Web Browser Developer Tools and Layout Engines

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A layout engine a.k.a web browser engine or browser rendering engine is a component that parses HTML, XML, CSS, Images etc. and renders it on the screen. A browser developer tool lets you inspect, debug, analyze and diagnose issues with CSS, HTML, Scripts etc. inside your browser.

As a web developer, you must know what layout engines and developer tools your browser uses. It helps to understand browser rendering and resolve issues when you are developing cross browser apps. Here’s a list of some popular browser developer tools and the layout engines for your reference.

Browser Name	Layout Engine	Developer Tools
Chrome	WebKit	Google Chrome Inspector
FireFox	Gecko	Firebug
Internet Explorer and WP 7	Trident	IE Developer Tools
Konqueror	KHTML	KIO
Opera (desktop and mobile)	Presto	Opera DragonFly
Safari (desktop and mobile)	WebKit	Web Inspector

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About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, Developer Technologies MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) is the founder and contributor for DevCurry, DotNetCurry and SQLServerCurry. He is the Chief Editor of a Developer Magazine called DNC Magazine. He has also authored two Books - 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls. and The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Follow him on twitter @suprotimagarwal.