Applicable Product:

Peoplefluent Learning

Applicable Release:

All

Summary:

When developing or debugging web applications, the Network Tab in a browser’s developer tools is one of the most powerful and informative tools available. It provides detailed insight into every network request and response your browser makes while loading and interacting with a web page. Here’s what kind of information you can access from the Network Tab and how it can help you troubleshoot and optimize web content.

Detailed Information:

What is the Network Tab?

The Network Tab records all HTTP/HTTPS requests initiated by the browser, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript files, images, fonts, API calls, and other resources. Each request is logged with its detailed data, timing, and status information.

Key Information Available in the Network Tab

1. Request URL and Method
   • Shows the full URL of each request.
   • Displays the HTTP method used, such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.
2. Status Code and Response
   • Displays the HTTP status code (e.g., 200, 404, 500), which indicates if the request was successful or if there was an error.
   • Helps identify broken links, server errors, or redirects.
3. Request and Response Headers
   • You can inspect headers sent by the browser (request headers) and headers sent by the server (response headers).
   • Headers contain important info such as content type, caching policies, cookies, authentication tokens, and more.
4. Request Payload / Form Data
   • For POST or PUT requests, you can see the data sent to the server.
   • Useful for debugging form submissions or API requests.
5. Response Data
   • View the actual content returned from the server, such as JSON, HTML, images, or other data formats.
   • Can be viewed in raw form or formatted (pretty print).
6. Timing Information
   • The Network Tab breaks down how long each request took at various stages:
     • DNS Lookup – Time to resolve the domain name.
     • Initial Connection – Time to establish a TCP connection.
     • SSL/TLS Handshake – Time for secure connection setup.
     • Request Sent – Time to send the HTTP request.
     • Waiting (TTFB) – Time to First Byte; waiting for server response.
     • Content Download – Time to download the response.
   • This helps diagnose performance bottlenecks.
7. Resource Size
   • Shows the size of each resource downloaded.
   • Helps identify large files slowing down page load.
8. Caching Information
   • Indicates if a resource was loaded from browser cache or fetched from the network.
   • You can see cache-control headers and expiration details.
9. Initiator
   • Shows what initiated each request — a script, a document, or user action.
   • Helps track dependencies and understand how requests are triggered.
10. Filtering and Search
    • You can filter requests by type (XHR, JS, CSS, Img, Doc, etc.).
    • Search requests by URL or content.

Why Use the Network Tab?

• Debugging: Identify failed requests, server errors, or malformed data.
• Performance Tuning: Analyze loading times and optimize resources to improve speed.
• Security Checks: Inspect headers related to authentication, cookies, and CORS.
• Development: Verify API calls, test changes, and monitor real-time network activity.

Example Use Cases

• A webpage is loading slowly — use timing info to pinpoint slow resources.
• API requests are failing — inspect request payload and server responses.
• Images are not displaying — check if the image URLs are correct and if they return 404 errors.
• Troubleshoot caching issues by seeing if updated files are being reloaded.