Filed under: Terminal Tips
Terminal Tip: Enable Safari web inspector
To enable the Safari Develop menu, just close Safari and type (or copy/paste) the following command into Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities):
defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true Once you enter the command, you will be able to launch Safari, load a webpage, and click Develop > "Show Web Inspector" to see the page attributes. You will be able to see the documents, stylesheets, images, and scripts.
Update: As of new versions of Safari, you can enable the Develop menu by going to Safari > Preferences > Advanced, and click on the "Show Develop menu in menu bar." Thanks to everyone in the comments for pointing this out!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bill said 1:07PM on 12-11-2008
There is an easier way in Safari 3.2.1. In the File menu, select Preferences. On the Advanced tab, just check the 'Show Develop menu in menu bar' option.
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matthew said 1:11PM on 12-11-2008
Thanks, that's a way better tip.
michael s said 1:36PM on 12-11-2008
Srsly TUAW, its in the preferences...
Mike said 1:10PM on 12-11-2008
The "Show Develop menu in menu bar" option has been there since Safari 3.0.
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Tony said 1:52PM on 12-11-2008
You would think they would know this, since we're more than a year past the release of 3.0
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freshyill said 2:03PM on 12-11-2008
For what it's worth, the Webkit nightlies have a *much* more useful Web inspector. I use the inspector for work constantly, and I'm willing to trade a little bit of stability for the usefulness of the new inspector.
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Andrew Harrison said 5:48PM on 12-11-2008
I think the Safari 4 Developer Preview uses the same inspector as the recent WebKit nightlies. I agree, the inspector is MUCH improved upon. The Developer Preview is too unstable to use every day, but maybe I will check out the WebKit nightlies instead.
LuminousNerd said 2:04PM on 12-11-2008
You don't need a terminal hack for this. There's a checkbox in the preferences, under advanced.
It's a shame it's so well hidden, Web Inspector is fantastic.
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Maarten Van Coile said 2:47PM on 12-11-2008
I know this has already been said more than a few times in the comments, but seriously? This has been a preference setting since Leopard came out, and the WebKit nightlies offer a way more powerful inspector.
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Rafe H. said 3:25PM on 12-11-2008
Folks, take it easy! Keep in mind that the TUAW bloggers are Windows users by day, and have even resorted to posting Windows how-tos (enable SSH tunnels? love Outlook's 3-pane? hit F5 to refresh?).
So please give 'em a break.
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dirtboy said 6:50PM on 12-11-2008
The Advanced preference setting works on Safari for PC, too. Nice.
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Brian Cassidy said 11:50AM on 12-13-2008
Not sure how 3 clicks is any easier than typing one line in terminal, but whatever. Nobody ever said you could ONLY do this via Terminal. Perhaps they just needed to feature something in their Terminal Tips sections.
Dang, give it a rest.
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scott said 4:07PM on 12-15-2008
i 2nd that notion...
god people...all you do lately is attack the writers of these posts on TUAW...WTF...
i think there are many many many bitter souls out there...that they didnt get picked to be a columnist...
WHY SO BITTER?
give it a rest...and be nice to the writers...maybe that is why we lost so many writers recently...
STOP BEING SO CRITICAL
THEY ARE ONLY HUMANS