Playing with the web inspector
My very basic web knowledge came in handy recently. I was working on a group project, and my team wanted to include a few realistic-looking news headlines in our presentation.
Is anyone good with Photoshop?
We don't need Photoshop, we can just edit the website.
Like... hack it?
In Chrome:
- Right-click a piece of text
- Select "Inspect Element"
- In the colorful code that appears, double-click the string of text you want to change to edit it
- Hit enter to confirm, and close the inspector with the "x" on the top right
This simple tip blew their minds, and I was known thenceforth the "computer wizard" of the group.
If I were to trace back all of my web-related work to a single point in time, I think it was the day I saw raw HTML code in Chrome's web inspector back in ~2010. Before then, I only kinda-sorta knew that the web was made of files and code - I didn't realize I could manipulate that code and tweak things right on my own machine. It was an awesome discovery, and very few people my age know it's even possible without "hacking".
I now impart this powerful knowledge unto you in good faith, knowing that you'll put it to good use. Spread the word about web wizardry, and explore all the secrets the inspector holds. If you can see it, you can change it - don't let any website tell you otherwise.