Most of us use the different web browsers to gain access to the internet and search the web for various information that we are tasked with at the moment, but our popular web browsers carry something much more vital to us than just the mere portal to the WWW.
By definition, Web browsers are computer or mobile applications that are used to access the world wide web primarily by viewing web pages and accessing hyperlinks, but let’s say to software developers and other tech oriented people this tool can be used for a far greater cause than that. A simple click of the mouse and you can set your browser to save your data across the internet and the various components of the Dev tools can act as a learning hub for people getting started into the web development spectrum.
We shall discuss the various features you can try out, most of these attributes are available on all popular browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera Mini and Microsoft Edge but others are independent elements available to a specific browser.
Developer Tools
Developer tools are readily available on all major web browsers and are currently tailored to be used only for the desktop application environment. To get started with using them depends on the type of browser you are using but common practice is to right click on the web page you are currently on and choose the feature “Inspect Element” which is usually the last option on Chrome and Firefox, another view pane will open in the same window where you can choose a list of actions you wish to accomplish.
To the developers or people learning web development, here is a list of some things you can achieve when you use the inspect element;
- It’s great for learning how to put together a page that you’re seeing, but don’t understand how the developer did what they did.
- You can use it to preview how a web page will look like in various devices mostly tablets and smartphones. This handy feature allows you to view your web page in the same screen resolution as several popular mobile devices and tablets.
- The Inspect tab can allow you to easily debug jQuery/Javascript and to edit the style of the page in real-time. Such as moving elements around, adding CSS and classes and triggering state (such as hover over).
You’ll get a list of various tabs like Network, Console, Sources, Performances and Timeline which you can explore and understand what they are used for.
For the tech enthusiast, the Dev Tool can help you understand how much RAM and memory your browser is consuming especially when your PC slows down due to run time.
Reducing data usage
When it comes to saving cellular data usage on Mobile, many people will opt to use Opera Mini which is quite exceptional but it comes with a number limitations as well. If the ultimate goal is using your mobile data for a longer period of time then you wouldn’t have much of a choice but to use it.
You can as well enjoy a similar user experience by using Chrome Data saver extensions. The extension uses Google data compression proxy technology to optimize contents on the site before showing it to your browser which in turn can yield substantial bandwidth savings for the client. To enable it on your Chrome for Android, go to settings and toggle the Data Saver option to on to utilize this feature.
Reducing the amount of data your PC or smartphone consumes involves a number of checklists and periodical practices that one should execute for best results but the choice of browser option plays a major role as well. Some other browsers may offer a better user experience or data saver tools which we haven’t mention here.
Playing Games and Music
For music you do not need a pre-installed music player to play a song on your computer, you can simply drag it to your web browser and it will automatically start playing. You will obviously not get the same user experience you would have found when using a dedicated music player but hey, it is worth the struggle especially when you are stuck and has no other option available.
Chrome Dinosaur offline game is one of the most popular games on the web with over 270 Millions monthly player on both web and and mobile but you probably haven’t heard of it either. Chrome Dino is the game that comes when you try to access the web using Chrome browser and there is no or slow internet connectivity, you will see a dancing Dinosaur where you can use the up and down nav buttons on your keyboard to dodge the coming obstacles to play the game.
Reading Documents (PDFs)
Reading documents is one of the rarely used feature on a web browser but it can be one of the most helpful tools ever to use. If you are careful enough you will realize the moment you download a PDF file from the internet there is an option where you can easily open document on the next tab where you can perform a number of options including printing.
Microsoft Edge has a dedicated Reading List feature which allows a user to save a number of articles, videos and files you would like to read later which I find to be a useful element of the new Edge browser.
