I need help with measuring exact distances between UI elements in my Electron application. When I work with regular Firefox, there’s this awesome measurement tool in the developer tools that lets me drag and select areas to see precise pixel measurements. This is super useful for checking spacing between buttons, margins around containers, and making sure everything matches my Figma mockups perfectly.
The problem is that Electron uses Chrome’s devtools instead of Firefox, and I can’t find a similar measurement feature there. I also can’t install browser extensions in Electron apps which limits my options.
Does anyone know if Chrome devtools has a hidden measurement tool I’m missing? Or maybe there’s a different approach to ensure my Electron app layout matches the Figma design specifications exactly? I’m really struggling to get pixel-perfect accuracy without being able to measure distances properly.
Chrome devtools has a hidden measurement feature that’s super useful. Open devtools, hit Ctrl+Shift+C for element inspector, then hold Shift while hovering over elements. You’ll see distance measurements pop up between the hovered element and nearby ones. Perfect for checking button and container spacing. I also use the device toolbar (Ctrl+Shift+M) which adds rulers to the viewport edges. Select elements to see their exact dimensions in the computed panel - you can match Figma measurements pixel-perfect. Shipped three Electron apps this way and got the same precision Firefox’s measurement tool gave me.
just a tip! you can use chrome devtools to measure stuff too! hit ctrl+shift+p and type “show rulers”. the element selection tool displays margins and padding, so it helps with spacing checks without any hassle.
Had this exact problem building an Electron dashboard last year. Chrome devtools saved me - use the computed styles panel with the box model visualization. Select any element and you’ll see exact pixel values for margins, padding, everything. Hovering shows spacing relationships highlighted too. Pro tip: temporarily add colored borders during development. Just throw border: 1px solid red in the styles panel to see exact boundaries. For Figma comparisons, I’d screenshot both the app and design, then overlay them in an image editor to catch differences. Takes more work than Firefox’s measurement tool, but you’ll nail pixel-perfect accuracy.