Visual Editing vs Browser DevTools
Browser DevTools change how the page looks right now and lose that change on reload. A source-aware visual editor is meant to write the same kind of change to your project files. The difference matters only if the change must last.
What DevTools is good at
DevTools shows the rendered element, its computed styles and the rule that applies to it. Experiments are immediate and free, and they are the fastest way to find which property is causing a problem. Use them to diagnose before you change code.
Where DevTools falls short
A DevTools edit lives in the browser. Reload the page and it is gone. Copying the final values back to the stylesheet by hand is easy to forget and easy to get wrong when a selector is shared by other components.
What a source-aware editor adds
The stated goal of a source-aware editor is to connect the visual change to the component and stylesheet that own it, so the change survives a reload and shows up in a diff. Whether a given tool does this for your framework is a question to test, not assume.
How to check either one
- Make one change and reload. If it disappears, it was only in the browser.
- Open the project and find the file that changed. Review the diff for unrelated edits.
- Resize the page and check the result at narrow and wide widths.
- Confirm that behavior, such as form validation and data requests, is unchanged.
Limits
Mello is not yet available, so this page compares the approaches, not the product. For a worked example you can follow today with DevTools and your own editor, read how to visually edit an AI-generated app.
Keep the change, not just the preview.
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