Fiddler is a tool that many web developers are common with. It is my favourite tool for debugging existing tracking code and testing new code. This video shows two useful functions for this purpose: Inspectors and the AutoResponder.
Fiddler is a free Web debugging tool. You can download it at fiddler2.com. Fiddler logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the internet. That means you can view just about everything that is exchanged in the background while you’re browsing the web.
What makes Fiddler so great
Apart from the functions shown in the video below, I love Fiddler because of at least one more reason: It is not dependent on any browser. Tools like Firebug, Chrome’s Web Developer Tools or the Chrome Extension “Google Analytics Debugger” (see the first article on how to use these tools) all just work within one or the other browser. But Web Analytics code is usually JavaScript code. And JavaScript works differently from browser to browser. That does not mean that Fiddler should be seen an alternative to Firebug. Both tools have their purposes and go very well together.
The following video shows how to use Fiddler for Web Analytics purposes. You will learn:
- How to test existing code with Fiddler’s “Inspectors” feature. The use case will be the test whether a click on an application button really triggers the desired Virtual Pageview call
- How to try out new or different tracking code without having to upload anything to your server (no IT needed!).
