Webpage shortcut in the Shortcuts app.

Using Safari Developer Tools

• You will need to use a USB cable to connect , as connecting with Wi-Fi won't allow you to inspect an element.

• Open your iPhone's Settings .
• Scroll down and tap Safari .
• Scroll down and tap Advanced .
• Tap the "Web Inspector" switch to turn it on (green).

• Click the Safari menu.
• Click Settings .
• Click Advanced .
• Select "Show Develop menu in menu bar." [1] X Research source

• As you select items in the Elements tab on your Mac, you'll see the selected element highlighted on your iPhone. [2] X Research source
• If you want to continue using Inspect Element without leaving your iPhone plugged in to your Mac, click the Develop menu again and select Connect via Network .

Using the Web Inspector Extension

• Web Inspector is useful for inspecting elements in Safari as it doesn't require you to connect your iPhone to a Mac. If you want to debug in Chrome, you'll need to use a JavaScript bookmark instead.
• While this extension does have the same name as Safari's "Web Inspector," it's not an official Apple tool.

• Open Safari and go to any website.
• Tap Aa in the address bar.
• Tap Manage Extensions . [3] X Research source
• Tap the switch next to "Web Inspector" to enable it.

• To allow Web Inspector to inspect elements on this website for one day only, select Allow for One Day .
• If you choose the latter option, you won't have to give Web Inspector permission to access websites again in the future.

• When you're finished, double-tap Aa to close Web Inspector.

Using a JavaScript Bookmark

• 1 Go to the website you want to inspect. This trick involves creating a bookmark that contains a string of JavaScript code to bring Inspect Element to any iPhone web browser. This trick will work in both Safari and Chrome, though the process of creating the bookmark will be a little different.

• Chrome: Tap the three-dot menu and select Add to Bookmarks .
• Safari: Tap the Sharing icon at the bottom, then tap Add to Favorites .

• Chrome: Tap the three-dot menu and select Bookmarks at the top. Tap and hold the new bookmark, then tap Edit Bookmark.
• Safari: Tap the open book icon at the bottom, then tap Favorites . Tap and hold the bookmark you just created, then tap Edit .

Using the Edit Webpage Shortcut

• You'll find the Shortcuts app in your App Library.
• This is helpful if you want to edit text or remove images and other objects from a website you're viewing.

• Scroll down and tap Shortcuts .
• Tap Advanced .
• Toggle on "Allow Running Scripts."

• Tap any element to edit it. Now you can edit text and images on the website without having an official Inspect Element feature built into Safari.

Expert Q&A

• Adobe Edge Inspect was a popular tool for inspecting elements on websites, but the tool is no longer in development or receiving updates. [4] X Research source Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• There are also several paid apps that will allow you to inspect web elements on your iPhone, including Achoo HTML Viewer & Inspector and Inspect Browser. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/use-the-developer-tools-in-the-develop-menu-sfri20948/mac
• ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/safari-developer/inspecting-overview-dev1a8227029/mac
• ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/get-extensions-iphab0432bf6/ios
• ↑ https://helpx.adobe.com/edge-inspect/system-requirements.html

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How to use Safari Web Inspector on Mac, iPad, and iPhone

If you’re a web developer, then you likely already know about Safari’s Web Inspector. But if you’re just starting to use Safari for development or have just begun your Web Development career, this guide will show you the basics for getting started with the Safari Web Inspector on iOS and Mac.

What is the Safari Web Inspector?

For those not yet familiar with the tool, you can use the Safari Web Inspector for help with your web development. It allows you to review page elements, make changes, troubleshoot problems, and review page performance. Apple sums it up with:

Web Inspector is the primary web development tool in Safari. Web Inspector allows you to inspect, tweak, debug, and analyze the performance of your web content in a Safari tab.

Enable and open Safari Web Inspector

You can use the Safari Web Inspector for development on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Here’s how to enable and open it on iOS and macOS so you’re ready to use it when you need it.

If you’re going to use the Web Inspector frequently, whether for iOS or Mac, you might as well add the Develop tab to your menu bar so you can access it easily.

• Open Safari on your computer and click Safari > Settings or Preferences from the menu bar.
• Choose the Advanced tab.
• Check the box at the bottom for “ Show features for web developers ” or Show Develop menu in menu bar .

Now when you want to enable the Web Inspector, click Develop > Show Web Inspector from your menu bar.

If you prefer to forgo adding the Develop button to your menu bar, you can access the Web Inspector on Mac with a shortcut. Navigate to the page you want to inspect, right-click on it, and pick Inspect Element from the context menu.

Just keep in mind that if you plan to use Web Inspector for Safari on your iOS device, you’ll need the Develop button in the menu bar on your Mac.

For iPhone and iPad

To use the Web Inspector for iOS on your Mac, grab your USB cable and connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer. Then, follow these steps to enable the tool:

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tap Safari .
• Scroll to the bottom and tap Advanced .
• Enable the toggle for Web Inspector .

Next, make sure Safari is open on your iOS device and your Mac. After that, follow these steps:

1) Click Develop from the Safari menu bar on Mac, and you’ll see your iPhone or iPad listed here.

2) Mouse over the device, and you’ll then see the websites open in Safari on your mobile device.

3) Select the one you want, and the Web Inspector will pop open in a new window for you to use.

Note: If this is the first time you’re using your iPhone or iPad for this work, take your mouse cursor over that iPhone or iPad and click Use for Development . Next, tap Trust on your iPhone or iPad and enter the device passcode. Now, this iOS or iPadOS device is ready to be used for web inspection. If it still shows a correction error, simply unplug the USB cable and plug it in again.

Position the Safari Web Inspector

If you’re using the Web Inspector for iOS, it will remain in its own floating window.

If you’re using it for Safari on your Mac, you can change its position. By default, Web Inspector displays at the bottom of your Safari window. To detach it and place it in a separate window or dock it to the left or right side of Safari, select one of the buttons from the top left of the Inspector window.

Get to know the Web Inspector

The Safari Web Inspector has a handy toolbar and tabs with some options that you can adjust to fit your needs.

Web Inspector toolbar

• “X” to close the Inspector
• Positioning buttons
• Reload button
• Download web archive button
• Activity viewer (resource count, resource size, load time, logs, errors, warnings)
• Element selector button

Web Inspector tabs

You can use all tabs or just a few. You can right-click or hold Control and click the tabs and then check and uncheck those you want to see. Rearrange the tabs by holding and dragging them to their new positions. And all the way to the right of the tabs bar, you’ll see a Settings button. This lets you adjust settings for tabs, indents, source maps, zoom, and more.

• Elements : Current state of the page’s Document Object Model
• Network : Resources loaded by the current page
• Debugger : View the JavaScript execution, variables, and control flow
• Resources : Resources being used by the current page’s content
• Timelines : A view of what the page’s content is doing
• Storage : State that is available to the page’s content
• Canvas : Contexts created from CSS
• Console : Shows logged messages and lets you evaluate JavaScript code

For in-depth help on a specific tab, you can head to the Apple Developer Support site . Select Table of Contents > Get started in Safari Developer Tools > Web Inspector .

Good luck with your inspection!

Hopefully, this guide will help you as you start working with the Safari Web Inspector for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac web development.

If you currently use the Web Inspector and have tips and tricks you’d like to share with others who are just starting, please feel free to comment below!

Check out next: How to view the source code of a webpage in Safari

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Inspect element (Mac) 

Hey there! If you’re a budding front-end developer or working on debugging web applications, you’ve probably been using Safari as one of your go-to browsers. And for a good reason, too! Safari comes with a fantastic tool called Inspect Element that allows you to dig deep into the nitty-gritty of a webpage. Let us walk you through how to use this fantastic tool on your Mac.

How to enable Inspect Element on Mac

Before diving in, you’ll need to enable Inspect Element on your Mac’s Safari. Just follow these simple steps:

• Fire up Safari, click the browser’s menu from the menu bar on the top, and go to Preferences.
• Jump over to the Advanced tab in the Safari Preferences window.

Voila! Inspect Element is now enabled and ready to roll in Safari on your Mac.

To access this powerful tool, you have a couple of options:

• Either click on Develop > Show Web Inspector in the menu bar.
• Or right-click the page and choose Inspect Element from the context menu that appears.

Mac Inspect Element shortcut

You can also use the Inspect Element shortcut on your Mac’s Safari to access the feature more quickly. Simply select/highlight the element on a webpage that you wish to inspect and press together Command, Option, and i keys and the interface of the feature will appear.

Inspect Element on Mac Overview

Once you’ve got Inspect Element up and running on your Mac’s Safari, you’ll be able to dissect every single component of the webpage you’re working on. Here’s a quick primer on using this awesome tool:

• Adjust the position and size of the Inspect Element interface to suit your needs. Possible ways you can do hat are by docking it to the side or bottom of the page or even popping it out into a separate window.
• Customize each of the tabs in the toolbar to your liking. You’ll find tabs like Elements, Storage, and Timelines, and you’ll be able to choose which ones to be shown.
• If you’re searching for a particular item on the page, just click the search icon on the right side of the toolbar and type your search term in the box that appears.

That’s the lowdown on using Inspect Element in Safari for Mac! This incredible tool is an invaluable resource for web developers or anyone curious about how websites tick. So, go ahead and dive into code inspection, testing, and debugging like a boss. Good luck!

How to use Inspect Element (Safari)

We’ll now show you ways you can use the Inspect Elements feature in Safari and how to customize in accordance with your preferences.

First up, let’s optimize the Inspect Element interface to suit your preferences. You have the freedom to situate the tool at the bottom, along the side of the page, or even detach it into a standalone window. To achieve this, simply interact with the icons nestled in the top left corner of the toolbar. And if you desire more or less visual space, effortlessly drag the border to resize it to your liking.

With the layout tailored to your needs, it’s time to customize the tabs. Inspect Element boasts an array of nine tabs, encompassing Elements, Storage, Layers, and Timelines, among others. Feel empowered to conceal the ones you deem unnecessary by right-clicking a tab and cherry-picking the ones you’d like to keep in plain sight. This action will place checkmarks beside your elected tabs and exhibit them in the toolbar.

Eager to scrutinize an element on the page? Activate the compass icon within the toolbar, then either glide through or click the element that piques your curiosity. Alternatively, you can cherry-pick the code or item inside the tool, and it’ll materialize on the page for your convenience.

Suppose you’re on a quest to locate a specific item on the page, such as a text string. Fear not! Merely click the search icon on the right extremity of the toolbar, input your search term, and behold! Your results will materialize beneath the search box.

During your creative process, you might observe warning or error icons emerging in the toolbar. These notifications are invaluable for pinpointing issues. To delve deeper, just click on the corresponding icon.

