JSON Browser
A legacy tool that's still incredibly useful - built nearly two decades ago with vanilla JavaScript and still functioning perfectly today!
About JSON Browser
JSON Browser is a simple yet powerful tool that I created almost 20 years ago to visualize JSON data in a tree-like structure. Despite its age, it remains one of my most useful utilities for debugging and exploring JSON data.
Key Features
- Copy and paste JSON content for instant visualization
- Tree view with expandable/collapsible nodes
- Color-coded syntax highlighting for different data types
- Support for nested objects and arrays
- XML content detection and formatting
- Built with pure vanilla JavaScript - no dependencies
- Still works flawlessly across modern browsers
Why It's Still Relevant
This tool demonstrates the longevity of well-written vanilla JavaScript. While modern frameworks come and go, this simple utility has remained functional for nearly two decades without requiring any updates or maintenance. It's a testament to the power of web standards and thoughtful engineering.
Technical Details
- Written in pure JavaScript (ES3 compatible)
- Uses DOM manipulation for rendering
- Implements custom tree traversal algorithms
- Includes regex-based JSON parsing and validation
- Features custom styling with inline CSS
Fun Fact: This tool was originally created as part of the StartForce platform and included features for polling JSON from APIs and opening results in new tabs. The core formatting functionality has remained unchanged since its creation.