How to use Firebug on your iPad and iPhone

paulsilver · on Dec 2, 2011

My friend Sky wrote an HTML/CSS debugger for iOS - http://skyapp.co.uk/dbug/ - it doesn't give you all the functions of Firebug, but it's very handy and easier to start than this.

VonLipwig · on Dec 2, 2011

This looks like a pretty good last resort.

I find that majority of iPad issues can be solved by just resizing safari to the iPad dimensions. Most issues I come across appear on both platforms so troubleshooting isn't too bad.

sirn · on Dec 2, 2011

It works well, except when you have to deal with a really mobile specific stuff (e.g. -webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio, -webkit-text-size-adjust) then you're left with no choice but to debug it on actual device (or in a simulator) although using Firebug on a small screen device is really awkward.

WebKit Remote Debugging[1] would be an ideal solution when it lands. For the time being, weinre[1] looks like a good (stopgap?) solution.

[1]: http://www.webkit.org/blog/1620/webkit-remote-debugging/ [2]: http://phonegap.github.com/weinre/

vital101 · on Dec 2, 2011

We use Weinre for remote debugging of iPads and it has worked out very well for us.

bergie · on Dec 2, 2011

Interesting. I wonder if this also works on the Android - the Transformer Prime might be a handy devel box.

driverdan · on Dec 2, 2011

This is nothing new, there are plenty of tutorials on how to get bookmarklets onto iOS devices.

Souders created a nice bookmarklet a while back with I bunch of the top debugging / testing bookmarklets:

http://stevesouders.com/mobileperf/mobileperfbkm.php