[HN Gopher] DevTools Tips
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       DevTools Tips
        
       Author : stefankuehnel
       Score  : 188 points
       Date   : 2023-08-30 10:04 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (devtoolstips.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (devtoolstips.org)
        
       | rasz wrote:
       | Nice. I didnt know about Snippets. Handy for investigating all
       | the garbage Chrome stuffs into Preferences file.
       | 
       | https://www.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/site-en...
       | 
       | https://github.com/WernerFP/vivaldi-clear-engagement.sh/blob...
        
       | isodev wrote:
       | I like the idea, but I'm not certain how to make it useful beyond
       | "casual reading about devtools".
       | 
       | The very first tip I see is "Customize the way objects look"
       | which is ok... cool you can do that, is this where it should
       | start? Also, it seems Safari only got a handful of tags and many
       | of its unique (and very useful) features are missing completely
       | from the list.
        
         | tilne wrote:
         | What are the unique, useful features you're thinking of from
         | safari?
         | 
         | (This sounds like a sarcastic, leading question, but it's
         | genuine. I don't know this space well at all.)
        
         | capableweb wrote:
         | > The very first tip I see is "Customize the way objects look"
         | which is ok... cool you can do that, is this where it should
         | start?
         | 
         | I mean, why not? It's not all for fun and giggles, it's
         | actually a very useful feature, I use it a lot when working
         | with data structures I've created myself (which are ultimately
         | usually Objects in the JS world, but custom algorithms for
         | get/set/sort and so on) and I want to render them differently
         | in the console.
         | 
         | Another real-life example of it's usefulness is
         | https://github.com/binaryage/cljs-devtools which formats
         | Clojure/Script data structures into a more useful format when
         | printing them to the console. It literally uses that feature:
         | https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Abinaryage%2Fcljs-devtools...
        
         | captainbrosset wrote:
         | I would love to add more Safari tips to the site! Please let me
         | know what other features are missing. Also, the site is open
         | source and lets people add their own tips via:
         | https://github.com/captainbrosset/devtools-tips Feel free to
         | propose additions there.
        
           | epolanski wrote:
           | This is an amazing resource you're building up. Thanks for
           | the work.
        
           | specialist wrote:
           | I love that you accept submissions as PRs. Bravo.
        
         | billbrown wrote:
         | I think it would benefit from a rating system and a sort or
         | filter based on that rating.
        
       | nlunbeck wrote:
       | I think something that could help a lot of people would be a
       | browser devtool comparison page. You can take your existing
       | browser tags and show which devtool features exist on each
       | browser. Personally, I would 100% use a guide like that to decide
       | which browsers tools suit my needs.
        
       | shermix011 wrote:
       | Guys look like Polypane competitior
        
         | captainbrosset wrote:
         | devtoolstips is a website that gives tips and tricks about how
         | to use devtools (in edge, firefox, chrome, safari, and even
         | polypane). Polypane is a development browser. There's
         | absolutely nothing in common between the two. And, by the way,
         | I know Kilian, the author of Polypane, and we've worked
         | together on a few tips on devtoolstips.
        
       | colesantiago wrote:
       | Just curious, how does this compare to using the Dev Tools Pane
       | itself?
       | 
       | Why the need for a new website for this?
       | 
       | What makes this useful over the issues tab inside the developer
       | tools pane inside browsers?
        
         | azeirah wrote:
         | Huh? This is not an alternative devtools application, it's
         | literally just a large collection of tutorials and tips on how
         | to get the most out of your browser's devtools.
        
           | colesantiago wrote:
           | Doesn't the dev tools pane do this already?
           | 
           | I see tips and tricks in the pane with issues and tips how to
           | solve it.
           | 
           | So I don't understand the need for a website for this.
        
             | dspillett wrote:
             | _> So I don 't understand the need for a website for this._
             | 
             | Perhaps read some of the website?
             | 
             | For instance the example for customising the output when
             | inspecting your own object types: a view specific to your
             | objects is something DevTools doesn't do out of the box
             | (how could it when the devs know nothing of your objects?)
             | though there is a way for you to tell it how to display
             | them which few people know about. I for one was unaware
             | until now.
             | 
             | Some of the examples seem a lot more like common knowledge
             | (in fact you can derive some of the tips by just reading
             | the screen in front of you while using DevTools) but that
             | doesn't mean some people aren't unaware of the facility or
             | are aware of it but have misunderstood and think it is less
             | useful that it can actually be. For instance I know about
             | the "Apply CSS styles to console messages" method, I've
             | used it starting some time ago (though note: over use of
             | things like this hinders more than it helps), but I image a
             | lot of people don't because it isn't in the usual lists of
             | console tips (which normally amount to illustrating the
             | existence of console.warn(), console.table(), and similar
             | methods).
             | 
             | Of course if you know _everything_ about DevTools, or
             | simply don 't need/care to know more than you do, then the
             | site genuinely isn't useful to you. But that doesn't mean
             | it isn't useful to others.
             | 
             |  _> I see tips and tricks in the pane with issues and tips
             | how to solve it._
             | 
             | I'm not seeing a Tips and Tricks pane so maybe we are not
             | using the same browser, or you have an extension installed
             | that is providing extra features.
             | 
             | There is What's New which does what this site is doing,
             | just for brand new or newly updated features not those that
             | have been around for some time.
             | 
             | The issues tab, but this is issues detected in the current
             | page, not necessarily anything to do with DevTools..
        
