"Overrides allow you to store local copies of remote scripts and override them when the page loads. This is great if you have, for example, a slow build process for your whole application and you want to try something out. It is also a great tool to replace annoying scripts from third party web sites without having to use a browser extension."
Overrides are useful not just for "developers". Why is this option hidden away in "Developer Tools".
The biggest "secret" not mentioned here is keyboard navigation. It is incredibly cumbersome to operate "Developer Tools" on a small form factor computer without a mouse.
Here is one solution: In Chrome's, F12 to open Developer Tools, then Ctrl-P then type ">".
Then can scroll all available commands using Up/Down or start typing and use autocomplete to search for commands. Whether this is faster and more effective than pointing+clicking/tapping on tiny screen areas, ticking/unticking tiny check boxes and scrolling around in tiny menus is a question for the reader. Talk amongst yourselves.
For example, to navigate to Overrides, the key sequence is F12,Ctrl-P,">","des",Enter
This all applies to Edge, too. I am also a huge keyboard fan and user and the command menu is incredibly useful. As to bringing Overrides to the main browser interface and not only to developer tools, I'd love to do some more research on that. We are not seeing much use of overrides at all and they are a pretty niche use case. That said, I see far too many people and companies resorting to browser extensions where a snippet or override could do the trick. I guess one of the issues is that they are limited to the user/machine right now and you can't share them in a team.
That said, we have some ideas in the making to bring command menu functionality to the browser URL bar. We'll see how this goes down with non-developer end users. As a interesting fact , which I did mention in the talk, we had a real issue with people accidently hitting F12 and getting developer tools without wanting them and we're still getting daily feedback that people are utterly confused as to what happens to their browser when they open.
"As to bringing the Overrides to the main browser interface and not only to developer tools, I'd love to do some more research on that."
To a curious user who is not a "developer", "Developer Tools" is just more browser options. What tech companies want to everyone to forget is that any person who has no interest in working as a "developer" for a "tech" company can use the exact same software including all of its features as so-called "developers". Whether they choose to do that is their business and their choice, not the tech company's. I know this topic has come up before on HN, many years ago, that using names like "Developer Tools" just drives people away who are not interested in being labeled "developers". Even "Web Development Tools" would be better.
Chromebooks, where the browser is supposed to be seen as the OS (even though it isn't), are another example. There is an artificial classification of people into the categories "user" or "developer" (no such thing as "power users" or anyone who would care to understand how the computer works but not care to invade people's privacy for money). "Developer mode"? Seriously? Making a computer with storage space deliberately scant enough that the buyer is compelled to use "cloud storage", so the tech company can collect more data. Meanwhile "smartphones", a much smaller form factor, sold by the same company have over 10x the storage. Shameful and manipulative.
By operating under the artificial distinction of "developer" vs. "user", then all the stuff that users really should know about, but that the tech company hopes they won't know about, can be communicated under the assumption that the only people who would read it are "developers". Thus, zero effort needs to be made to try to tell "users" how this stuff really works. This arguably makes for more naive, carefree users and makes it easier for the tech company to collect data and serve advertising. And we know that is not what "users" prefer.
"That said, I have seen far too many people and companies resorting to browser extensions where a snippet or override would do the trick."
Right. Extensions, unless self-authored, usually require surrendering control to third parties. Tech companies like that. It is common on HN to see some extension author telling us how many inquiries they get from people looking to (secretly) buy their extensions as a means to get access to access to (unknowing) users. Using extensions, it is less likely that a user will learn anything whereas they would definitely learn from writing snippets and editing their own copies of others' scripts to use as overrides.
Eh, you can't reconcile 'nobody reads all that text on dialog boxes' with 'using names like "Developer Tools" just drives people away who are not interested in being labeled "developers"'. I seriously doubt people care all that much about what menu labels say, as long as they are roughly descriptive. What next, making some menu items pink because women are shown to be less likely to press on them? This way lays madness.
You have a good point about not needing to explain how all that stuff works, because developers are expected to seek out and read documentation and tutorials.
Making tools more accessible in that sense necessarily makes them less powerful, and there is too much dumbing down going on as it is...
Is it possible by now, to assign custom shortcuts in chrome or edge dev tools? Then you could be even faster for your regular commands with keyboard navigation.
It was discussed endlessly in chrome and I stopped following.
I ended up tweaking dev tools by hand (you can just open dev tools for chrome dev tools) - but stopped doing so, because of breaking update changes.
Overrides are useful not just for "developers". Why is this option hidden away in "Developer Tools".
The biggest "secret" not mentioned here is keyboard navigation. It is incredibly cumbersome to operate "Developer Tools" on a small form factor computer without a mouse.
Here is one solution: In Chrome's, F12 to open Developer Tools, then Ctrl-P then type ">".
Then can scroll all available commands using Up/Down or start typing and use autocomplete to search for commands. Whether this is faster and more effective than pointing+clicking/tapping on tiny screen areas, ticking/unticking tiny check boxes and scrolling around in tiny menus is a question for the reader. Talk amongst yourselves.
For example, to navigate to Overrides, the key sequence is F12,Ctrl-P,">","des",Enter