Inspect element allows you to view and modify the code behind any website or web app‘s user interface. While often used by developers for debugging and testing, inspect element can also be useful for regular users looking to customize, tweak, or even prank others through their Discord client.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about inspecting elements on Discord, including:
- What inspect element is and how it works
- Why you might want to use inspect element on Discord
- Step-by-step instructions for Windows and Mac
- What you can do by inspecting Discord elements
- Best practices and warnings around proper usage
Let‘s get started!
What Is Inspect Element?
Inspect element is a feature built into all major web browsers that allows you to view and manipulate the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code that constructs any website. It‘s accessed through the browser‘s developer tools.
Developers primarily use inspect element for testing and debugging web pages during building. However, it has many uses for regular users as well.
Some common uses of inspect element include:
- Examining how a web page is structured and styled
- Testing changes to HTML, CSS, JS without affecting the live site
- Copying images, text, code snippets from web pages
- Modifying text/images on web pages as a prank or joke
So in summary, it allows you to see behind the curtain and tinker with the code of any website you visit.
Why Inspect Element on Discord?
Discord is built using web technologies, with desktop clients powered by an embedded version of Google Chrome. This means the inspect element tool is available within your Discord app too!
Inspecting elements on Discord opens up some unique customization and pranking opportunities, such as:
- Grabbing profile pictures – Inspect a user‘s profile to find the direct image URL for high quality copies of their icon and banners.
- Modifying UI elements – Tweak things like background colors and text just for fun.
- Pranking message content – Change what a message says to play tricks on friends.
Of course you can also use it to better understand how Discord‘s front-end works or diagnose UI issues. But those pranking use cases tend to be most popular among regular users.
How to Inspect Element on Windows
Here is the quick process for enabling inspect element on the Discord Windows desktop app:
- Launch Discord and ensure you‘re signed in
- Press Ctrl + Shift + I to open the developer tools panel
- Click the "Inspect Element" icon (second from the left)
- Hover over any element on the Discord UI and select it to inspect!
That‘s all it takes to start digging into the code behind Discord‘s interface. The developer panel will show the HTML structure and styling CSS being applied to whatever element you select.
How to Inspect Element on Mac
The keyboard shortcut differs slightly on Mac but the overall process is the same:
- Launch Discord and ensure you‘re signed in
- Press Command + Option + I to open the developer tools
- Click the "Inspect Element" icon
- Hover over any UI element and select it to inspect
Just replace Ctrl + Shift from the Windows instructions with Command + Option when opening the tools on a Mac. Everything else works the same!
What You Can Do By Inspecting Elements
Let‘s look at some of the fun and interesting things you can try out by inspecting elements on Discord.
Get High Quality Profile Images
User profile pictures and banners are great candidates for inspecting. You can dive into the HTML structure of a profile popup to find the direct URLs pointing to images CDN.
Here‘s how:
- Right click any user avatar and choose "Inspect Element"
- In the code, look for an
tag within a div class called "avatarWrapper"
- The src attribute of that img tag links to their icon PNG image!
You can take that link and share it or use it to save a local copy of any avatar. Do the same process for banners and other images.
Prank Message Content
Have some fun pranking your Discord friends by tweaking what their messages say.
To alter someone‘s message text:
- Right click the message bubble and choose "Inspect Element"
- Look for the tag wrapping the message text
- Double click the text within that span tag to edit it
- Hit Enter to apply the change
Now it will look like they said something completely different! This can be an amusing trick to play on unsuspecting friends.
Best Practices and Warnings
While inspecting elements can enable some cool customizations, you should keep a few things in mind:
- Don‘t input scripts from untrusted sources – Scammers try to get access through developer consoles.
- Respect others‘ privacy – Don‘t share private images without permission.
- Changes only apply to you – They aren‘t permanent for all users.
Also be aware Discord does not officially support or condone all inspect element uses. Modifying others‘ messages as a prank could be considered harassment for example. So use good judgment!
Additional Customization Options
If you‘re interested in customizing and tweaking your Discord client even further, some other options include:
- BetterDiscord – Adds theming support, plugins, emoji tools
- Chat appearance settings – Change font, reactions, markdown
- Discord bots – Automate server moderation, music, games
So inspect element is really just the tip of the iceberg for modifying your Discord experience!
Conclusion
I hope this guide gave you a good overview of how to use inspect element within Discord to uncover profile images, tweak UI elements, prank message content, and more. While it‘s mainly aimed at developers, regular users can have a lot of fun with inspect element too.
Just be sure to use it responsibly and keep privacy top of mind. With those best practices in place, inspecting Discord elements opens up a ton of cool tweaks and customizations.
Have fun exploring!
