Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Playwright VS CSS Scan

Compare Playwright VS CSS Scan and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Playwright logo Playwright

Playwright is automation software for Chromium, Firefox, Webkit using the Node.js library having a single API in place.

CSS Scan logo CSS Scan

Instantly check or copy computed CSS from any element for only ~95$
  • Playwright Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-22
  • CSS Scan Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-14

Playwright features and specs

  • Cross-Browser Testing
    Playwright supports testing on Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit, providing comprehensive coverage across different browsers, thus ensuring greater compatibility and a wider test reach.
  • Auto-Wait Mechanism
    Playwright automatically waits for elements to be actionable before performing interactions, reducing the need for explicit wait commands and helping to make tests more reliable and less flaky.
  • Headless Testing
    Playwright supports headless mode for all browsers, which allows for faster test execution and reduced resource consumption, making it ideal for continuous integration systems.
  • Context Isolation
    Playwright introduces the concept of browser contexts, which allows for isolated execution environments within a single browser instance. This enables parallel testing with reduced overhead.
  • Extensive API
    Playwright offers a wide range of APIs that cover user interactions, network interception, and browser automation, providing developers with powerful tools to create robust tests.
  • Network Interception
    Playwright can intercept and modify network requests and responses, allowing for advanced testing scenarios such as mocking APIs and simulating different network conditions.
  • Strong Documentation
    Playwright provides thorough and detailed documentation, making it easier for developers to learn and effectively utilize the framework.
  • Rich Debugging Features
    The framework includes features like verbose logging and debugging capabilities, which facilitate easier troubleshooting and quicker resolution of issues.
  • Support for Multiple Languages
    Playwright supports multiple programming languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, C#, and Java, offering flexibility to developers based on their preference.
  • Community and Support
    The Playwright project has an active community and regular updates, ensuring continuous improvement and access to support from both the community and the development team.

Possible disadvantages of Playwright

  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive capabilities and API, Playwright might have a steeper learning curve for beginners compared to some simpler testing tools.
  • Performance Overhead
    While Playwright aims to be efficient, its feature-rich nature can sometimes introduce performance overhead, particularly for complex test suites.
  • Evolving Ecosystem
    The relatively rapid development and updates can occasionally lead to breaking changes, requiring teams to frequently update their test scripts.
  • Less Mature Ecosystem
    Compared to more established tools like Selenium, Playwright's ecosystem is still maturing, which may result in fewer third-party plugins and integrations.
  • Limited Browser Versions
    Playwright's focus on modern browsers and web standards might make it difficult to test older browser versions or niche browsers, potentially limiting test coverage for legacy systems.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple browser contexts and handling extensive network interception can be resource-intensive, requiring more powerful hardware or cloud resources for large test suites.

CSS Scan features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    CSS Scan offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easy for developers of all skill levels to inspect and copy CSS styles directly from the browser.
  • Time-Saving
    It significantly reduces the time needed to debug and replicate styles by allowing quick copying of well-structured CSS rules from any element on the page.
  • Accuracy
    The tool ensures that the copied CSS maintains the exact styling, including computed styles and vendor prefixes, providing high accuracy in replication.
  • Live Edits
    CSS Scan enables live editing of styles, allowing developers to make real-time changes and see the results instantly, which is beneficial for testing and adjustments.
  • Visual Representation
    The extension visually displays how CSS rules are applied, making it easier to understand complex styling hierarchies and cascades.

Possible disadvantages of CSS Scan

  • Cost
    CSS Scan is a paid tool, so there is a financial investment required, which might not be feasible for all developers, especially those working on personal or non-commercial projects.
  • Browser Compatibility
    As a browser extension, its functionality may be limited to supported browsers, potentially excluding users of less common or unsupported browsers.
  • Limited Scope
    While CSS Scan is powerful for copying and analyzing CSS, it does not offer features for editing or managing CSS files directly, requiring another tool or manual intervention for those tasks.
  • Dependency
    Relying on a third-party tool can be a downside if the tool experiences downtime, changes its pricing, or ceases development, leaving users in a difficult position.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Using browser extensions can raise privacy concerns, as they typically have access to the pages you visit; ensuring the trustworthiness of the extension is crucial.

Analysis of Playwright

Overall verdict

  • Playwright is a strong choice for browser automation and end-to-end testing due to its reliability, cross-browser support, and extensive features designed to improve test effectiveness and developer productivity.

Why this product is good

  • Playwright is considered good because it provides end-to-end testing capabilities across multiple browsers (Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit) with a single API. It supports multiple languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, C#, and Java, making it versatile for different developer preferences. It offers headless and headed execution, robust automation capabilities, and improved speed and reliability over other testing frameworks. Additionally, Playwright's features like auto-wait, tracing, and capturing screenshots/videos of test runs make debugging easier.