Should you feel inspired to modify Inspect Element’s aesthetics, enable page rulers, or make use of additional features like zooming and source maps, venture to the gear icon on the toolbar’s far right. This action will unveil the settings menu, where you can make a plethora of adjustments to mold the tool to your unique preferences.

Upon completing your work with Inspect Element in Safari, simply tap the X icon in the top left corner to bid the tool farewell. And there you have it! Armed with Inspect Element, you’re now poised to elevate your code inspection, application testing, and debugging prowess to unparalleled heights. Revel in the thrill of uncovering the hidden depths of web pages on your Mac using Safari’s exceptional Inspect Element tool!

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How to use Inspect Element on Mac using the Safari browser

If you’re just getting started as a front-end developer or need to debug errors while testing web applications, Safari is likely in your list of browsers to check for compatibility. With this comes the need for a tool called Inspect Element.

Enable Inspect Element for Safari on Mac

Open inspect element in safari, how to use inspect element on mac.

Going beyond just checking the source code of a page, Inspect Element lets you view everything going on behind the scenes of a webpage. You can see the HTML, style sheets, media, and other elements, all in one spot. Here’s how to use Inspect Element on Mac.

What You Need

Mac computer

Safari browser

Before you can use the Inspect Element tool on Mac, you need to enable it in Safari.

Step 1: Open Safari and click Safari > Preferences from the menu bar.

Step 2: Select the Advanced tab.

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Step 3: Check the box for Show Develop menu in menu bar .

Inspect Element is now available and ready for you to use in Safari on Mac .

With the tool enabled. you can access it a couple of different ways. If you want to look at a particular element on the page, you can select it first. Otherwise, you can simply open Inspect Element and select it from there.

Either click Develop > Show Web Inspector from the menu bar or right-click the page and pick Inspect Element from the shortcut menu.

Once you open Inspect Element, you’ll have all the tools you need to review every item on the webpage. And there are a lot of tools at your fingertips. Let’s take a look at the basics of using Inspect Element.

Step 1: Move and resize Inspect Element.

You can dock the tool at the bottom or on the side of the page or pop it out to a separate window. Use the icons on the top left of the inspector toolbar to move it where you want. If you dock the tool, you can drag the border to increase or decrease its size.

Step 2: Customize the tabs.

Inspect Element provides nine tabs for you to work with across the top of the toolbar. These include Elements, Storage, Layers, and Timelines. You can hide those you don’t need if you like. Right-click a tab and then select the ones you want to see. This places checkmarks next to them and puts the tabs in the toolbar.

Step 3: Inspect an element.

To select items on the page to display in the tool, click the compass icon in the toolbar. Then, drag through or click the element on the page. You can also select the code or item in the tool for that element to display on the page.

Step 4: Search for an element.

If you want to find a specific item on the page such as a text string, click the search icon on the right of the toolbar. Enter your search term into the box on the left and view your results directly beneath.

Step 5: View warnings or errors.

If the tool detects warnings or errors on the page, you’ll see these icons display in the toolbar as well. Click an icon to view either the warnings or errors.

Step 6: Adjust the settings.

To change the appearance of Inspect Element, show page rulers, enable source maps, zoom, and more, click the gear icon on the far right of the toolbar to open the Inspect Element settings.

When you finish using Inspect Element in Safari, click the X on the top left of the toolbar to close it.

You can take your code inspection, application testing , or debugging to the next level with Inspect Element on Mac for Safari.

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Whether you are spending your day on a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook, you should enable their blue light filter to help ease the strain on your eyes. Desktop screens and laptops typically have a built-in filter you can access, and there are downloadable options in case your computer doesn’t have this feature available.

We'll go into each of these steps below, but here's a simplified explanation of how to configure blue light settings on a Mac:

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What I’ve learned is that I need a web browser that can accommodate me, that has learned to accept my tab-based failings without judgement or chastisement. And after many years of trying, it turns out that Safari is not that browser. The tab problem

How to Edit Webpages on Safari Using Inspect Element

Here's how you can tinker with text and images on a website through Safari's nifty Inspect Element developer tool.

With its Inspect Element tool, Safari lets you tinker with the front-end code of any webpage. If you want to test what a page would look like with different text or images, you can do so by altering its code with Inspect Element.

This is a simple guide aimed at beginners to explain how you can begin experimenting with Inspect Element in Safari to edit a website's text and images with minimal coding knowledge.

What Is Inspect Element?

Inspect Element is a developer tool. It's available on Safari, though also on other web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. With Inspect Element, you can peek behind the curtain of a website to reveal its front-end code, like the HTML and CSS. However, it doesn't grant you visibility of the back-end, like its databases.

Not only can you see this code, but you can tweak it too. This means that you can change the appearance of a website. You can replace an image, rephrase some text, use a different font, switch its color scheme, and more. However, these edits are local. They won't appear to anyone else except you; they disappear once you refresh or move away from the page.

Why Should You Use Inspect Element?

Inspect Element is a great tool if you're a budding web developer. You can literally see the code that powers your favorite website, tweaking it as you wish in a real-world environment. There are many fun insights you can gain from using Inspect Element .

For example, business owners can look at keywords included in a competitor's website, or designers can use Inspect Element to identify a font that they find attractive or to quickly test a different color scheme on their website .

For now, we're going to focus on editing the basics of a webpage using Inspect Element.

How to Access Inspect Element on Safari

You can open Inspect Element on Safari using the developer menu:

• Open Safari.
• Click Safari in the top menu bar.
• From the dropdown menu, select Preferences .
• Select the Advanced option.
• Check the box that says Show Develop menu in menu bar .

After selecting this option, you can right-click on a webpage and select Inspect Element . Alternatively, you can select Develop in the menu bar, and then Show Web Inspector .

How to Find Web Elements in Inspect Element

To begin editing an element, right-click what you wish to edit and click Inspect Element . This will open the developer window, with the relevant section highlighted. You might find that the particular element you wish to element (the image or the text, say) is hidden; to locate it, use the arrows on the left to expand the nested sections.

To help narrow your selection down, click the target icon from the Inspect Element toolbar. Now, as you navigate through the code, it highlights that section on the website. Or you can use your cursor to pinpoint a section on the site. This is handy for when you want to hone in on something particular in a crowded area of a webpage.

How to Edit a Website's Text Using Inspect Element

To make a piece of text editable after finding it in a site’s source code, double-click it. You can type new text directly into the code, or delete existing text. When editing is complete for a given string of text, hit Enter , and the text on the webpage will change.

It's really as simple as that! The only times this won't work are when the text is actually part of an image, like a logo.

How to Edit a Website's Images Using Inspect Element

While images appear visually to you on the front-end, in the website code they appear as links. You can right-click and image and choose Inspect Element to jump to where that image is in the code. Website images typically have JPG, GIF, or PNG file extensions, though not exclusively.

Double-click these image strings and you can edit them, or just save them to your system if desired. If you want to replace the image, switch it out for a replacement image URL. Or you can delete the code string entirely to remove the image from view.

Dig Into Websites Using Safari

Safari's Inspect Element tool lets you easily find and change the code corresponding to text and images, which is as easy as switching out a text or URL string. Once you're done editing a website with Inspect Element, simply refresh the page and everything will be back to normal.

How to Inspect Element on Safari for Mac

This is how you Inspect Element on Safari for macOS

When you know how to Inspect Element on Safari for Mac, you can delve into the HTML and CSS code of a web page, to see how it's really functioning behind the scenes or to make changes to how the site looks or functions (these are only temporary and the changes will be discarded after you close your browser). 

If you're on a website you've built, you can use Inspect Element to debug issues with a page's front end.

Chrome and Firefox users will be used to simply right clicking on a page element and then selecting Inspect Element. However, with Safari the Inspect Element feature is not enabled by default, so you may be scratching your head about where to find it, especially if you're unfamiliar with Apple's browser. To enable Inspect Element, you first have to switch on Safari's Developer Menu.

If you aren't sure how, fear not, as this guide will show you exactly how to Inspect Element on Safari. All you need to do is read on.

• In Safari, click Safari in the tool bar
• Click Settings and head to Advanced
• Check Show Develop menu in menu bar
• On a webpage, right click an element
• Click Inspect Element

Read on to see illustrated instructions for each step.

1. Open Safari's settings

With the browser open, click Safari in the top left, then click Settings .

2. Under Advanced, enable the Develop menu

Click the Advanced tab , then check Show Develop menu in the menu bar . You can now close the Settings window .

3. Right click and select Inspect Element

Right click a page element and select Inspect Element from the menu.

4. Inspect the page code

You can now inspect the page code in HTML and CSS. Have fun!

If you'd like to learn more ways to get the most out of your Mac, we have lots of helpful tutorials just like this one. Find out how to enable macOS beta updates , so you can see and test the new features coming to your Mac in upcoming OS releases. I

f your Mac is behaving a little sluggishly, learn how to clear the cache on Mac , as this may help speed things back up. If you're sick of screenshots sitting on your desktop and spoiling your clean background, discover how to change the screenshot save location on Mac . Messy desktop? Learn how to use desktop stacks on Mac .

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Peter is Reviews Editor at Tom's Guide. As a writer, he covers topics including tech, photography, gaming, hardware, motoring and food & drink. Outside of work, he's an avid photographer, specialising in architectural and portrait photography. When he's not snapping away on his beloved Fujifilm camera, he can usually be found telling everyone about his greyhounds, riding his motorcycle, squeezing as many FPS as possible out of PC games, and perfecting his espresso shots. 

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How To Inspect In Safari On IPad

• Software & Applications
• Browsers & Extensions

Introduction

Safari Inspector is a powerful tool that allows you to inspect, debug, and modify webpages directly from your iPad. Whether you're a web developer, designer, or simply curious about how websites are built, Safari Inspector provides a window into the inner workings of the web.

With the increasing use of iPads for web browsing and content creation, having the ability to inspect and modify webpages directly on the device is invaluable. Safari Inspector empowers users to delve into the structure and behavior of web content, making it an essential tool for anyone involved in web development or design.

In this article, we will explore the ins and outs of using Safari Inspector on iPad. From opening the Inspector to utilizing its powerful tools for inspecting and modifying elements, we will guide you through the process of harnessing the full potential of this feature. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a novice enthusiast, understanding how to leverage Safari Inspector on iPad can enhance your web experience and deepen your understanding of web technologies.

So, grab your iPad, launch Safari, and let's embark on a journey to uncover the hidden layers of the web with Safari Inspector.

Opening Safari Inspector on iPad

To begin our exploration of Safari Inspector on iPad, let's first uncover how to open this powerful tool. Safari Inspector is seamlessly integrated into the Safari browser , allowing users to access it with just a few taps. Here's how to open Safari Inspector on your iPad:

Launch Safari : Start by opening the Safari browser on your iPad. Safari Inspector is a built-in feature, so there's no need to download or install anything extra.

