Background: I teach basic web development in a high school. Our technology department has disabled developer tools on all web browsers for student accounts after a recent cyber attack. I need a workaround to allow students to see console output that can be implemented without installing any additional software for two basic scenarios.

Scenario #1: Using VS Code web through a Github codespace. I could swear that I found an extension at one point that would show console output, but I haven't been able to locate it again. All the ones I have tried are dependent on browser dev tools being available.

Scenario #2: Using an online platform such as CodeHS, code, etc. Maybe there's a website out there that simulates developer tools? I haven't been able to find anything that will work.

Any advice on how to get students access to something like dev tools without dev tools would be greatly appreciated.

Background: I teach basic web development in a high school. Our technology department has disabled developer tools on all web browsers for student accounts after a recent cyber attack. I need a workaround to allow students to see console output that can be implemented without installing any additional software for two basic scenarios.

Scenario #1: Using VS Code web through a Github codespace. I could swear that I found an extension at one point that would show console output, but I haven't been able to locate it again. All the ones I have tried are dependent on browser dev tools being available.

Scenario #2: Using an online platform such as CodeHS, code., etc. Maybe there's a website out there that simulates developer tools? I haven't been able to find anything that will work.

Any advice on how to get students access to something like dev tools without dev tools would be greatly appreciated.

• javascript
• visual-studio-code
• developer-tools

Share Improve this question Follow asked Nov 18, 2024 at 19:33 Rubicon BeziqueRubicon Bezique 8188 bronze badges 8

• I dont know how performant the computers are at your school, but an option could be to use software like VirtualBox to run everything in a virtual machine, this would safeguard most security risks as far as I know and within this virtual machine everything could be accessed. It could also be a good introduction into Ubuntu for the students :-P – Lars Vonk Commented Nov 18, 2024 at 23:20
• An easier fix could be to teach your students the alert function to display values on the screen and make them see what values exist. – Lars Vonk Commented Nov 18, 2024 at 23:22
• 1 @LarsVonk alert is a horrible debugging tool as it stops the code and requires dismissing a modal. console.log should always be preferred, and taught to students the sooner the better. – Bergi Commented Nov 19, 2024 at 1:55
• 1 "Our technology department has disabled developer tools" - how did they do that? Does chrome://inspect still work? "Maybe there's a website out there that simulates developer tools?" - certainly, since devtools are a website (running in a privileged frame, but still). I wouldn't be surprised if something like stackblitz could run a full browser in their web containers… – Bergi Commented Nov 19, 2024 at 2:01
• 1 @LarsVonk alert is what we have been using since we don't have console access. Beyond requiring dismissal, it doesn't catch exceptions or do much to help students who are struggling to learn syntax. – Rubicon Bezique Commented Nov 19, 2024 at 20:10

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There are tools available for demoing code in the browser such as Stackblitz or codepen that could serve this purpose. You can create basic websites and preview them, there is also the option of opening the console. I personally prefer codepen as it does not require someone to register and you can access the console (bottom left button) and see it's contents. To open codepen without registering go to the link

codepen.io/pen

This suggestion was done in the comments by @Bergi so credits to him.