Despite ever expanding web of internet connectivity, no modern web app can expect not to work decently when offline.

Testing offline functionality, though, can be a bit of a bummer for people like me who develop almost exclusively in/for Google Chrome – unlike the old Internet Explorer, it doesn’t have a quick to access ‘Offline Mode’.

Not being a professional developer, I didn’t have extensive tools at my service to test my app in offline mode, and switching WiFi off-on was becoming tiresome. This is the solution I’ve ended up with, and if you’re looking for offline testing in Chrome, here’s an easy way:

1. Install the Proxy SwitchySharp extension from Chrome Web Store.

2. In extension’s settings, set up a proxy to a non-existent IP Address, preferably on your local network. You could even set it to localhost/127.0.0.1 if you aren’t running a server on local machine.

3. Now every time you need to switch to offline mode, all you have to do is go to the extension’s browser button, and select the local-profile you created.

 

4. When you want to go back on-line, just select ‘Direct Connection’ or, if you have a corporate proxy, then that.

That’s it! No more toggling WiFi to test offline mode for your web apps.