New Features of Web Inspector in Safari

1. Typography Inspection and Variable Font Editing

• Precision Typography: Web Inspector now offers deeper insights into font properties and features. The revamped Font panel in the details sidebar of the Elements tab unveils crucial information like the primary font used, potential fallback fonts, font size, weight, style, stretch variations, and more. You gain an intricate understanding of your web page’s typography.
• Variable Font Control: The ability to directly edit variable fonts is a game-changer. Variable fonts allow for fine-grained adjustments within a single font file. Experiment with different variations and witness the impact on your web design in real time – a boon for creative and nuanced typographic expression.

2. Emulating User Preferences

• Catering to Accessibility: A dedicated section for User Preference Overrides within the Elements tab puts accessibility testing at the forefront. Simulate various user preferences such as reduced motion, increased contrast, preferred color scheme (dark/light mode), and more. This empowers you to optimize your site for inclusivity and ensure a seamless experience for users with different needs.

3. Streamlined Debugging with Enhancements

• Element Badges: DOM node trees are now augmented with informative badges. Quickly spot elements using CSS Grid or Flexbox, elements with associated JavaScript breakpoints, and more. This visual guidance simplifies debugging and accelerates your workflow.
• Symbolic Breakpoints: These potent breakpoints can target specific functions or lines of code, even within minified JavaScript files. Symbolic breakpoints provide a laser-focused method of pausing your code execution and inspecting values for deeper error analysis.

4. Responsive Design Mode Refresh

• Beyond Resolution Testing: Safari’s Responsive Design Mode continues to mature, enabling you to simulate a vast array of device sizes and orientations. Tailor your interface across the device landscape with ease and precision.
• Device-Specific Simulation: Go deeper by emulating device-specific features, offering insights into how your website renders and functions on real-world devices.

5. Additional Refinements to Existing Features

• Enhanced CSS Grid Inspection: CSS Grid overlays, available in previous versions, provide a clear visual representation of grid layouts. You can interact with overlays to modify row and column sizes, alignment properties, etc., enhancing CSS Grid development ease and precision.
• Improved Resource Inspection: Analyze detailed resource headers, preview responses, and troubleshoot network requests with even greater efficiency.

Web Inspector plays a pivotal role in streamlining the web development process within the Safari browser. It’s a suite of powerful tools enabling developers to analyze, debug, and optimize their web pages seamlessly. With continuing updates, Web Inspector becomes even more robust and sophisticated, empowering developers to achieve exceptional web experiences.

Let’s explore some of the new additions and enhancements that have been made to Safari’s Web Inspector.