Get more out of Safari with Debug mode

By Brendon Chase | 2007/03/21 15:55:50

Tags: safari, mac, osx, debugging, browser

If you're looking debug your code in Apple's Safari browser there are few options available by default. However, if you open up a Terminal window and put the line in below you can get access to some nifty tools:

defaults write com.apple.safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

to change back to normal mode just exchange the 1 to 0.

Make sure you restart Safari after entering this in Terminal. On the top right of the menu bar there will appear a new menu item titled "Debug" that will let you do a host of new things including:

* Viewing DOM tree
* Snippet Editor
* Page load tester
* Use transparent windows
* Show a JavaScript Console
* Full Safari shortcuts
* Tweak supported protocols
* Increased security certificate information
* Profiling
* Importing IE and Mozilla bookmarks
* Disable RSS support

and finally my favourite:

* Change user agent. This will possibly allow you to fool some browser detection code to thinking Safari is IE or Mozilla, thus making it seem like a "safe" browser. If you are a Mac user annoyed by this in the past it might be a way to do your online banking without leaving Safari.