Navigate to the Webpage : Once Safari is open, navigate to the webpage you want to inspect. Whether it's a personal blog, a news site, or an e-commerce platform, Safari Inspector allows you to peek behind the curtain of any webpage.

Access the Inspector : With the webpage loaded, tap the address bar at the top of the Safari browser. Next, select the "Share" icon, which resembles a square with an arrow pointing upwards. This action will reveal a menu of options.

Select "Inspect" : From the menu, scroll to the right until you see the "Inspect" option. Tap on "Inspect," and voila! Safari Inspector will open, presenting you with a wealth of tools and information to delve into the webpage's structure and functionality.

By following these simple steps, you can easily open Safari Inspector on your iPad and begin your journey into the world of web development and design. The ability to inspect and modify webpages directly on your iPad empowers you to gain a deeper understanding of how websites are built and how they function. Now that we've opened Safari Inspector, let's dive into the array of tools and features it offers for inspecting and modifying elements on a webpage.

Using Safari Inspector Tools

Safari Inspector equips you with a robust set of tools designed to facilitate the inspection, debugging, and modification of web content directly from your iPad. Let's delve into the diverse array of tools at your disposal and explore how each one empowers you to gain insights into the inner workings of webpages.

Elements Tab

The Elements tab serves as your window into the structure of the webpage. It presents a hierarchical view of the HTML elements that compose the page, allowing you to inspect and manipulate individual elements. By tapping on specific elements within the Elements tab, you can view and modify their attributes, styles, and content, providing a comprehensive understanding of the webpage's structure.

Console Tab

The Console tab is a powerful tool for debugging JavaScript, logging messages, and executing JavaScript commands directly within the context of the webpage. It enables you to identify errors, test scripts, and interact with the webpage's functionality in real time. The Console tab serves as a valuable resource for diagnosing and resolving issues related to JavaScript execution and behavior.

Sources Tab

The Sources tab provides access to the underlying sources of the webpage, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. It allows you to inspect, debug, and modify these sources, providing a comprehensive view of the webpage's codebase. With the ability to set breakpoints, step through code, and analyze network activity, the Sources tab empowers you to gain deep insights into the inner workings of the webpage's code.

Network Tab

The Network tab offers visibility into the network activity associated with the webpage, including requests, responses, and loading times for various resources. It enables you to analyze network performance, identify potential bottlenecks, and optimize the loading speed of the webpage. By examining network requests and responses, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the webpage's resource utilization and enhance its overall performance.

Application Tab

The Application tab provides access to various aspects of the webpage's application functionality, including local storage, session storage, cookies, and cache data. It allows you to inspect and modify these application resources, providing insights into how the webpage manages and stores data locally. The Application tab is instrumental in understanding and manipulating the application-specific aspects of the webpage.

By leveraging these powerful tools within Safari Inspector, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the structure, behavior, and performance of webpages directly from your iPad. Whether you're debugging JavaScript, optimizing network performance, or inspecting the underlying codebase, Safari Inspector equips you with the tools needed to unravel the intricacies of web development and design.

Inspecting Elements on a Webpage

Inspecting elements on a webpage is a fundamental aspect of web development and design, and Safari Inspector on iPad provides a seamless and intuitive interface for this essential task. By delving into the Elements tab within Safari Inspector, you gain the ability to explore the underlying structure of a webpage, inspect individual elements, and modify their attributes and styles. This process not only facilitates debugging and troubleshooting but also offers valuable insights into the composition and layout of web content.

Upon accessing the Elements tab, you are presented with a hierarchical view of the HTML elements that constitute the webpage. Each element, such as headings, paragraphs, images, and buttons, is displayed within a structured tree, reflecting its position and relationships within the document object model (DOM). By tapping on specific elements within this tree, you can inspect a wealth of information, including the element's attributes, styles, dimensions, and content.

Inspecting individual elements unveils a treasure trove of details that empower you to understand how the webpage is constructed. You can view and modify attributes such as IDs, classes, data attributes, and event listeners, providing the flexibility to manipulate the behavior and appearance of elements. Additionally, the Styles pane within the Elements tab allows you to explore the CSS styles applied to each element, including properties such as color, font size, margins, and positioning. This insight into the styling of elements enables you to diagnose layout issues, experiment with design modifications, and ensure visual consistency across the webpage.

Furthermore, Safari Inspector facilitates the inspection of the box model, which illustrates the dimensions and spacing of elements within the layout. By examining the content, padding, borders, and margins of elements, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of their spatial relationships and fine-tune the visual presentation of the webpage.

In essence, inspecting elements on a webpage using Safari Inspector empowers you to unravel the intricacies of web content, from its structural composition to its visual styling. Whether you're troubleshooting layout inconsistencies, experimenting with design variations, or gaining insights into the underlying HTML and CSS, Safari Inspector provides a user-friendly and powerful platform for inspecting and modifying elements directly from your iPad. This capability not only enhances your proficiency in web development and design but also fosters a deeper appreciation for the craftsmanship behind every webpage you encounter.

Modifying and Debugging CSS and JavaScript

Modifying and debugging CSS and JavaScript directly from your iPad is a game-changer, and Safari Inspector empowers you to seamlessly delve into the styles and scripts that shape the visual and interactive aspects of webpages. By leveraging the powerful tools within Safari Inspector, you can not only inspect but also modify and debug CSS and JavaScript, providing a comprehensive platform for refining the visual presentation and functionality of web content.

Modifying CSS

The Styles pane within the Elements tab of Safari Inspector allows you to directly modify CSS styles applied to individual elements. By tapping on specific style properties, such as color, font size, margins, or positioning, you can experiment with real-time modifications and witness their immediate impact on the webpage's appearance. This dynamic approach to modifying CSS empowers you to fine-tune the visual presentation, troubleshoot layout issues, and iterate on design variations directly from your iPad.

Debugging JavaScript

The Console tab within Safari Inspector serves as a robust environment for debugging JavaScript directly within the context of the webpage. By logging messages, executing JavaScript commands, and identifying errors, you can gain insights into the behavior and execution of JavaScript scripts. Additionally, the ability to set breakpoints, step through code, and inspect variables provides a comprehensive toolkit for diagnosing and resolving JavaScript-related issues. Whether you're troubleshooting interactive features, testing script functionality, or analyzing runtime behavior, Safari Inspector equips you with the tools needed to debug JavaScript with precision and efficiency.

Real-time Experimentation

One of the most compelling aspects of modifying and debugging CSS and JavaScript within Safari Inspector is the real-time nature of the process. As you make adjustments to CSS styles or diagnose JavaScript behavior, the changes are immediately reflected on the webpage, allowing you to experiment, iterate, and refine with unparalleled immediacy. This real-time experimentation fosters a dynamic and iterative approach to web development and design, enabling you to fine-tune the visual and interactive aspects of web content with agility and precision.

In essence, Safari Inspector on iPad provides a comprehensive platform for modifying and debugging CSS and JavaScript, empowering you to refine the visual presentation and interactive behavior of webpages directly from your device. Whether you're fine-tuning styles, diagnosing script errors, or experimenting with design enhancements, Safari Inspector offers a seamless and powerful environment for shaping the digital experiences that define the web.

In conclusion, Safari Inspector on iPad serves as a gateway to the inner workings of the web, offering a wealth of tools and features that empower users to inspect, debug, and modify web content with precision and agility. By seamlessly integrating into the Safari browser, Safari Inspector provides a user-friendly and intuitive platform for delving into the structure, behavior, and performance of webpages directly from the iPad.

The ability to open Safari Inspector with just a few taps, navigate through the Elements, Console, Sources, Network, and Application tabs, and leverage the diverse array of tools within each tab underscores the accessibility and power of this feature. Whether you're a seasoned web developer, a budding designer, or simply curious about the mechanics of the web, Safari Inspector offers a window into the craftsmanship and complexity that underpin every webpage.

Inspecting elements on a webpage using Safari Inspector unveils the hierarchical structure of HTML elements, the intricacies of CSS styling, and the spatial relationships defined by the box model. This process not only facilitates troubleshooting and debugging but also fosters a deeper understanding of how web content is constructed and presented.

Furthermore, the ability to modify and debug CSS and JavaScript directly from the iPad elevates the Safari Inspector experience to a dynamic and iterative endeavor. Real-time experimentation with CSS styles and JavaScript behavior empowers users to refine the visual presentation and interactive features of web content with unparalleled immediacy and precision.

In essence, Safari Inspector on iPad transcends the traditional boundaries of web development and design, bringing the power of inspection, debugging, and modification to the fingertips of users. Whether you're refining the layout of a personal blog, diagnosing JavaScript errors on an e-commerce platform, or optimizing the performance of a news site, Safari Inspector equips you with the tools and insights needed to unravel the intricacies of web content.

As the landscape of web technologies continues to evolve, Safari Inspector remains a steadfast companion for those seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the web. By embracing the capabilities of Safari Inspector on iPad, users can embark on a journey of exploration, experimentation, and refinement, shaping the digital experiences that define the modern web.

In the ever-evolving ecosystem of web development and design, Safari Inspector stands as a testament to the power of accessibility, innovation, and empowerment, offering a glimpse into the boundless possibilities that await those who dare to inspect, modify, and create on the canvas of the web.

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Productivity

How to use Inspect Element in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox

There's a powerful tool hiding in your browser: Inspect Element.

Right-click on any webpage, click Inspect , and you'll see the innards of that site: its source code, the images and CSS that form its design, the fonts and icons it uses, the JavaScript code that powers animations, and more. You can see how long the site takes to load, how much bandwidth it used to download, and the exact color in its text.

Or, you could use it to change anything you want on the page.

Inspect Element is a perfect way to learn what makes the web tick, figure out what's broken on your sites, mock up what a color and font change would look like, and keep yourself from having to Photoshop out private details in screenshots. Here's how to use Inspect Element—your browser's secret superpower—to do all the above and more.

Table of contents:

Why should I use Inspect Element?

How to inspect elements with google chrome, how to inspect elements with firefox, how to inspect elements with safari, tools you can access through inspect element (+ tutorials), find anything on a site with inspect element search, change anything with elements, test a site on any device with emulation.

If you've never peeked at a website's code out of curiosity, you might wonder why you should learn how to use Inspect Element. Below are just a few reasons why different roles can benefit from learning this trick of the trade. 

Designer: Want to preview how a site design would look on mobile? Or want to see how a different shade of green would look on a sign-up button? You can do both in seconds with Inspect Element.

Marketer: Curious what keywords competitors use in their site headers, or want to see if your site's loading too slow for Google's PageSpeed test? Inspect Element can show both.

Writer: Tired of blurring out your name and email in screenshots? With Inspect Element, you can change any text on a webpage in a second.

