Debugging Websites in Internet Explorer

Question

I have a Website that is really slow and "feels" really bad when using it. The server is fine, it's a clientside issue, I assume because too much JavaScript or Image Requests, but since it's not my own Website, I wonder if there is a way to show and profile the Page from within IE.

In Firefox, I would use Firebug, Y!Slow and the Web Developer extention to see all JavaScript, CSS, Images and other Requests, AJAX Requests etc., but on IE I did not see any problem. I know I could use Firefox, but the page works better in FF than in IE, so i wonder if there is some Development Addon specifically in IE.

Edit: Thanks for the many suggestions! Too many good answers to pick one as "accepted", but i'll have a look at the various tools suggested.

Answer 1

Fiddler with help you see the internet activity. It shows a log of all request/response messages through the network stack.

Answer 2

There is the Internet Explorer Web Developer Toolbar. It isn't as good as Firebug IMHO, but it works.

IE8 will ship with one built-in, too.

Answer 3

There is a lite version of Firebug that will work with IE and other browsers, have you tried that?

Answer 4

There's a JS library called firebug light, you need to include it in your site. What it does for you is it enables you to pop up a div in which you can spit text, like in firebug, with the same statements you do it in firebug. MochiKit has something like this too.

Answer 5

This isn't a profiler or plugin, but you may find that Quirksmode may help you weed through some of the IE-centric problems once you find them.

Answer 6

Have you run performance monitors on the client side to see what is going on, e.g. is there a bunch of memory swapping that is slowing things down or is it all network traffic that is the issue?

Another thought is whether or not there are server logs that may be of some help in seeing the time of requests if there are a bunch of files to load as well as Javascript to initialize things.

Answer 7

I've been using Web Development Helper lately. It does HTTP logging better than Firebug. Lets you run arbitrary Javascript as well.

Answer 8

By using a network sniffer like Wireshark or a proxy you can monitor the traffic and see if it's the loading of images and/or scripts that are slowing down you site. If you're unsure - turn of or comment out your javascripts to rule out that it's the processing of them that are slowing down.

If you can't see any indications in the network traffic of a slow down - then you will have to do a deeper analysis of the javascript code itself - perhaps by inserting timers or other measurements to see what parts it is that could be optimized.

Answer 9

I use HTTPWatch. It provides all of the information like Firefox LiveHeaders, but in a much more useful manner. It is also a great tool to determine if you have any content that are blocking operations for downloading further content for a page.

Answer 10

Try Fiddler! It is a free, HTTP debugging proxy, that among other things provides insight on what's loading in your site, what may slow it down, etc. It has advanced features like decoding compressed resources, providing pre-canned responses for certain URL's, etc. Learning Fiddler is a must for any web developer.

Answer 11

I would also suggest two tools for discovering JavaScript memory leaks:

• sIEve
• Microsoft JavaScript Memory Leak Detector

Answer 12

you can try debug bar and companionJS from the same company http://www.debugbar.com/ and they are free and pretty similar to Firebug in concept but not as developed

Answer 13

HttpWatch is also pretty amazing as IE plugins go.

Answer 14

You can use the HTTP Debugger Pro which monitors HTTP/HTTPS traffic from all browsers and their plugins. Much cheaper then HTTP Watch.