JavaScript console for Safari on Windows

written by craig, 13 June 2007

Unlike Firefox or Opera, Safari for Windows does not offer a wide range of debugging tools and they are fairly well hidden. To enable the Safari Debug menu option, you need to find your Preferences.plist file located in %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\Safari (%APPDATA is typically C:\Documents and Settings\your login name\Application Data\).

Open the file and add the following lines somewhere within the <dict> section: <key>IncludeDebugMenu</key> <true />

Restart Safari, and you will now have a new Debug menu immediately after Help. This offers a JavaScript console and a few other options.

I’ve been through a lot of my code and, with the exception of a single regular expression, Safari’s been very well behaved.

Would I switch from Firefox, IE, or Opera? Not a chance – and I doubt many people will. The interface is likely to confuse many Windows, Gnome, and KDE users and the browser doesn’t feel integrated with the OS.

However, I finally have a chance to prove my sites work on all platforms without resorting to slow online screen shot generators or humbly begging Mac users for their help!

• categories: javascript, web browsers
• tags: javascript, safari
• trackback: http://www.optimalworks.net/blog/2007/web-development/javascript/safari-javascript-console/trackback
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8 comments:

1. 15 June 2007 Stephen Cunliffe commented

   Thank you very much! I was looking all over for this. As soon as I found out that Safari natively supported console.log( str ) it drove me nuts that I couldn’t see a log…

2. 17 June 2007 Jeff at wwwthenewsroomcom commented

   While I’m a fan of anything mac, I thnk people need to realize it’s not about market share; it’s about the iphone.

3. 17 June 2007 Craig commented

   The iPhone could be very important. It will run Safari and use web systems for applications rather than embedded or installed code. That’s an interesting development and could see an explosion in Web2.0 phone-enabled applications.

4. 17 June 2007 Ricardo Carrasco commented

   thanks for the info, very much appreciated, nice site you have here also

5. 25 July 2007 undextrois commented

   nice article .thanks

6. 14 August 2007 dreamwind commented

   Thank you very much! It’s a great solution

7. 23 February 2008 iphone nova commented

   Great tip for new budding developers

8. 2 October 2008 Robert Walker commented

   Thanks for posting this. I was looking all over for how to open the blasted JavaScript console.