Chrome Developer Tools Gets A Device Emulator

It’s been said before that the Web is Google’s platform of choice. That’s why they created Chrome – it allows them to deliver the Web (and ads) to millions of people. Now they&...
Chrome Developer Tools Gets A Device Emulator
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  • It’s been said before that the Web is Google’s platform of choice. That’s why they created Chrome – it allows them to deliver the Web (and ads) to millions of people. Now they’re making the push for mobile and as such, the Chrome Developer Tools need a few updates.

    Google announced today that the Chrome developer tools now supports device emulation. This allows developers to test out Web apps on various browsers across a multitude of devices. Google specifically mentions the Galaxy Nexus and iPhone, but rest assured that a large variety of devices are present. The emulator also supports single touch event emulation for those building mobile applications on a desktop. You can access the emulator via the dev tools settings menu.

    Google has seen fit to update a few of the other dev tools available to Chrome developers. The Timeline’s Frame Mode feature now includes support for profiling Chrome’s rendering performance. The tool will allow you to clearly see any “janks” in a Web application. Here’s a Google I/O video on the subject:

    The dev console can now print a “user-friendly snapshot of the object properties taken at log time.” By expanding the object manually, you can see its live content.

    New dev tools wouldn’t be complete without some experimental features. Here’s what you can play around with in the new Chrome Dev Tools by visiting chrome:flags:

  • Snippets (essentially multi-line console on steroids)
  • Source mapping support for SASS
  • Native memory profiling
  • Geolocation / orientation override
  • FileSystem inspection
  • Canvas inspection
  • CPU activity in Timeline
  • CSS Regions support
  • It’s important to note that the above features are still highly experimental. Only experienced and professional developers should mess around with them for the time being. You don’t want to accidentally break something.

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