Support agent: Need a better way to tell developers what needs to be fixed on a site? Inspect Element lets you make a quick example change to show what you're talking about.

Web developer: Need to look for broken code, compare layouts, or make live edits to a page? Inspect Element does that, too.

For these and dozens of other use cases, Inspect Element is a handy tool to keep around. For now, let's see how to use the main Elements tab to tweak a webpage on your own.

There are a few ways to access Google Chrome Inspect Element. Just open a website you want to try editing (to follow along with this tutorial, open the Zapier blog post What is AI? ), then open the Inspect Element tool in one of these three ways:

Method 1: Right-click anywhere on the webpage, and at the very bottom of the menu that pops up, click Inspect .

Method 2: Click the hamburger menu (the icon with three stacked dots) on the far-right of your Google Chrome toolbar, click More Tools , then select Developer Tools . 

Once you take your preferred route to opening the Developer Tools pane, by default, it will show the Elements tab—that's the famed Inspect Element tool we've been looking for.

If you want to change the orientation of the Inspect Element pane, click the three vertical dots on the top-right side of the Inspect Element pane near the "X" (which you'd click to close the pane). Now, you'll see options to move the pane to the bottom, left, or right side of your browser or to open the pane in a completely separate window (undock view).

For this tutorial, let's dock the pane on the right side of our browser window to give us more space to work. You can make the Developer Tools panel wider or narrower by hovering over the left-side border. Once the ↔ cursor appears, drag the pane left to widen it or right to narrow it.

To get to Inspect Element on Firefox, like Chrome, you have three options.

Method 1: Right-click anywhere on the page and click Inspect at the bottom of the menu.

Method 2: Click the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right corner of the window), select More tools , then click Web Developer Tools .

Method 3: The keyboard shortcut on Firefox is command  + option + I for Macs and Control + Shift + C for PCs.

The Element pane in Firefox likes to pop up at the bottom of the window, which doesn't give you much room to work with. To move that pane to the side and free up more room, click the hamburger menu (three horizontal dots, next to the "X" in the top-right corner) and click Dock to Right (or left, if you prefer). 

If you like, you can also move the pane into a separate window in this menu. You can also expand the pane further or narrow it by hovering over the edge until your cursor changes, and then drag it to the left or right.

To launch Inspect Element with Safari, you'll need to activate the developer capabilities in the advanced settings first. Here's how.

Click the Safari dropdown in the top navigation bar above the Safari window, and then click Preferences .

Navigate to Advanced , and check the box at the bottom of the window by Show Develop menu in the menu bar . Close the window.

Now, you should be able to right-click anywhere on the page and click Inspect Element to open the Elements pane.

The pane should appear along the bottom of your window. To move it to a side alignment and give yourself a little more space to look at the code, click the Dock to right of window (or left of window) option on the top-left corner of the pane, next to the "X."

I prefer right, but you can easily switch this to the other side or detach the pane into its own separate window if you prefer. To make the pane wider or narrower, just hover over the edge until the cursor changes to the dragger, then drag to move the edge.

Now that we're in Inspect Element, there's an array of useful tools at our fingertips that we can use to make any site look exactly how we want. For this tutorial, we'll focus on the Search , Elements , and Emulation tabs. These aren't the only useful tools Inspect Element opens up—not by a long shot—but they're extremely helpful ones that beginners can start putting to use right away.

Note that, for simplicity, I'll be using Chrome to demonstrate, but the instructions should be essentially the same for all three browsers.

Wondering what goes into your favorite sites? Search is your best tool for that, aside from reading a site's entire source code.

You can open the default Elements view, press Ctrl + F or command + F , and search through the source code. But the full Search tool will also let you search through every file on a page, helping you find text inside CSS and JavaScript files or locate an icon image you need for an article.

To get started, open Zapier's blog article on " What is AI? " in Chrome, then open Inspect Element, click the hamburger menu, and select Search . The Search tab will appear on the bottom half of the Developer Tools pane.

In the search field, you can type anything— anything —that you want to find on this webpage, and it will appear in this pane. Let's see how we can use this.

Type meta name into the search field, press Enter, and you'll immediately see every occurrence of "meta name" in the code on this page. Now, you can see this page's metadata, the SEO keywords it's targeting, and whether or not it's configured to let Google index it for search. That's an easy way to see what your competitors are targeting—and to make sure you didn't mess anything up on your site.

Search is an effective tool for designers as well since you can search by color, too. Type #ff4a00 into the search field and press Enter (and make sure to check the box beside Ignore case to see all of the results). You should now see every time the color #ff4a00, Zapier's shade of orange, appears in this site's CSS and HTML files. Then, just click the line that reads "color: #ff4a00;" to jump to that line in the site's HTML and tweak it on your own (something we'll look at in the next section).

This is a handy way for designers to make sure a site is following their brand's style guide. With the Search tool, designers can easily check the CSS of a webpage to see if a color is applied to the wrong element, if an incorrect font family is used on a webpage, or if you're still using your old color somewhere on your site.

The Search tool is also the perfect way to communicate with developers better since you can show them exactly where you've found a mistake or exactly what needs changing. Just tell them the line number where the problem exists, and you'll get your fix that much quicker.

Or you can change the webpage yourself with Elements , the core part of Chrome's Developer Tools.

Front-end developers use the Inspect Element tool every day to modify the appearance of a webpage and experiment with new ideas—and you can, too. Inspect Element lets you tweak the appearance and content of a webpage by adding temporary edits to the site's CSS and HTML files.

Once you close or reload the page, your changes will be gone; you'll only see the changes on your computer and aren't actually editing the real website itself. That way, you can feel free to experiment and change anything—and then copy and save the very best changes to use later.

Let's see what we can do with it.

Click the Elements tab in the Developer Tools pane—and if you want more room, tap your Esc key to close the search box you had open before. You should see the HTML for this page—now you know how the sausage gets made.

In the top-left corner of the Developer pane, you'll see an icon of a mouse on top of a square. Click it, then you can select any element on the page you want to change. So let's change some things!

Change the text on a webpage

Ever wanted to change text on a site? Perhaps to see how a new tagline would look on your homepage or to take your email address off a Gmail screenshot? Now you can.

Click the icon of a mouse cursor on a square in the top-left corner of the pane.

Click any text on the page (like the copy on our " What is AI? " blog), which will correspond with a blue highlight over the related code.

Double-click the highlighted text in the Developer Tools pane (not the text on the live page) to turn it into an editable text field.

Type anything you want in this text field ("Auri is a genius" should work just fine), and press Enter .

Voila! You've just (temporarily) changed the text on the webpage.

Refresh the page, and everything will go back to normal.

Fun? Let's try another way to change some things on this page by closing out of the Developer pane altogether. You can then highlight any part of the live webpage you want to edit, then right-click it and hit Inspect .

When your Developer Tools pane opens, it should automatically highlight that sentence. Pretty neat, huh? It's the little things that count.

Now that we've selected a sentence to change on our blog, let's change how it looks.

Change the color and font of elements

On the lower half of the Developer Tools pane, you'll see a sub-pane with a few additional tabs that allow you to change how this text looks on the page. Let's get started on the Styles tab.

You may notice that some things are crossed out. This means that these styles are not active for the element we've selected, so changing these values will have no effect. 

Let's try changing something.  

Look through the code for the "font-size" field and click into it. Let's change it from 34px to 42px.

Now scroll down to "color" and change it to Zapier's signature #ff4a00.

This will look a bit cramped, so let's finish by changing the "line-height" to 44px.

Now check the blog post to see the difference.

Now let's try something really cool.

Change element states

Want to see how a button or link will look once someone interacts with it? Inspect Element can show that, too, with force element state tools. You can see how the element will look once a visitor hovers over the element (hover state), selects the element (focus state), and/or has clicked that link (visited state).

As with the other examples, you'll need to click the mouse cursor/box icon. For this example, we'll select the "Artificial Intelligence (AI)" tag on the "What is AI" article to try a color change. 

In the Developer Tools pane, right-click on that code in the Elements tab, hover over Force state , and click the :active: option. Do this one more time, but click the :hover: option this time.

That will change the button's background to black, which is what happens when you hover over the button on the live site. 

Now, change the "background-color" value to #ff4a00.

You should instantly be able to see what the new hover color will look like.

Try experimenting—change the :hover: color, then uncheck :hover: in the right-click menu and drag your mouse over the button to see the new button color.

Change images

You can easily change images on a webpage with Inspect Element, too. Using the same "What is AI?" blog post as an example, let's replace the orange solid color background on the "Power your automation with AI" button with a dramatic photo of a solar flare from NASA.

First, copy this link to the image: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8314/7931831962_7652860bae_b.jpg

Open Inspect Element on the orange background of the "Power your automation with AI" button and look for the "background-color" code in the pane.

Click "background-color" and replace color with image —this should cause an error. Just replace the color code with url and then paste the URL you copied into the parentheses.

This should automatically replace that boring single-color background with a flashy new image.

Note: You can also change a photo to a GIF or a video—all you need is a link to the file, and you can add it in.

Editing text is handy, swapping out images is fun, and changing colors and styles just might help you quickly mock up the changes you want made to your site. But how will that new tagline and button design look on mobile?

That's where Emulation comes in—it's where everything we've reviewed so far can be applied even further. Let's see how.

Everything has to be responsive today. Websites are no longer only viewed on computers—they're more likely than ever to be viewed on a phone, tablet, TV, or just about any other type of screen. You should always keep that in mind when creating new content and designs.

Emulation is a great tool to approximate how websites will look to users across various devices, browsers, and even locations. Though this does not replace actual testing on a variety of devices and browsers, it's a great start.

In the Developer Tools pane, you'll notice a little phone icon in the top-left corner. Click it. This should change the page into a tiny, phone-styled page with a menu at the top to change the size.

Resize the small browser to see how things look if you were browsing on a tablet, phone, or even smaller screen. Or, click the menu at the top to select default device sizes like Surface Duo or iPhone 12 Pro—let's go ahead and select the latter.

The webpage screen should shrink down to the device's size, and you can zoom in a bit by clicking the percentage dropdown next to the dimensions.

If you change the device preset to "Responsive," you can enlarge the view by dragging the right edge of the webpage emulation right. See what happens? Dragging the screen along the grid allows you to see how the webpage will change as the screen size changes. You can even toggle portrait and landscape views by clicking the little rotation icon at the end of the top menu.

Play around with the other devices to see how the webpage and screen resolution changes. All of the other developer tools we've gone over so far will also react to the device view. 

Emulate mobile device sensors

When you start interacting with a device preview, you may notice that your mouse now appears as a little circle on the webpage. This allows you to interact with the page as if you're on your mobile device.

If you click while dragging the page down, it doesn't highlight text like it normally would in your browser—it drags the screen down like you're on a touchscreen device. Using this view, you can see how large touch zones are on a webpage. This means you can see which buttons, icons, links, or other elements are easily touchable with the finger.

