Discovering Internet Explorer 8 Developer Tools

As I mentioned in my last post, Fun With My Blog Stats, the #1 post in my blog stats over the last three months has been IE8 and the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar.   If you’ve recently upgraded to IE8 and are wondering where the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar (IEDT) has run off to, it has been replaced by the Developer Tools in IE8.

The IE team had developed the IEDT because of the sheer volume of requests for something which would mirror some of the toolbar capabilities in other browsers such as FireFox.  With IE8, the capabilities are baked right in and there’s no need for a separate add-on.  The definitive article over at MSDN which explains the new Developer Tools in IE8 is entitled Discovering Internet Explorer Developer Tools.

Below, at a high level, are some of the great features available to you with a click of F12, lifted from the TOC of the above article.  Even if you are a long-time user of the IEDT like I am, you ought to read through the article because there are some fantastic new features, and others work even better than in the classic IEDT.  If you’re a Web developer, you owe it to yourself to upgrade to IE8, if only for these great tools.

Every installation of Internet Explorer 8 comes with the Developer Tools. This tool enables Web site developers to quickly debug Microsoft JScript, investigate a behavior specific to Internet Explorer, or iterate rapidly to prototype a new design or try solutions to a problem on-the-fly. This article introduces you to key features of the Developer Tools.

• Introduction
• Getting Started
• Debugging HTML and CSS
  • Inspecting HTML Elements
  • Inspecting CSS Properties
  • Editing Sources On-The-Fly
  • Saving Changes
• Debugging JScript
  • Starting and Stopping the Debugger
  • Controlling Execution
  • Inspecting Variables
  • Inspecting Call Stack
  • Using the Debugger Console
• Profiling JScript Performances
  • Starting and Stopping Profiler
  • Viewing Data
  • Profiling Multiple Sessions and Exporting Data
• Searching for Content
• Viewing Sources
• Outlining Elements on Screen
• Working with Images
• Controlling Cache and Cookies
• Using Power Tools
• Validating Your Sources
• Testing in Different Browser and Document Modes
  • Testing Browser Modes
  • Testing Document Modes
• Using Keyboard Shortcuts
• Referencing Interface Commands
• Related Topics