Recommended for

  • Developers seeking cross-browser automated testing solutions
  • Teams working with multiple programming languages who require versatile testing tools
  • Projects requiring reliable, end-to-end testing capabilities
  • Organizations looking to integrate testing with CI/CD pipelines
  • Developers needing advanced debugging and tracing tools for tests

Analysis of CSS Scan

Overall verdict

  • CSS Scan is considered a valuable tool for web developers, particularly for those who frequently work with CSS. Its user-friendly interface and time-saving features make it highly effective for both learning and practical development needs.

Why this product is good

  • CSS Scan is popular among developers because it provides a fast and easy way to inspect and copy CSS styles from any website. It enhances productivity by simplifying the process of understanding and replicating complex styles without manually digging through source code.

Recommended for

  • Front-end developers seeking to understand and replicate existing styles.
  • Web designers aiming to improve their CSS skills through real-world examples.
  • Developers needing to quickly prototype or analyze website designs.
  • Teams looking for an efficient tool to streamline CSS workflows.

Playwright videos

Generate tests in VS Code

More videos:

  • Review - Playwright Brittany K. Allen wins 2021 Georgia Engel Comedy Playwriting Prize

CSS Scan videos

Chrome CSS Viewer CSS Scan 2.0 - All Your CSS Secrets Revealed

More videos:

  • Review - CSS Scan and Microthemer are buddies

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Playwright and CSS Scan)
Development
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
30 30%
70% 70
Automated Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Playwright and CSS Scan. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Playwright and CSS Scan

Playwright Reviews

Top Selenium Alternatives
Playwright offers a modern approach with auto-wait APIs and more native support for modern web features compared to Selenium's more manual and broad approach. While Selenium requires explicit waits and has a broader language support, Playwright focuses on simplifying cross-browser testing with its unified API and auto-wait features, which might reduce setup and test...
Source: bugbug.io
Top 5 Selenium Alternatives for Less Maintenance
Appium and Playwright closely resemble Selenium in terms of functionality but offer unique features and advantages. Both of these solutions require coding experience. Leapwork, a commercial vendor, uses Selenium under the hood to power their visual automation approach.
20 Best JavaScript Frameworks For 2023
Playwright, a Node.js library created by Microsoft, is considered one of the best JavaScript frameworks for testing. It automates Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit with a single API. Developers building JavaScript code can use these APIs to build new browser pages, go to URLs, and interact with page elements. Additionally, Playwright can automate Microsoft Edge since it is based...

CSS Scan Reviews

We have no reviews of CSS Scan yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Playwright seems to be a lot more popular than CSS Scan. While we know about 282 links to Playwright, we've tracked only 13 mentions of CSS Scan. 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.

Playwright mentions (282)

  • Show HN: Quell – AI QA Agent Working Across Linear, Vercel, Jira, Netlify, Figma
    This is pretty cool - the Jira/Linear integration could save a ton of manual work. How do you handle test data setup and teardown? That's usually where these workflows get messy. For alternatives in this space, there's qawolf (https://qawolf.com) for similar automated testing workflows, or I'm actually building bug0 (https://bug0.com) which also does AI-powered test automation, still in beta. For the more... - Source: Hacker News / 15 days ago
  • Data Broken - Opt out of the data broker nightmare with Privotron and Amazon Q Developer
    Privotron is built on a modern Python stack that leverages several powerful libraries for browser automation and configuration management. At its core, the application uses Playwright, a robust browser automation framework that provides cross-browser support and reliable DOM interaction capabilities. The command-line interface is implemented using Click, which enables sophisticated argument parsing and validation... - Source: dev.to / 27 days ago
  • CI/CD guide: store Playwright test results in AWS S3
    In my job, I've encountered a tool called Playwright for this purpose and was greatly impressed by its capabilities. You can program it to do all the things you do manually -- and run them automatically without needing to open a browser. It's no wonder someone took the time to transform such bloatware as a modern browser into something more automation-friendly. Amazing! - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Design Pattern for Playwright End-to-End Testing
    This article introduces a design pattern for end-to-end testing using Playwright. This pattern is an extension of the Page Object Model, aimed at improving test code readability and reducing the increase in code volume when adding more test scenarios or test data variations. This pattern is adopted by SVQK. A working implementation example and its test results are available in the following repositories:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Why the Python Standard Library Needs a run_sync()
    I recently updated a small script I wrote to automate file uploads to a website with no API. It uses the excellent Playwright project to drive a browser - making the tedious task of filling out forms painless. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

CSS Scan mentions (13)

View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Playwright and CSS Scan, you can also consider the following products

puppeteer - Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium...

CSS Scan Pro - The easiest way to get and edit the CSS of any website, live

Selenium - Selenium automates browsers. That's it! What you do with that power is entirely up to you. Primarily, it is for automating web applications for testing purposes, but is certainly not limited to just that.

Hoverify - All-in-one browser extension to improve your web dev experience.

BrowserCat - Easy, fast, and reliable browser automation and headless browser APIs. The web is messy, but your code shouldn't be.

CSS Peeper - Smart CSS viewer tailored for Designers.