You can even make your browser act like a phone. Press your Esc key to open the Search pane in Inspect Element again, and this time click the hamburger menu on the top-right. Select More tools and then Sensors to get four new tools: Location, Orientation, Touch, and Emulate Idle Detector state.

Touch lets you choose whether the circle selector that acts more like a finger than a normal mouse cursor is forced or device-specific. 

Orientation lets you interact with motion-sensitive websites, such as online games that let you move things by moving your phone. 

Location lets you pretend you're in a different location.

Emulate Idle Detector state allows you to toggle between different idle user conditions.

Let's try viewing this site from Berlin. Just click the dropdown and select the city—nothing changes, right?

This is because there isn't content on this page that changes based on your location. If you change the coordinates on a site like Groupon.com that uses your location to show localized content, though, you would get different results. Go to Google.com in a different location, and you'll perhaps see a new Google logo for a holiday in another country, or at least will get the results in a different language.

Emulation is a great way to put yourself in your user's shoes and consider what the user may be seeing on your webpage—and it's a fun way to explore the international web.

Emulate mobile networks

You can also see what it's like to browse a site on different networks—perhaps to see if your site will load even if your users are on a slower 3G network.

To give it a try, click the hamburger menu in the top-right corner of the pane, hover over More tools , and select Network conditions .

There, you can choose from fast or slow 3G, or offline to see how the page works without internet. Or, click Add... to include your own testing (perhaps add 56Kbps to test dial-up internet). Now, reload the page, and you'll see just how long it'd take for the site to load on a slow connection—and how the site looks while it's loading. That'll show why you should improve your site to load faster on slow connections.

You can also change your user agent—uncheck Use browser default in the User agent field and select Firefox — Mac perhaps to see if the site changes its rendering for other browsers on different devices. That's also a handy hack to make webpages load even if they claim they only work in a different browser.

This is by no means a complete list of things you can do with Inspect Element. As you start exploring, you'll see many more features. My advice: click all the buttons .

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This article was originally published in January 2015 by Auri Pope. The most recent update was in June 2023.

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Bryce Emley

Currently based in Albuquerque, NM, Bryce Emley holds an MFA in Creative Writing from NC State and nearly a decade of writing and editing experience. His work has been published in magazines including The Atlantic, Boston Review, Salon, and Modern Farmer and has received a regional Emmy and awards from venues including Narrative, Wesleyan University, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Pablo Neruda Prize. When he isn’t writing content, poetry, or creative nonfiction, he enjoys traveling, baking, playing music, reliving his barista days in his own kitchen, camping, and being bad at carpentry.

• Software & web development
• Internet browsers

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How to Use Inspect Element in Chrome, Safari, & Firefox

Published: June 20, 2023

In a way, the job of web developers and designers is to convince users that a website is one singular entity, more than just a series of HTML elements formatted to look nice. With the right tools, however, even non-developers can peel back the curtain on any website to see what’s really happening behind the scenes.

You might be familiar with the classic “view page source” trick, which displays the raw HTML of a page in the browser window. But, there’s a better way to do your detective work: The inspect element feature lets us view and even modify any website’s front-end, which can be quite useful when building a website or learning how websites work .

In this post, we’ll discuss what it means to “inspect” page elements, and how to do so on three common web browsers. If you’re in a pinch, jump ahead to what you’re looking for.

• How to Inspect Elements in Chrome
• How to Inspect Elements in Safari
• How to Inspect Elements in Firefox

What does ‘inspect element’ mean?

Inspect element is a feature of modern web browsers that enables anyone to view and edit a website’s source code, including its HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and media files. When the source code is modified with the inspect tool, the changes are shown live inside the browser window.

Inspect is a web professional’s scout team. Developers, designers, and marketers frequently use it to peek inside any website (including their own) to preview content and style changes, fix bugs, or learn how a particular website is built. For instance, if you find an intriguing interface on a competing website, inspect element lets you see the HTML and CSS that make it up.

You can also think of your browser’s inspect feature as a “sandbox” of sorts: Play around with a web page as much as you want by changing content, colors, fonts, layouts, etc. When finished, just refresh the page to revert everything to normal. Inspect doesn’t change the website itself — only how it appears in your browser — so feel free to experiment!

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Inspect is also an incredibly valuable tool for those learning web development. Instead of viewing plain source code, use inspect element to interact with the page and see how each line of code maps to an element or style. By better understanding what constitutes the typical web page, you can communicate effectively with developers in the case of an error, or if you want to make a change.

Inspect may be a “developer tool,” but you don’t need to write any code or install any additional software to use it. You can do everything I’ve described right inside your browser — let’s learn how.

How to Inspect Elements

To inspect elements you have to right-click any part of a webpage and click Inspect > Inspect Element. Alternatively, you can press Command+Option+i on your Mac or F12 on your PC to do the same.

Every modern web browser has a native tool for inspecting elements. It can be accessed in any browser, but some browsers like Chrome and Safari have slight differences. Let’s discuss how to use the inspect tool in three desktop web browsers: Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Mozilla Firefox.

How To Inspect Elements in Chrome

Chrome comes with a handy developer tool that allows you to inspect individual elements. This allows you to see the code behind a webpage, and even edit it on your own browser. (Note that the changes are only visible to you, not to anyone else across the web.) 

Here's how to get started: 

1. Launch Chrome and navigate to the page you want to inspect. 

To use the element inspector in Google Chrome, first navigate to any web page. In these examples, I’ll be using HubSpot.com .

2. Open up the Inspect panel.

Once you arrive at your desired page, you have several ways to open Chrome's Inspect tool. 

• Option 1 : Right-click any part of the page and choose Inspect . Right-clicking a specific page element will open that element in the inspector view.
• Option 2 : In the top menu bar, select View > Developer > Developer Tools .
• Option 3: Click the three-dot icon in the top right corner of the browser window. From there, choose More Tools > Developer Tools . Then, click the Inspect tab in the popup. 
• Option 4 : Use the shortcut control-shift-C on Windows or command-option-C on macOS.

3. Change the location of the inspect panel.

To better view the code, you can change the position of the inspector window.

The Chrome Developer Tools panel will open at the bottom of the browser window, but sometimes it opens in a separate window altogether.

If you want to change the location of the panel, click the three-dots icon in the top right corner of the panel (next to the X icon), then choose your preferred dock position.

I’ll choose Dock to right — this makes it easier to view the rendered page and its source:

Along the top of the inspect panel, you’ll see tabs for Elements , Console , Sources , etc. These are all tools we can use to assess a page’s contents and performance. However, everything we need for inspecting is under the Elements tab.

4. Look at the source HTML code of the page.

The biggest area of the panel will contain the source HTML of the current page. Take some time to explore this region, and notice how hovering the cursor over the piece of code highlights the corresponding element on the page.

Blue indicates the contents of an element, green corresponds to padding , and areas in orange are margins .

5. Select a specific element to inspect. 

Rather than trying to read through the code to find an element, we can also do the opposite — we can locate a piece of code by hovering over the page element itself. To do this, click the Element select icon in the top left corner of the panel:

Next, click a page element. You’ll see the source code revealed in the inspect panel.

6. Edit the element's text, if desired. 

Besides viewing, we can use the inspect tool to alter the page contents. Let’s start by swapping out some text.

First, find some text content in the source code. Then, right-click the element and choose Edit Text — this opens an inline text input in which you can write whatever you want. When you deselect the text input, you’ll see the changes take effect:

Or, what about no text at all? Just select the element in the source code and delete it. The H1 will be gone from the page.

Don’t worry though — it will reappear when you refresh the page.

7. Hide and edit elements on the page. 

You can also hide any element without deleting it by right-clicking the element in the source code and choosing Hide element .

You can even add new page elements — right-click on an element in the source code and choose Edit as HTML . You’ll see a text field where you can paste HTML. For example:

8. Edit the page's CSS code. 

Moving down the Chrome inspect panel, we see the Styles tab. This shows us what CSS styling has been applied to the selected element. Click on lines of code to rewrite them, or activate/deactivate certain declarations by checking/unchecking the boxes next to them. Let’s do this for our <h1> element’s font-weight property:

9. View the page's mobile version. 

Finally, let’s cover one more feature of Chrome’s inspect feature, mobile view. When building a site, designers need to consider how its pages appear on desktop, mobile, and tablet screens alike.

Fortunately, Chrome lets you preview the same web page in multiple screen resolutions. Start by clicking the Toggle device icon in the top left corner of the panel:

From here, set the screen resolution manually or choose a device preset from the menu, then see how the page layout responds. You can also rotate the screen and even preview performance at “mid-tier mobile” and “low-tier mobile” speeds.

How to Inspect Element on Mac

To inspect an element on Mac, open up Safari. Select Safari > Settings > Advanced, then toggle the option that reads Show Develop menu in menu bar. Then, access your desired webpage, right-click, and tap Inspect Element. 

Let's look at how to inspect a page on Mac in more detail below, including tips and tricks. We'll be using Safari, but technically you can also inspect a page on macOS by using Chrome or Firefox. 

How To Inspect Elements in Safari

Safari includes a tool, just like Google Chrome, that allows you to inspect a web page. Here's how to use it. 

1. Enable Safari's developer tools. 

To use Safari’s inspect tool, Web Inspector, we first need to enable Safari's developer tools. Here's how: 

• On the top menu, select Safari > Preferences .
• Tap Advanced.  
• Check the box next to Show Develop menu in menu bar .
• You’ll see a Develop option added to the menu above.

2. Go to your desired web page. 

Next, go to the web page you'd like to inspect. For this example, I'll be using HubSpot.com again. 

3. Open up Web Inspector.

There are three ways to open Web Inspector in Safari:

• Option 1 : Right-click any part of the page and choose Inspect Element . Right-clicking a specific page element will open that element in the inspector view.
• Option 2: Choose Develop > Show Web Inspector from the top menu bar.
• Option 3: Use the shortcut command-option-I .

Safari’s inspector opens at the bottom of the window by default.

To change this configuration, click the icon to dock the display on the right side or pop out in a separate window.

Both are located next to the X icon in the top left corner of the display.

4. Look at the source HTML and CSS code of the page.

Safari’s inspector panel has two columns. The first shows the source HTML, and the second shows the page CSS.

Use your cursor to explore the source HTML and see which lines of code correspond to each page region. Blue highlights the contents, green highlights the padding, and orange highlights the margins. 

We can also inspect the page directly. Click the element selection icon at the top of the panel:

Now, when you click a page element, Web Inspector reveals the corresponding source code.

