How to Extract Information From Web Pages

Inside A Web Page

Beyond the visible information, such as color, shape and text, web pages contain data hidden from casual view. Such hidden information provides clues to how a web page was constructed, design elements used to build a web page and the software that is used. Revealing this hidden data requires some knowledge of little-known web browser functions and specialized add-ons that are freely available.

Things You'll Need

• PC or Apple computer
• Firefox web browser
• Firebug Firefox extension

Instructions

The Browser View

1. Pick the "View Source" menu option. This is likely one of the easiest ways to examine hidden information behind a web page. The "View Source" option peels graphical layer away, revealing the text commands used to construct a web page and deliver it to your computer's screen. However, unless you understand the commands, the jumble of text and unfamiliar characters prompts an experience akin to opening a vehicle's hood: you know what's underneath serves an important purpose but are at a total loss to how it all works.

2. Obtain the free "Firebug" Firefox browser extension. A web page is composed of HTML and CSS commands that determine how a page is presented, plus information about the language used and various scripts that allow everything from search boxes to online polling. However, to understand the many lines of text, a free utility called "Firebug" is needed.

3. Firebug is an extension allowing designers, or anyone interested in knowing the internal mechanics of a web page, to easily view the CSS commands and styling involved in producing a page. The extension was written by Joe Hewitt, along with other authors. Hewitt is also one of the creators of Firefox, a free open-source web browser. Firebug integrates with Firefox to create a web page inspection tool.

   "Firebug makes it simple to find HTML elements buried deep in the page. Once you've found what you're looking for, Firebug gives you a wealth of information, and lets you edit the HTML live," according to the getfirebug.com website.

4. Firebug is known as an interactive editor because you can make changes in a web page's HTML code and instantly see the results of those alterations. Using Firebug along with the computer's Javascript programming language, the Firefox extension changes the mishmash of commands and formatting instructions into something more comprehensible.

5. Additionally, the Firebug Firefox extension extracts hidden web page information without needing to view the raw programming code. Instead, you may point to a web page object (a header, for instance), and the utility will display the code needed to produce the item.

   Once an object is identified, Firebug allows a computer user to easily copy that web page information to the computer's clipboard. By viewing a web page, seeing the correlation between a web page object and the CSS code required to produce the effect, the hidden world of web pages is uncovered.

References

• GetFireBug.com
• Web Page Background
• Indiana University

Resources

• Download Firebug Extension
• Download Firefox Browser