How to Use Inspect Element in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox?

Stephen Hawking: "We are all connected to the Internet now, like neurons in an enormous brain."

Well, quite true isn't it? The internet's power is unrivaled! There are millions of websites and information on the internet. Websites are a great resource for anyone looking for information, entertainment portals, and social media.

You may have heard of the "Inspect Element", a feature that allows you to inspect elements on any website. The Inspect Element can be described as a browser tool that allows users to view and modify the HTML and CSS scripts of a webpage. Although this feature is available in all browsers, the name could differ for Chrome. For Safari, it's Web Inspector, and for Firefox it's Inspect.

This post will show you how to inspect Macs in various browsers such as Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox. Before we get started, let's first understand how the Inspect Element tool works and why it is so useful.

What is "Inspect Element?"

Right-click any website to see the "Inspect Element” feature. Inspect Element allows you to view and modify the website's front end. Front-end developers use the Inspect Element tool to play around with the website design. It's used during the "Testing” phase to "inspect" certain elements of a website.

What is the purpose of inspecting web elements?

Inspect Element is useful for many purposes, particularly for:

Web developers: You can interact with the code on a webpage and test it. Inspect Element can be used to identify errors and bugs in a website.

Content writers: The Inspect Element feature allows you to omit sensitive information on a webpage before you take a screenshot. Inspect Element makes it faster than using photo editing software to manipulate a webpage.

Digital marketers - Check out the search engine optimization (SEO) efforts of a competitor, website metadata, and Google index status.

Helps web developers to find and fix errors on websites by customer support agents

Designers can modify the design of a website and then see the results before they implement them. You can also preview the web page's appearance on your desktop computer or mobile device. This makes it easier to communicate with clients and saves you time.

Chrome Developer Tools: How to Inspect an Element?

It's important to be familiar with the Developers Tools before you explore the Inspect Element tool within Google Chrome. It's a panel that comes along with the Inspect Tool and has three main components:

Panel Elements/Document Object Model - This panel contains the page's DOM tree as well as access to the Hyper Text Markup Language HTML source code. It can be found at the top taskbar in the Chrome Developer Tools.

CSS panel - This panel allows you to edit, add and remove CSS properties to modify the style rules for a web page. It can be found in the middle section under Styles.

Console - Displays log messages and run JavaScript code. It is located at the button taskbar in Developer Tools.

How to Inspect an Element on Mac?

Each web browser comes with the Inspect Element feature, which is embedded in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Inspect Element is available on every web browser's Mac.

Safari:

Let's first enable the "Inspect Element” feature on Safari.

Open Preferences, Launch Safari

Next, switch to the Advanced tab and check the "Show Develop Menu in the Menu Bar" option.

Once you have checked this option, the menu bar will now include a new option "Develop".

Here's how to inspect elements on Mac using Safari browser:

Option 1: Via Right Click Method

You can use the Inspect Element Tool on Mac by simply using the right-click option.

Go to the website, click anywhere in the white space, and select "Inspect".

Option 2: Via the "Develop” Menu

The Inspect Element feature can be accessed via the new "Develop” menu.

Go to the website and tap the "Develop” option at the top of the menu bar. Next, select "Show Web Inspector".

Option 3: Use the Shortcut Keys

You can also use the shortcut keys to access the Inspect Element tool for macOS.

To inspect an element of a webpage, press Command + Option +I.

Google

There are four ways to inspect elements on Mac using the Chrome browser.

Option 1: Right-click Method

Open the Chrome browser on Mac and visit the site where you want to inspect the elements.

Right-click on any area and select "Inspect".

Option 2: Via Menu bar

Start Chrome by tapping on the "View” option located at the top of the menu bar.

Navigate to Developer Tool> Developer> Developer Tools.

To use Inspect Element Chrome on Chrome, select the "Customize & Control" option.

Option 3: Use the Keyboard Shortcuts

To view the "Inspect Element” window in Chrome, hit the Command + Option + C key.

Option 4: Via Settings

To launch Google Chrome on macOS click on the three dots icon located in the upper-right corner.

Click on "More Tools", then click "Developer Tools".

Mozilla Firefox:

These are the quick steps to use the Inspect Element Tool on Firefox.

Option 1: Right-click Method

Start Firefox and visit the website.

Right-click any area of the screen and select "Inspect".

Option 2: Via menu

Start Firefox on Mac. Tap on "Tools", located at the top of the menu bar. Select "Web Developer". Tap on "Inspect".

Option 3: Shortcut Keys

You can quickly enable Inspect Element for Mac using the Firefox browser by pressing the Command + Option + C combination.

This is the final word on how to inspect elements on Mac

This is a brief guide to how to use Inspect Element on macOS in different browsers including Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.