Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

CSSViewer VS Pattern Lab

Compare CSSViewer VS Pattern Lab and see what are their differences

CSSViewer logo CSSViewer

A simple CSS property viewer

Pattern Lab logo Pattern Lab

Create atomic design systems with Pattern Lab.
  • CSSViewer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30
  • Pattern Lab Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-20

CSSViewer features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    CSSViewer offers a simple and intuitive interface that allows users to easily inspect CSS properties of web elements by hovering over them.
  • Quick Access
    The extension provides quick access to CSS properties without the need to open the browser's developer tools, saving time for developers and designers.
  • Detailed Information
    CSSViewer displays detailed CSS information, such as font, color, and box properties, which can be useful for debugging or learning CSS.
  • Lightweight Tool
    The extension is lightweight and doesn't require significant system resources, making it a convenient tool for front-end developers.

Possible disadvantages of CSSViewer

  • Limited Functionality
    CSSViewer is limited to viewing CSS properties and does not allow users to edit them directly or offer any advanced features available in full-featured developer tools.
  • Browser Compatibility
    The extension is explicitly designed for Google Chrome, which means users of other browsers may need to look for alternatives.
  • No Updates or Support
    Users have reported that CSSViewer lacks regular updates, which may lead to compatibility issues with newer versions of Chrome or fails to support newer CSS features.
  • Potential Security Risks
    As with any third-party extension, users need to be cautious about permissions and potential security risks associated with installing and using such tools.

Pattern Lab features and specs

  • Component-Driven Development
    Pattern Lab encourages a modular approach by allowing developers to create reusable components, which promotes consistency and efficiency in developing user interfaces.
  • Atomic Design
    It is built on the Atomic Design methodology, which helps in designing systems by breaking down interfaces into basic building blocks, leading to more manageable and scalable design systems.
  • Live Style Guide
    Pattern Lab generates a live style guide that updates in real time as components are developed, making it easy for designers and developers to stay in sync with the design system.
  • Platform Agnostic
    Pattern Lab can be integrated with various development stacks and workflows, making it flexible and adaptable to a wide range of projects.
  • Enhanced Collaboration
    By facilitating a shared language and set of tools between designers and developers, Pattern Lab improves collaboration and reduces communication barriers.

Possible disadvantages of Pattern Lab

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For teams that are new to the Atomic Design methodology or to Pattern Lab itself, there can be a significant learning curve required to get up to speed.
  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Setting up a project can be complex, especially for beginners, as it requires understanding both the tool and the underlying design principles thoroughly.
  • Limited Customization
    Although flexible, Pattern Lab does have limitations in terms of customizations, which may not be suitable for very specific or unique project requirements.
  • Performance Overheads
    As projects grow in size and complexity, managing and compiling a large number of components can lead to performance overheads, affecting build times.
  • Maintenance Burden
    Keeping the Pattern Lab and its components in sync with the ongoing changes in projects can become a maintenance burden over time, requiring dedicated resources.

CSSViewer videos

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Pattern Lab videos

Introduction to Pattern Lab

More videos:

  • Review - Using Pattern Lab to Design More Efficiently

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CSSViewer and Pattern Lab)
Developer Tools
72 72%
28% 28
Design Tools
62 62%
38% 38
Development
100 100%
0% 0
React
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Pattern Lab might be a bit more popular than CSSViewer. We know about 6 links to it since March 2021 and only 5 links to CSSViewer. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CSSViewer mentions (5)

  • 7 Must Have Chrome Extensions for JavaScript Developers
    The "CSS Viewer" Chrome extension is a handy tool for JavaScript developers seeking to inspect and analyze CSS styles on web pages. With a simple click on the extension's icon in the Chrome toolbar, it provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to hover over any element on a webpage and instantly view its corresponding CSS properties and values. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • 20 Top Best Chrome Extensions for Web Developers in 2022
    CSS Viewer is a simple but very effective Chrome extension for web developers. As its name implies, this addon shows you the CSS properties of a given page wherever you hover your mouse. A small popup window appears showing you the CSS data that makes up the element you’re pointing at. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • Top 10 Chrome Extensions for Web Developers in 2022
    1 - CSSViewer : It allows to show the CSS properties of element on any webpage, you just hover your mouse on it . A small window appears showing you the CSS data . - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • 21 Chrome Extension for web developer and designer
    CSSViewer helps us to view CSS properties of an object in a web page in the most general way such as color, font, size, position... You just need to select this utility and hover your mouse over the object that they want. If you want, the CSS information will automatically appear. CSSViewer. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • Awesome Tools and Technologies I Use as a Developer!
    CSSViewer - For viewing and inspecting CSS on a page. - Source: dev.to / about 4 years ago

Pattern Lab mentions (6)

  • Unlocking the frontend – a call for standardizing component APIs pt.2
    While this helped ease integration work, in parallel to that we also started exploring more systematic approaches on the frontend side itself. With the advent of Brad Frost Atomic Design, and tools like Pattern Lab, we started using a more component-centric approach. This included colocating all styling (CSS), behavior (JavaScript) and semantic structure (HTML) for a component, and way better encapsulation as a... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Atomic Design: A Methodology for Building Design Systems
    In order to apply this methodology in your work, you can use a tool called Pattern Lab, created by Brad Frost and Dave Olsen. Pattern Lab is a tool to create atomic design systems. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Integrating Accessibility In The Web Development Process
    Something that would really help to work with tested components and stay consistent with the code and guarantee code quality would be a component library created with Storybook or Pattern Lab, for example. Developers who have a high level of knowledge of how to write accessible code can create components and test them before implementing them. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • How do you make the styling of the site flexible to fast change, but not tedious to actually go in and change every single detail?
    You can read more about Atomic Design Systems and how it scales. I've used Patternlab and I find it awesome. Source: over 3 years ago
  • fractal.build as an atomic design tool
    Fractal seemed easier, at least to me, to understand and maintain, than PatternLab, which I failed to install due a bug in the current installer (and when I managed to install the grunt version, I was already told that there is fractal as a possible alternative). - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing CSSViewer and Pattern Lab, you can also consider the following products

CSS Peeper - Smart CSS viewer tailored for Designers.

Storybook - Storybook is an open source tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, and Angular. It makes building stunning UIs organized and efficient.

Unused CSS finder - Crawl your website and find unused CSS

Swanky Docs - A simple, flexible and powerful ecosystem for creating beautiful documentation.

CSS Dig - CSS Dig is a Cascading Style Sheet viewer extension that allows you to collect and style the website element properties.

Backlight - Backlight is a unique collaborative platform to build Design Systems code-side.📐 Design tokens🧩 Component code and stories📖 Documentation site📦 Managed release to npmEverything in one place, in a true collaborative workspace.Try 👉 backlight.dev