View actual HTML DOM

When you are debugging client-side code, the Elements tab of the Debug tool window shows the HTML source code that implements the actual browser page and its HTML DOM structure.

Any changes made to the page through the browser or in the editor are also immediately reflected in the Elements tab.

Currently this functionality is supported only for Google Chrome and only during a debugging session.

Before you start

Make sure the Live Edit bundled plugin is enabled on the Settings/Preferences | Plugins page, see Managing plugins for details.

Learn more from Live Edit in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

View the HTML source and DOM structure of the actual page

To start a debugging session, create a run configuration of the type JavaScript Debug and click on the toolbar.
Switch to the Debug tool window and open the Elements tab. The tab consists of two read-only panes.
- The Text pane shows the HTML source code of the page that is currently opened in the browser. As soon as any change is made to the page in the browser (e.g. clicking an icon), the code in the pane is updated accordingly.
- The Structure pane shows the DOM structure of the HTML code in the Text pane.
The Structure and the Text panes are mutually synchronized. When you click a node in the DOM structure, WebStorm scrolls through the contents of the Text pane. The panes are also synchronized with the browser: as soon as you click a node in the DOM structure or in the Text pane, WebStorm highlights the corresponding element in the browser.
To view a tree of executed scripts, open the Scripts tab.

Last modified: 08 March 2021