Tools?

[moonbob69]

1. There are many websites that will tell a visitor information about his browser.

Are there any websites that will go to and reveal information about the programming of a specified other website, either using a specified user-agent-string and properties etc, or with different user-agents? (Other than supposed malware-checking sites.)

2. Are there browsers (or plugins for them) that are useful as tools to reveal information about the programming of websites (html elements & attributes, javascript functions and Java, etc) rather than just for display of the site's information? This would be for documentation purposes, for the use by competetent programmers not expert in website code, to gage how that website will behave or what their intent was in broad terms. (Experts can try to read the code using the Page Source function available in all browsers, if they have enough time.)

[Falna]

Are there browsers (or plugins for them) that are useful as tools to reveal information about the programming of websites (html elements & attributes, javascript functions and Java, etc).

Web Developer's Toolbox would be a good place to start.

[Moonchild]

And of course hitting F12 will open the developer tools with a plethora of information and advanced tools for inspecting, manipulating and debugging websites.

[BenFenner]

Are there any websites that will go to and reveal information about the programming of a specified other website

There are sites like https://whatcms.org which I think accomplish what you're talking about. That's just one of a handful.

[moonbob69]

Web Developer's Toolbox would be a good place to start.

Thanks, that is a very good start, particularly the "inform the curious" purpose, for someone on the "expert" path. But I don't find, at the PM /addon/web-developers-toolbox/ page, or even at Mr. Penderick's pages, a comprehensive manual or tutorial. His /help/ page does mention some things about his Firefox version (that Firefox removed the API to implement a particular feature), which seem to contradict the brief description on the PM page.

will open the developer tools with a plethora of information

I assume the PM "Tools" menu mostly uses Mozilla terminology. I can't remember if I asked before, is there a manual or tutorial for all the functions available from that menu, from either them (for the Firefox version) or from PM users?

What I was asking for is more of a forensic summary tool, not for developers, which gives the site's overall methodology in terms of tables, frames, javascript versions used (if there is such a thing), various features which have been mentioned in regard to compatibility, and the source of advertising images and tracking methods, all phrased in terms which make sense to the non-expert 3rd party .

There are sites like https://whatcms.org

Yes, that is part of what I was talking about, and I did not know about that site, but CMS is apparently at a level above the implementation programming that causes browser/usability problems.

For instance whatcms.org doesn't find any named CMS at https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/stati ... basic.html (which gives no results with either PM 28.16, the latest 32-bit Linux version I can find, or a 2021 32-bit Firefox) nor at https://recyclesearch.com/profile/padep ... -directory (which locks up the machine while "transferring data" forever).

That site does say that www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Land/Waste/Soli ... ction.aspx uses "IIS", but that doesn't explain to me why the included link doesn't work; I'm guessing that "javascript version" is to blame in all these cases.

What are some of the terms that should be used to look for other sites like that, maybe at different levels than "CMS"?

[BenFenner]

What are some of the terms that should be used to look for other sites like that, maybe at different levels than "CMS"?

My first search just now was with these terms: "detect website technology"
Results: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=palemoon&q=de ... ogy&ia=web

First link: https://builtwith.com
Third link: https://www.wappalyzer.com
Sixth link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/396 ... s-built-on (contains many options)
Fifth link: https://hexometer.com/stack-checker/
Second link seems useful as well: https://geekflare.com/what-technology-website-using

Have fun.