6. Edit, add, or delete page elements. 

Like Chrome’s inspector, Safari lets us modify, add, and remove page elements. To edit the page, right-click an HTML element in the inspect panel, then choose an option from the Edit menu. Web Inspector will prompt you for new text input, then display your changes in real-time:

Or, add a new element to the page by right-clicking a line of code and choosing an option from the Add menu. In this example, I’ve added a new <h1> child element to an existing <div> :

If you want to delete a page element, simply select some code and delete it. Or, right-click and choose Toggle Visibility to hide an element without deleting it.

7. Activate or deactivate the page's CSS code. 

To the right we have the Styles column, where we can change or activate/deactivate CSS declarations for any element, like so:

When testing content and style changes, you’ll want to see the effect on mobile screens as well as desktops. We cover that next. 

Safari’s Responsive Design Mode allows you to preview a website across common devices.

To view the page in a mobile viewport, choose Develop > Enter Responsive Design Mode . In this mode, you can use the same inspector tools on pages formatted for Apple devices, or set the dimensions yourself:

How To Inspect Elements in Firefox

Firefox is another great option for inspecting a web page in either macOS, Windows, or Linux. Here's how to get started: 

1. Open Firefox's inspect element tool. 

To open the Firefox Inspector, you have several options: 

• Option 1: Right-click any part of the page and choose Inspect Element . Right-clicking a specific page element will open that element in the inspector view.
• Option 2: Select Tools > Web Developer > Inspector from the top menu bar.
• Option 3: Use the shortcut control-shift-C in Windows or command-option-C in macOS.

Next, go to the web page you'd like to inspect. I'll be using HubSpot.com again. 

3. Change the location of the inspector panel.

The Firefox inspector appears along the bottom of the window by default. To change its position, select the three-dots icon in the top right corner of the inspector, then choose an alternative display option.

4. Look at the HTML code of the page.

Firefox’s inspector panel is comparable in features to Chrome’s and Safari’s. The HTML source code indicates the corresponding page element with color codes — content is blue, padding is purple, and margins are yellow:

You can also find code by selecting elements on the page. To enter selection mode, click the cursor icon in the top left corner:

Click any page element to reveal its source code in the inspect panel.

6. Modify or delete page elements. 

To modify or delete a page element, select its code in the inspector. Then, either double-click to change the text, or right-click and choose Edit as HTML or Create New Node to add code. Or simply delete the code and see the resulting changes on the page.

7. Toggle the page's CSS styles. 

To toggle the CSS styling of an element, use the Filter Styles region at the bottom of the inspect panel. Uncheck the box next to a CSS declaration to deactivate it (or write in new code yourself):

Finally, Firefox’s tools also come with a mobile preview option. To use it, click the Responsive Design Mode icon in the top right corner of the panel:

Responsive Design Mode lets you choose from several preset screen resolutions or set your own, and you can also toggle connection speed and device pixel ratio:

Get a Closer Look With Inspect

Once you learn the basics of your browser’s inspect tool, you might realize just how much information about your favorite websites is publicly available. With a few clicks, you can explore how exactly web pages are built, what styles they use, how they optimize for search engines, how they format on mobile screens, and a lot more.

Editor's note: This article was originally published in December 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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How to Find Code Using Inspect Element

One of the most useful tools for a web developer is the Inspect Element tool. It allows you to quickly jump to the important part of the code to see what's going on there.

It's something I use probably more than any other tool.

The best part is it allows you to see what's going on in the final render of the web page.

If you're only looking at the backend, or in the style.css file, you might miss an important piece of code that completely changes how the user will see that part of the page.

How to open Inspect Element in Windows Browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE): The process for all the browsers is the same in Windows. You right click and choose the one that starts with "Inspect".

Jump to the guide for your browser:

• Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari (Mac)

How to find code using Chrome Inspector

Right click on the part of the web page for which you want to see the source code, then click "Inspect".

Alternatively, to open the inspector without going to a particular part, press Ctrl + Shift + I .

You'll see the Inspector somewhere on the page. It will likely dock to the bottom, but you can change the position by clicking the ellipsis (...) next to the X at the top of the Inspector window.

If you want to view a different part of the page, or you didn't quite click in the right spot, click the icon with the box and arrow at the top left of the Inspector, then hover your mouse over the area of the page you want to view. Left click when you're at the right spot.

You'll see the code position update to where you're hovering.

Alternatively, you could scroll through the code window, find and click the actual code you're after. This can be handy if there are positioning issues or you're dealing with a hidden element.

How to find code using Firefox Inspect Element

Right click on the part of the page you want to view and select "Inspect Element" from the popup.

You'll see the Inspect Element window, probably at the bottom of the browser window.

If you want to change the position of the Inspect Element window, click the ellipsis (...) on the top right of the window and choose your position.

If you want to see a different part of the code, or you didn't click the right spot initially, click the icon with the square and arrow, then hover with your mouse until you get to the element you're after.

The code in the Inspect Element code window will move around in response to your mouse. Just left click when you're at the right spot to stop the highlighting.

How to find code using Internet Explorer Developer Tools

Right click on the area you want to view, then choose "Inspect element" from the popup menu.

Alternatively, with the Internet Explorer browser active (just click anywhere in the browser if it's not), hit F12 to pull up the Developer Tools.

If you've use Inspect element , you should see the code for that part highlighted.

To view other parts of the code, or if you got to Developer Tools using F12 , click the icon with the rectangle and weird triangle in the top left corner of the Developer Tools window.

Move your mouse to hover over the area you want to see. It will update the position in the code window as you move your mouse around. Left click when you're at the right position.

How to get and use Microsoft Edge Developer Tools

With Microsoft Edge active (click anywhere in the browser if it's not), press F12 on your keyboard. That will open the Developer Tools and ask you if you want to add "Inspect element" to the popup menu.

When you first open Microsoft Edge, if you haven't used Developer Tools before, you won't see Inspect element when you right click.

You have to press F12 on the keyboard. That will bring up Developer Tools as well as a bar at the bottom telling you that you can now use "Inspect element" in the context menu. Click "OK" to close that.

Now the next time you're in Microsoft Edge and right click on an element, you'll see "Inspect element".

The Developer Tools in Microsoft Edge docs to the right by default. I prefer it at the bottom. If you prefer that configuration, the button is in the top right of the Developer Tools window.

If you want to see different parts of the code, or if you got to the Developer Tools by pressing F12 , click the icon with the rectangle and triangle to bring up the picker.

Move your mouse around over the page to get to the part you want to see. Left click it to turn off the picker.

You can also scroll through the code and click the part you're interested in.

How to find code using Inspect Element in Safari on Mac

Hold Ctrl and click on the part of the website you want to view in code. Click "Inspect Element" to bring up the Inspector. Alternatively, press Alt+Cmd+I (⌥⌘I) to bring up the Inspector.

If you don't see that option, or the shortcut doesn't work, you'll need to enable the Developer Menu.

Go to Safari -> Preferences (⌘,):

Make sure "Show Develop menu in menu bar" is checked. This will work with Safari 10 and above.

Once that's all sorted, try the ⌥⌘I combination again to bring up the Inspector.

You'll see the Inspector at the bottom of the screen in Safari. If you want to change the position of the Inspector, click one of the two icons on the top left of the Inspector, next to the x.

If you want to skip to a different part of the code, or you brought up the Inspector with the shortcut combination, click the scope icon in the top right of the Inspector window.

Move your mouse over the web page to get to the part of the code you want to see.

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Optimizing WebKit & Safari for Speedometer 3.0

Apr 10, 2024

by Alan Baradlay, Antti Koivisto, Matt Woodrow, Patrick Angle, Ryosuke Niwa, Vitor Ribeiro Roriz, Wenson Hsieh, and Yusuke Suzuki

The introduction of Speedometer 3.0 is a major step forward in making the web faster for all, and allowing Web developers to make websites and web apps that were not previously possible. In this article, we explore ways the WebKit team made performance optimizations in WebKit and Safari based on the Speedometer 3.0 benchmark.

In order to make these improvements, we made an extensive use of our performance testing infrastructure. It’s integrated with our continuous integration , and provides the capability to schedule A/B tests. This allows engineers to quickly test out performance optimizations and catch new performance regressions.

Improving Tools

Proper tooling support is the key to identifying and addressing performance bottlenecks. We defined new internal JSON format for JavaScriptCore sampling profiler output to dump and process them offline. It includes a script which processes and generates analysis of hot functions and hot byte codes for JavaScriptCore. We also added FlameGraph generation tool for the dumped sampling profiler output which visualizes performance bottlenecks. In addition, we added support for JITDump generation on Darwin platforms to dump JIT related information during execution. And we improved generated JITDump information for easy use as well. These tooling improvements allowed us to quickly identify bottlenecks across Speedometer 3.0.

Improving JavaScriptCore

Revising megamorphic inline cache (ic).

Megamorphic IC offers faster property access when one property access site observes many different object types and/or property names. We observed that some frameworks such as React contain a megamorphic property access. This led us to continuously improve JavaScriptCore’s megamorphic property access optimizations: expanding put megamorphic IC, adding megamorphic IC for the in operation, and adding generic improvements for megamorphic IC.

Revising Call IC

Call IC offers faster function calls by caching call targets inline. We redesigned Call IC and we integrated two different architectures into different tiers of Just-In-Time (JIT) compilers. Lower level tiers use Call IC without any JIT code generation and the highest level tier uses JIT code generatiton with the fastest Call IC. There is a tradeoff between code generation time and code efficiency, and JavaScriptCore performs a balancing act between them to achieve the best performance across different tiers.

Optimizing JSON

Speedometer 3.0 also presented new optimization opportunities to our JSON implementations as they contain more non-ASCII characters than before. We made our fast JSON stringifier work for unicode characters . We also analyzed profile data carefully and made JSON.parse faster than ever .

Adjusting Inlining Heuristics

There are many tradeoffs when inlining functions in JavaScript. For example, inline functions can more aggressively increase the total bytecode size and may cause memory bandwidth to become a new bottleneck. The amount of instruction cache available in CPU can also influence how effective a given inlining strategy is. And the calculus of these tradeoffs change over time as we make more improvements to JavaScriptCore such as adding new bytecode instruction and changes to DFG’s numerous optimization phases. We took the release of the new Speedometer 3.0 benchmark as an opportunity to adjust inlining heuristics based on data collected in modern Apple silicon Macs with the latest JavaScriptCore.

Make JIT Code Destruction Lazy

Due to complicated conditions, JavaScriptCore eagerly destroyed CodeBlock and JIT code when GC detects they are dead. Since these destructions are costly, they should be delayed and processed while the browser is idle. We made changes so that they are now destroyed lazily, during idle time in most cases.

