You might focus on eye-catching visuals, interactive elements, or attention-grabbing content, but a website’s building block holds all the front-end or back-end factors. This building block is technology, over which a website is built.
If you want to build a website for your business and looking at your competitor’s website, you must be confused about :
- Which technology is used?
- Which plugins or themes are used?
- What is the framework or structure?
- How to maintain or optimize a website?
And much more technical stuff……..
So, here we bring a step-by-step guide on “How to find out the technology behind a website?”
But first, we need to find out:
Why is it necessary?
Finding the tech stack of a website is essential for various reasons:
- Troubleshooting problems
An effective troubleshooting will help a developer to reduce the bottlenecks of a site and enhance compatibility.
- Security concern
Security is an important factor in a website. Knowing the technology behind your website would help you stay updated about the latest security patches, to stay protected from attacks.
- Competitor analysis
Finding competitors’ tech stacks would help analyze the latest trends and areas for improvement and better performance.
- Decision making
Finding a tech stack is a crucial factor in making technical decisions for better results and performance of the website.
Technology stack is an overtime evolving factor, so it is advisable to stay informed.
Now have a look at ways to find tech stack:
1. Source Code
Web browsers contain insight information on the source code of any web page. Source code will allow you to find the codes used to render the page.
Select “View Source Code” by right-clicking on the web page.
Then the code used to render the page would be displayed i.e. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
You have to look for:
HTML Tags
Analyzing HTML elements or Meta Tags would reveal information about a website’s framework or CMS(Content Management System).
Links and Scripts
Pay key attention to keywords like Angular, React, jQuery, and Python. This would indicate the core technologies used behind website creation.
Comments
Also, have a look at the comment section, sometimes developers leave some clues in the comment section about technologies.
2. Inspect Elements
Chrome or Firefox contains a feature of “Inspect Elements”, from where we would find the website’s structure.
JavaScript Files
JavaScript files would indicate popular libraries in use like React.js, Angular, etc.
CSS File
CSS files would also indicate popular libraries in use like, Bootstrap.
3. Web Analysis Tool
Website analysis tools are the simplest and quickest ways to identify technologies, CMS, and frameworks lying behind a website. With just a few clicks you can get access to in-depth information on the website.
Some of the online tools are mentioned below:
WhatRuns: The WhatRuns Chrome extension provides all the information, from tech stacks to fonts, used to create a website.
BuiltWith: BuiltWith a popular website profiler tool, provides multiple features including, website inspection, lead generation, competitive analysis, etc. Most of the e-commerce websites use BuiltWith for extensive features.
Wappalyzer: It is another online tool used to access information related to a website with just a few clicks. This tool provides information related to tech stack, libraries, frameworks, CMS, and much more.
Netcraft is the most powerful and useful tool to enhance the performance of your website. It is ideal for checking potential vulnerabilities, updated security patches, and the tech stack behind a website creation. It has the best defeating system to prevent your website from cyber-attacks and other security issues. It provide detailed reports on website performance and security with an in-depth analysis of website’s infrastructure.
How to use
- Visit the official website https://www.netcraft.com/.
- Find the website analysis tool on the homepage.
- Enter the URL of your website for an in-depth analysis of a website.
- After a detailed scan, you will get detailed information on the IP address, SSL certificate, server software, and hosting provider.
- You can easily export results for further analysis.
Domiantools
W3Techs
Stackshare
Browser Extensions and plugins
- Google Analytics.
- Lightbox, Isotope, and Tiny Slider JavaScript libraries.
- Bootstrap for responsive rendering.
- The Google Font API.
4. URL Structure
By observing the URL of a website you might get some hints about the tech stack used to create the website. Using specific patterns or extensions indicates CMS and Frameworks used to create the website.
Extension
Websites built on WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla have URLs that contain the name of CMS like wordpress.org
Framework
Some frameworks have specific URLs that indicate information related to technology by the end of their URL.
5. Server-side Technologies
A client-side website just gives specific information about a website but from the server side, you would get in-depth information about a website.
HTTP Headers
Source code or HTTP headers would give clues about the programming languages used i.e. Python, React.js, Node.js, etc.
Server Configuration files
As databases are essential elements for retrieving data, you would get information on popular databases in source code or server configuration files.
6. Libraries and APIs
A fully functional website relies mostly on APIs or External Libraries and these provide information related to technologies used behind a website.
API Integration
If the website is integrated with external services then checking API integration would integrate corresponding APIs
JavaScript Libraries
Library references would indicate Specific JavaScript libraries like; jQuery. Lodash etc
7. Hosting Providers
Hosting providers should sometimes give a hint about the technology used. This is because some hosting providers work on specific technologies or have default configurations that indicate the technology used behind the website.
By looking at hosting providers for a website, we would get the information on specialized or specialties of recommended technologies
Conclusion
Identifying the technologies behind a website is not only fascinating but also practical for developers, business owners, and tech enthusiasts. Whether you’re conducting competitive analysis, planning a site upgrade, or troubleshooting issues, knowing the tech stack is invaluable. Using a combination of manual inspection, online tools, and advanced techniques, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the technologies that power your website.
It provides detailed information on the website’s IP address, SSL Certificates, hosting providers, etc.