             | captainbrosset wrote:
             | The Issues panel in Chrome and Edge give you
             | recommendations about how to make your website better. This
             | is different from devtoolstips.org which gives you tips for
             | how to use DevTools better.
        
         | Timon3 wrote:
         | Let's go with the first article:
         | https://devtoolstips.org/tips/en/custom-object-formatters/
         | 
         | Where do the devtools tips/tricks tell you about this?
        
         | master-lincoln wrote:
         | My browser doesn't have an "issues tab" nor do I see any tips.
         | Which browsers are you referring to? If I would see those hints
         | in the browser I still think the website is valuable as it
         | shows me which functionalities I can use in other browsers too
        
       | azeirah wrote:
       | Love it! Learned a lot already in the first few articles.
        
       | awelxtr wrote:
       | The design of this page makes me feel it is all ads. A list of
       | one ad after another.
       | 
       | Anyone els feels the same?
        
         | b0afc375b5 wrote:
         | Yes. I have this sudden urge to look for the ad close (x)
         | button for some reason. I think it's the lack of a solid
         | border, or box-shadow, or perhaps the lack of padding of the
         | images. I'm not really sure.
        
         | colesantiago wrote:
         | It does feel it's all ads to me. I'm confused if I would like
         | to bookmark this or not.
        
         | master-lincoln wrote:
         | nope, looks alright to me. But then I don't really see ads
         | anymore because of extensive blocking + avoiding. Maybe that's
         | why I don't have that assoiciation
        
         | nottheengineer wrote:
         | Yes (looking at it from mobile), I think it's because of the
         | fact that the images sit below the tags and there are no
         | separator lines.
         | 
         | My brain just doesn't get the connection between the
         | title/text/tags block and the image at first glance, so it
         | jumps to the conclusion that the image is an ad and not worth
         | looking at.
        
         | consoomer wrote:
         | The design and branding reminded me a lot of the old Travis
         | Nielson DevTips content. I got excited for a second until I
         | realized it's not Trav.
        
         | lfkdev wrote:
         | I don't see a single AD
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | captainbrosset wrote:
         | I'm the author of devtoolstips. What exactly makes it feel like
         | a list of ads to you? I'd love to understand this more. I'm, by
         | no mean, a designer, and I do this in my free time. But if
         | there's something that would make it look less marketing-like,
         | then I'd love to know and update the design. Thanks!
        
           | rendall wrote:
           | I do not agree with the assessment, personally, that it looks
           | like advertising. That said, on mobile, the images could be
           | under the title rather than under the tags, and they could
           | have the same width as the other elements.
        
           | capableweb wrote:
           | It's too busy with too many elements trying to get the user's
           | focus I think.
           | 
           | Small tips: Remove the underline from the title of the "tip"
           | and increase the margin between the tips themselves by a
           | small amount. Maybe adjust the background color of a tip as
           | well.
           | 
           | Would make it look like this: https://i.imgur.com/m1WqTBU.png
        
           | awelxtr wrote:
           | The colours and text/image distribution remind me the low
           | quality ads that appear at the bottom of some news places
           | that simply it's a bunch of clickbait and penis enlargement
           | ads
        
         | h1fra wrote:
         | Yes same, the google blue + the crispy image, it does reminds
         | me of the old days.
         | 
         | However, I feel like this site was published for the survey
         | more than anything else.
        
           | captainbrosset wrote:
           | That's not the case.
           | 
           | I only added the survey much later. The survey is just a
           | little thing I added to try and get people to share their
           | frustrations with DevTools, as a way for me to think of other
           | tips that they may find useful, and then add them to the
           | site.
           | 
           | The site is a long-running thing, which I've been running as
           | a side personal project for 2 years now, slowly adding more
           | and more tips, as I (or other people) think of them.
        
             | h1fra wrote:
             | Ah, my apologies then. I felt like it was somehow tied to
             | Edge, I should have dug deeper.
        
             | _a_a_a_ wrote:
             | Welcome to the fuck-you world of trying to help people!
             | Just remember many will thank you as well.
        
       | isaacfung wrote:
       | Was looking for a guide on how to make my devtools earlier. It
       | was actually easier than I thought.
       | https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-extensions-samples/tr...
       | You can do things like adding a new tab/pannel in the devtools,
       | override the default new tab, override the bookmark
       | manager/search history manager, add new options to the context
       | menu, intercept network requests, manipulate the sidepanel(the
       | one you open when you search image with google) and [omnibox](htt
       | ps://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/omnib...).
        
       | pacoverdi wrote:
       | One thing that bugs me (with no solution in this site) is the
       | Breakpoints panel that opens everytime a breakpoint is hit.
       | 
       | In Chrome, this is not a big issue because the panel is on a
       | separate column (compared to the main panel where variables
       | values can be browsed).
       | 
       | In Firefox, both panels are in the same column. When many
       | breakpoints are set, one must scroll or click to close the
       | breakpoints panel before any work is possible.
        
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       (page generated 2023-08-30 23:01 UTC)