DOM Time Machine Pro by scolastico

DOM Time Machine Pro is a powerful developer tool designed to capture a high-fidelity, chronological record of a webpage's DOM state. Unlike standard screen recording, this extension captures the actual HTML structure and associated assets, allowing you to "rewind" and inspect the code of a page at any point in time.

Why It’s Useful

• Debug Transient UI: Capture elusive states like toast notifications, hover effects, or race conditions that disappear before you can inspect them.
• State Analysis: Compare how the DOM evolves after specific user actions or API responses.
• Portable Recordings: Export your session as a JSON file to share with other developers or import later for further analysis.
• Asset Persistence: Automatically inlines CSS and converts images to Base64 to ensure the recording remains intact even if the original website goes offline.

How It Works

The extension utilizes three distinct capture modes to suit different needs:

1. Debounced (Mutation): Uses a MutationObserver to trigger a snapshot whenever the DOM changes, with a 100ms debounce to maintain performance.
2. RequestAnimationFrame: Captures the DOM at the browser's refresh rate—useful for high-speed animations.
3. MozAfterPaint (Firefox Recommended): Specifically designed for Firefox, this mode triggers a capture only after the browser actually paints a change to the screen.

Workflow:

• Record: Select a mode from the popup to begin. The extension icon will turn red to indicate active recording.
• Capture: The background script manages the storage of snapshots and assets while you navigate.
• View: Once stopped, a dedicated "Viewer" tab opens. Use the slider or navigation buttons to travel through your recording timeline.

Browser Recommendation

While compatible with Chromium-based browsers, Firefox is highly recommended. Firefox supports the MozAfterPaint event (when enabled in about:config), which provides the most efficient and accurate "paint-based" recording triggers available.

Installation & Configuration

For Firefox users wanting to use the Paint mode:

1. Navigate to about:config.
2. Set dom.send_after_paint_to_content to true.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL-3.0). We believe in open-source collaboration and ensuring that any improvements to this tool remain available to the community.