Opportunistic Sweeping and Garbage Collection

In addition, we noticed that a significant amount of time goes into performing garbage collection and incremental sweeping across all subtests in both Speedometer 2.1 and 3.0. In particular, if a subtest allocated a large number of JavaScript objects on the heap, we would often spend a significant amount of time in subsequent subtests collecting these objects. This had several effects:

• Increasing synchronous time intervals on many subtests due to on-demand sweeping and garbage collection when hitting heap size limits.
• Increasing asynchronous time intervals on many subtests due to asynchronous garbage collection or timer-based incremental sweeping triggering immediately after the synchronous timing interval.
• Increasing overall variance depending on whether timer-based incremental sweeping and garbage collection would fall in the synchronous or asynchronous timing windows of any given subtest.

At a high level, we realized that some of this work could be performed opportunistically in between rendering updates — that is, during idle time — instead of triggering in the middle of subtests. To achieve this, we introduced a new mechanism in WebCore to provide hints to JavaScriptCore to opportunistically perform scheduled work after the previous rendering update has completed until a given deadline (determined by the estimated remaining time until the next rendering update). The opportunistic task scheduler also accounts for imminently scheduled zero delay timers or pending requestAnimationFrame callbacks : if it observes either, it’s less likely to schedule opportunistic work in order to avoid interference with imminent script execution. We currently perform a couple types of opportunistically scheduled tasks:

• Incremental Sweeping : Prior to the opportunistic task scheduler, incremental sweeping in JavaScriptCore was automatically triggered by a periodically scheduled 100 ms timer. This had the effect of occasionally triggering incremental sweeping during asynchronous timing intervals, but also wasn’t aggressive enough to prevent on-demand sweeping in the middle of script execution. Now that JavaScriptCore is knowledgable about when to opportunistically schedule tasks, it can instead perform the majority of incremental sweeping in between rendering updates while there aren’t imminently scheduled timers. The process of sweeping is also granular to each marked block, which allows us to halt opportunistic sweeping early if we’re about to exceed the deadline for the next estimated rendering update.
• Garbage Collection : By tracking the amount of time spent performing garbage collection in previous cycles, we’re able to roughly estimate the amount of time needed to perform the next garbage collection based on the number of bytes visited or allocated since the last cycle. If the remaining duration for performing opportunistically scheduled tasks is longer than this estimated garbage collection duration, we immediately perform either an Eden collection or full garbage collection . Furthermore, we integrated activity-based garbage collections into this new scheme to schedule them at appropriate timing.

Overall, this strategy yields a 6.5% total improvement in Speedometer 3.0 *, decreasing the time spent in every subtest by a significant margin, and a 6.9% total improvement in Speedometer 2.1 *, significantly decreasing the time spent in nearly all subtests.

* macOS 14.4, MacBook Air (M2, 2022)

Various Miscellaneous Optimizations for Real World Use Cases

We extensively reviewed all Speedometer 3.0 subtests and did many optimizations for realistic use cases. The examples include but are not limited to: faster Object.assign with empty objects , improving object spread performance , and so on.

Improving DOM code

Improving DOM code is Speedometer’s namesake, and that’s exactly what we did. For example, we now store the NodeType in the Node object itself instead of relying on a virtual function call. We also made DOMParser use a fast parser, improved its support of li elements , and made DOMParser not construct a redundant DocumentFragment . Together, these changes improved TodoMVC-JavaScript-ES5 by ~20%. We also eliminated O(n^2) behavior in the fast parser for about ~0.5% overall progression in Speedometer 3.0. We also made input elements construct their user-agent shadow tree lazily during construction and cloning , the latter of which is new in Speedometer 3.0 due to web components and Lit tests. We devirtualized many functions and inlined more functions to reduce the function call overheads. We carefully reviewed performance profile data and removed inefficiency in hot paths like repeated reparsing of the same URLs .

Improving Layout and Rendering

We landed a number of important optimizations in our layout and rendering code. First off, most type checks performed on RenderObject are now done using an inline enum class instead of virtual function calls , this alone is responsible for around ~0.7% of overall progression in Speedometer 3.0.

Improving Style Engine

We also optimized the way we compute the properties animated by Web Animations code. Previously, we were enumerating every animatable properties while resolving transition: all . We optimized this code to only enumerate affected properties. This was ~0.7% overall Speedometer 3.0 progression. Animating elements can now be resolved without fully recomputing their style unless necessary for correctness.

Speedometer 3.0 content, like many modern web sites, uses CSS custom properties extensively. We implemented significant optimizations to improve their performance. Most custom property references are now resolved via fast cache lookups, avoiding expensive style resolution time property parsing. Custom properties are now stored in a new hierarchical data structure that reduces memory usage as well.

One key component of WebKit styling performance is a cache (called “matched declarations cache”) that maps directly from a set of CSS declarations to the final element style, avoiding repeating expensive style building steps for identically styled elements. We significantly improved the hit rate of this cache.

We also improved styling performance of author shadow trees, allowing trees with identical styles to share style data more effectively.

Improving Inline Layout

We fixed a number of performance bottlenecks in inline layout engine as well. Eliminating complex text path in Editor-TipTap was a major ~7% overall improvement. To understand this optimization, WebKit has two different code paths for text layout: the simple text path, which uses low level font API to access raw font data, and the complex text path, which uses CoreText for complex shaping and ligatures. The simple text path is faster but it does not cover all the edge cases. The complex text path has full coverage but is slower than the simple text path.

Previously, we were taking the complex text path whenever a non-default value of font-feature or font-variant was used. This is because historically the simple text path wouldn’t support these operations. However, we noticed that the only feature of these still missing in the simple text path was font-variant-caps . By implementing font-variant-caps support for the simple text path , we allowed the simple text path to handle the benchmark content. This resulted in 4.5x improvement in Editor-TipTap subtest, and ~7% overall progression in Speedometer 3.0.

In addition to improving the handling of text content in WebKit, we also worked with CoreText team to avoid unnecessary work in laying out glyphs. This resulted in ~0.5% overall progression in Speedometer 3.0, and these performance gains will benefit not just WebKit but other frameworks and applications that use CoreText.

Improving SVG Layout

Another area we landed many optimizations for is SVG. Speedometer 3.0 contains a fair bit of SVG content in test cases such as React-Stockcharts-SVG. We were spending a lot of time computing the bounding box for repaint by creating GraphicsContext, applying all styles, and actually drawing strokes in CoreGraphics. Here, we adopted Blink ’s optimization to approximate bounding box and made ~6% improvement in React-Stockcharts-SVG subtest. We also eliminated O(n^2) algorithm in SVG text layout code, which made some SVG content load a lot quicker .

Improving IOSurface Cache Hit Rate

Another optimization we did involve improving the cache hit rate of IOSurface. An IOSurface is a bitmap image buffer we use to paint web contents into. Since creating this object is rather expensive, we have a cache of IOSurface objects based on their dimensions. We observed that the cache hit rate was rather low (~30%) so we increased the cache size from 64MB to 256MB on macOS and improved the cache hit rate by 2.7x to ~80%, improving the overall Speedometer 3.0 score by ~0.7%. In practice, this means lower latency for canvas operations and other painting operations.

Reducing Wait Time for GPU Process

Previously, we required a synchronous IPC call from the Web Process to the GPU process to determine which of the existing buffers had been released by CoreAnimation and was suitable to use for the next frame. We optimized this by having the GPUP just select (or allocate) an appropriate buffer, and direct all incoming drawing commands to the right destination without requiring any response. We also changed the delivery of any newly allocated IOSurface handles to go via a background helper thread , rather than blocking the Web Process’s main thread.

Improving Compositing

Updates to compositing layers are now batched , and flushed during rendering updates, rather than computed during every layout. This significantly reduces the cost of script-incurred layout flushes.

Improving Safari

In addition to optimizations we made in WebKit, there were a handful of optimizations for Safari as well.

Optimizing AutoFill Code

One area we looked at was Safari’s AutoFill code. Safari uses JavaScript to implement its AutoFill logic, and this execution time was showing up in the Speedometer 3.0 profile. We made this code significantly faster by waiting for the contents of the page to settle before performing some work for AutoFill. This includes coalescing handling of newly focused fields until after the page had finished loading when possible, and moving lower-priority work out of the critical path of loading and presenting the page for long-loading pages. This was responsible for ~13% progression in TodoMVC-React-Complex-DOM and ~1% progression in numerous other tests, improving the overall Speedometer 3.0 score by ~0.9%.

Profile Guided Optimizations

In addition to making the above code changes, we also adjusted our profile-guided optimizations to take Speedometer 3.0 into account. This allowed us to improve the overall Speedometer 3.0 score by 1~1.6%. It’s worth noting that we observed an intricate interaction between making code changes and profile-guided optimizations. We sometimes don’t observe an immediate improvement in the overall Speedometer 3.0 score when we eliminate, or reduce the runtime cost of a particular code path until the daily update of profile-guided optimizations kicks. This is because the modified or newly added code has to benefit from profile-guided optimizations before it can show a measurable difference. In some cases, we even observed that a performance optimization initially results in a performance degradation until the profile-guided optimizations are updated.

With all these optimizations and dozens more, we were able to improve the overall Speedometer 3.0 score by ~60% between Safari 17.0 and Safari 17.4. Even though individual progressions were often less than 1%, over time, they all stacked up together to make a big difference. Because some of these optimizations also benefited Speedometer 2.1, Safari 17.4 is also ~13% faster than Safari 17.0 on Speedometer 2.1. We’re thrilled to deliver these performance improvements to our users allowing web developers to build websites and web apps that are more responsive and snappier than ever.

New iOS 18 Safari browsing assistant feature tipped as Apple's iPhone AI plans come into focus

W ith Apple set to announce the iPhone's iOS 18 software update at WWDC 2024 on June 10, we continue to hear various tidbits about what the software might have to offer when it's finally previewed to the world. Apple has been characteristically tight-lipped about the whole thing, but a new report suggests that changes are coming to the way people browse the internet on their iPhones.

According to some newly-discovered backend code, Apple appears to be working on a new Safari browsing assistant feature, although at this point it's difficult to know what that will actually do or how it will benefit iPhone owners everywhere. However, that doesn't mean that we can't make some calculated guesses.

Those guesses are informed by the ongoing narrative that we can expect a boom in Apple AI features with the release of iOS 18, something that is also tipped for the Mac with macOS 15 . If Apple really will, as is heavily rumored, lean on AI for a number of impressive new features this WWDC, it's possible that the Safari browsing assistant feature will do much the same. And that could be very interesting indeed.

AI browsing

The code was first spotted by Nicolás Álvarez and shared on the X social network. According to the post, references were found to Safari browsing assistant and something called Encrypted Visual Search. Both features are thought to make use of Apple's iCloud Private Relay infrastructure to send data to Apple which suggests that there will be some sort of privacy or security angle to them. If that's the case, users may require an iCloud Plus subscription to use them.

Safari browsing assistant could well be a byproduct of Apple's focus on generative AI which could in turn mean that users will be able to have their iPhone go off and find information for them based on internet searches. Siri can already do that to some extent and with wildly varying degrees of success. But ChatGPT 4 can already do this to a much more impressive extent, as can similar chatbot tools from others.

As for the Encrypted Visual Search reference, it's possible that could be an expansion of the Visual Look Up feature that allows people to identify things within photos and videos, but we will need to wait and see how that one pans out. 

If Apple follows the release cadence we're all familiar with, the new software announcements will happen on June 10 with developers immediately given an early beta to test. However, the public will have to wait until the fall to install them on their personal devices. A launch in mid-September seems most likely, probably shortly before the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro officially go on sale.

WWDC will see more than just iOS 18 and macOS 15 previewed, with the iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and more all receiving big updates. The Apple Vision Pro will also likely be updated to visionOS 2 later this year and that software is also expected to be previewed at WWDC before following a similar months-long beta program.

More from iMore

• iOS 18 is reportedly out in the wild ahead of WWDC reveal
• iOS 18 AI revolution could be behind the curve already thanks to a new Android upgrade
• Apple expects iOS 18 to be the biggest iOS update in the company's history

Posted Apr 10, 2024

At 2:48 PM UTC

Code uncovered by X user Nicolás Álvarez and confirmed by MacRumors reveals that Apple is working on something called a “Safari browsing assistant” with “encrypted visual search.”

As pointed out by Álvarez, this suggests that Safari’s AI assistant may use Apple’s Private Relay feature , which is only available to iCloud Plus subscribers. Details are still slim on Apple’s plans to bring AI to the iPhone, but it could involve either Google or OpenAI .

[ MacRumors ]

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iOS 18 May Feature All-New 'Safari Browsing Assistant'

iOS 18 will apparently feature a new Safari browsing assistant, according to backend code on Apple's servers discovered by Nicolás Álvarez . MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris confirmed that the code exists, but not many details are known at this time.

Update: Álvarez has since said that iCloud Private Relay might not be related to this feature.

A browsing assistant in Safari could be one of the many new generative AI features that are rumored to be coming to the iPhone with iOS 18 later this year. There are already multiple iPhone web browsers with AI tools, such as Microsoft Edge with a GPT-4-powered Copilot and Arc Search , which can summarize web pages to provide concise information.

Álvarez also uncovered a so-called "Encrypted Visual Search" feature in the backend code on Apple's servers, but no specific details are known. MacRumors contributor Steve Moser last year discovered a new Visual Search feature for Apple's Vision Pro headset in visionOS beta code, which would allow users to copy and paste printed text from the real world into apps and more, but the feature has yet to launch. It is possible that Apple is planning to debut a more secure version of the feature. However, the code could also relate to the iPhone's existing Visual Look Up feature that can identify objects in photos and videos.

Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10 , so we should learn more about these potential new features in a few more months.

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Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Detections in Livestock

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and State veterinary and public health officials are investigating an illness among dairy cows.

As we learn more about this evolving situation, APHIS will continue to provide confirmatory testing for samples from livestock as well as guidance for producers, veterinarians, and state animal health officials. As the situation changes, we will continue to post updated information at the links below. 

Detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Dairy Herds: Frequently Asked Questions APHIS Recommendations for HPAI H5N1 Virus in Livestock (214.38 KB)

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APHIS’ current recommendations for testing affected or exposed cattle.

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Watch CBS News

Bay Area zip codes top list where State Farm to discontinue homeowners insurance policies

By John Ramos

Updated on: April 9, 2024 / 7:18 PM PDT / CBS San Francisco

State Farm, California's largest insurer, has disclosed state zip codes where it will discontinue homeowners insurance coverage, with Bay Area counties topping the list.

Last month, the Illinois-based insurer announced it would discontinue coverage for 72,000 houses and apartments in California starting this summer, nine months after  announcing it wouldn't issue new home policies in the state .

In one zip code, 95033, in the Santa Cruz mountains, more than 65% of policies will be ending.  And in 95409 near Santa Rosa, nearly 48 percent. But in the entire state, the area with the most policies being non-renewed is the small Contra Costa County city of Orinda. 1,703 of the 3,115 State Farm policies -- nearly 55% -- will not be continued. Another 956 policies in neighboring 94549 will also not be renewed.

"The changes are coming faster than the very fire everyone's worried about," said Tom Stack, a local real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in Orinda. He said finding home insurance in the town has become so erratic that he's advising people to check for coverage before they start house hunting in the area.

"And the refrain is, 'I've never had a claim! I've had 'em 20, 30 years!' People are insulted, disgusted, upset," said Stack. "There is some reality to this and, to that degree, I understand. But the pendulum has swung so far in one direction that it's paralyzed. It's just now really grinding to a halt. When the big name players leave, that's really when it gets to be a problem." 

Los Angeles County zip codes 90272, 90049 and 91302 follow on the list, each location with more than 1,000 policies discontinued. Zip code 95033 in Santa Clara/Santa Cruz County also has more than 1,000 policyholders that will be dropped. Rounding out the top ten are Sonoma County zip codes 95409 and 95404 with some 1,400 policies not renewed in Santa Rosa and communities east.

Caballo Ranchero Drive, in the small township of Diablo near Danville, is lined with lovely -- and expensive -- homes.  But when Ron Aghazarian moved there he got a surprise from State Farm.

"We moved here from Pleasanton and we had State Farm there for many years," he said.  "When we purchased this house, we thought we would just roll over the policy from there to cover this home.  And they told us they wouldn't insure out here. They were not writing policies in this area."

His home is in the 94528 zip code. In July, more than half of the 152 State Farm policy holders in the area will be told that their insurance will not be renewed. Insurance broker Karl Susman talked to CBS Bay Area about why this is happening.

"As the market was tightening down and many insurance companies were stopping new coverage altogether, for some reason State Farm kept writing," he said.  "And they were writing in areas that most carriers would not have written in ever .  So we were a bit perplexed about what the move was, what the game plan, was with that. So when State Farm's coming out now, being the first one to actually start non-renewing homes in what is considered above-average for fire risk, it doesn't surprise us too much."

State Farm blames  an increased risk of catastrophes wildfires , outdated regulations, and higher costs as reasons it won't renew the policies.

Last summer, State Farm said it would no longer accept applications for all business and personal lines of property and casualty insurance, citing inflation, a challenging reinsurance market and "rapidly growing catastrophe exposure."

The company said the discontinued policies this summer account for just over 2% of its California policies. 

State Farm says it will begin sending out notices to homeowners on July 3rd, but they point out that non-renewal is not a cancellation. Current policy holders will retain coverage until their current contracts expire.  

Those who lose their insurance may have to join  the California FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort .  Besides being expensive, Susman said that program has become so overwhelmed with applicants that it can now take weeks just to get a quote. And plan operators say one big wildfire could throw the whole thing into insolvency. There simply aren't many good options for homeowners in high-risk areas.

"When I say they have few choices, I'm being kind!  Some may literally have no choices. If they're too large for the California FAIR Plan, then they're going to have to talk with a broker to try to get a policy that could be through Lloyds of London," said Susman. "And we could be looking at premiums -- without exaggerating -- of 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars a year! Outrageous! But that's exactly what you expect to see when there's no competition, right?" 

But he said there could be hope for the future. The state is looking to change regulations that would allow insurers to price policies on a home-by-home basis, something that's not currently allowed. Susman says that should attract insurers back to the market, allowing them to assess risk on more factors than just a zip code.

Carlos Castaneda contributed to this report.

• California Department of Insurance
• California Wildfires

John Ramos accidentally launched a lifelong career in journalism when he began drawing editorial cartoons and writing smart-alecky satire pieces for the Bakersfield High School newspaper.

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Metro Phoenix restaurant hit with 5 health code violations over sanitation, food storage

Maricopa County health inspectors cited one restaurant for five health violations during the week of March 21. The violations ranged from a meat slicer that was not cleaned for five or six hours to large cuts of pastrami that were sitting out in the open and needed reheating.

A priority violation is a major violation that directly contributes to an increased risk of foodborne illness or injury. If listed in inspection reports, remedies implemented during the inspection are noted.

During the week of March 21, inspectors visited nearly 1,400 restaurants along with other food-serving facilities in hospitals, senior homes and schools. More than 200 restaurants received an "A" rating. See a sampling of the many restaurants that inspectors graded "A" at the end of this article.

5 violations

Chompie's, 3481 W. Frye Road, Chandler

• An employee washed their hands and then wiped them on an apron. Another was wearing gloves and touched clothing, then continued handling food.  A third drank directly from a cup, replaced the lid and sealed it along the edges with bare hands and then started to handle food without washing hands. The manager had all three employees wash their hands.
• Several flats of raw eggs in their shells were stored on a wire shelf above bags of pasteurized liquid eggs on the cook line. The manager had an employee move the items to proper storage.
• A meat slicer on the cook line was not cleaned and sanitized for five or six hours. The manager had the slicer properly cleaned and sanitized.
• Large cuts of pastrami were observed in hot holding at a temperature of 129 F. An employee stated they were in the hot box for less than two hours and reheated them to above 165 F. 
• A spray bottle of oven and grill cleaner was stored above the sanitizer side of the three-compartment sink. The manager moved the bottle to chemical storage.

Look 'em up:   Check your favorite dining spots in The Republic's new restaurant inspection database

Grade A restaurants

• The Terraces, 7550 N. 16th St.
• Salsitas Mexican Food, 3827 N. 43rd Ave.
• Duelies Sportsbar and Grill, 7000 E. Mayo Blvd.
• KARE Ethiopian restaurant, 4729 E. McDowell Road
• Reggies Barbecue, 730 S. 15th Ave.
• America's Taco Shop, 7001 E. First Ave.
• Pita Cafe, 23535 N. Scottsdale Road
• Hula's Modern Tiki, 7213 E. First Ave.
• Cedar Room Fine Cigars & Lounge, 20715 N. Pima Road
• Buzzed Bull Creamery, 7135 E. Camelback Road

East Valley

• Flaming Kabob, 2252 E. Baseline Road, Mesa
• Sushi San, 1440 W. Warner Road Suite 125A, Gilbert
• Paradise Valley Burger, 815 E. Baseline Road, Tempe
• Happy Lemon, 1840 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler
• Chodang Tofu Restaurant, 501 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler

West Valley

• Siamese Kitchen, 4352 W. Olive Ave., Glendale
• Augie's Sports Grill, 15605 W. Roosevelt St., Goodyear
• Don Ruben's Mexican Restaurant, 11340 W. Bell Road, Surprise
• Paloma Mexican Street Food, 965 E. Van Buren St., Avondale
• Cupbop Korean BBQ in a Cup, 9410 W. Hanna Lane, Glendale

Source: Maricopa County Environmental Services

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