Website, data and developer utilities: guides

116 guides in this section. Pick the question closest to yours, or browse by tool.

• How to format JSON and find the errorHow to turn one-line minified JSON into readable, indented text, and find the exact line and column of the error when the JSON is invalid.
• How to convert CSV to JSON and backHow to convert a table of products or orders from CSV to JSON and back, why numbers stay as text by default, and how to open old Arabic Excel exports.
• How URL encoding and decoding workWhat the codes starting with % in links mean, why each Arabic letter becomes two of them, and when to encode a whole URL or just one part of it.
• What is Base64?What Base64 is and why systems use it, how to encode or decode Arabic text, and why it never protects passwords.
• UTM links to see where every order comes fromHow to build UTM links for your Instagram, Snapchat and email campaigns so your analytics reports show where each visit and order came from, with Arabic campaign names.
• Your page title and description in search resultsHow to write a product page's title and description as they might appear in search results, roughly how long they should be, and why search engines may rewrite them.
• The image and title shown when you share a linkHow to control the title, description and image shown when your store link is shared on WhatsApp and social media, using Open Graph tags.
• How to create a sitemap.xmlWhat a sitemap is and why it helps search engines find your pages, and how to build a valid sitemap.xml from a list of links, Arabic links included.
• robots.txt: what it blocks and what it doesn'tHow to write a robots.txt that asks search engines not to crawl cart and account pages, and why the file hides nothing and does not remove a page from results.
• Color contrast and readable textHow to check that text is readable on its background with the WCAG contrast ratio, what 4.5:1 means, and why two near-identical greys can pass and fail.
• I copied JSON out of a WhatsApp message or a Word document and now it is invalid even though it looks fine. What happened?Chat apps and word processors swap straight quotes for curly ones that JSON does not accept. How to find the first one by line and column and fix it.
• Why did a price of 45.50 turn into 45.5 after formatting my JSON file? Did the value change?The value did not change: JSON numbers are written back in their shortest form after parsing, so trailing zeros go. When to store a price as text instead.
• The 19-digit order ID in an API response ends in different digits after formatting. How do I keep it intact?JavaScript keeps integers exact only up to 9007199254740991, and anything longer is rounded when rewritten. How the tool warns you, and why IDs belong in strings.
• I have two JSON responses from the same platform with keys in a different order. How can I compare them to see what actually changed?Format both with the same indent and 'Sort keys alphabetically' so keys follow one order at every level, then compare line by line and only real changes remain.
• My JSON file saved from Notepad or Excel fails in another program with an error at the very first character. Why?Some editors save files with an invisible mark at the start called a BOM, and strict JSON readers reject it. How the tool detects it and gives you a clean file.
• The theme settings file I am editing has // and /* */ comments. Why does the validator say it is not valid JSON?Standard JSON has no comments, so the validator stops at the first one. Why the file may still work on your platform, and how to check the data on its own.
• I forgot a closing bracket in the middle of a JSON file. Why does the error point to a later line or to the very end?The parser only notices a missing bracket when it hits something that cannot follow, lines later or at the end of the file. How to read the position backwards.
• I want to paste a JSON value into a Shopify metafield. Should I minify or pretty-print it, and how do I check it is valid before saving?Both forms hold the same data, so minifying is about size and readability, not validity. What matters is that it parses: check it first and watch for duplicate keys.
• I converted JSON to CSV, but Excel shows each row in one column. Should I pick semicolon?If Excel crams every row of your CSV into one cell, the delimiter is the likely cause. When to choose semicolon for JSON to CSV, and why decimal prices stay intact.
• Why did an apostrophe appear in front of phone numbers starting with +966 in my exported CSV?Numbers that start with + get a leading ' in the exported CSV because of the Excel formula protection option. When to keep it and when to switch it off.
• Can a customer name or order note contain a formula that runs when I open the CSV in Excel?Text a customer types into a name or order note can start with = and be read by Excel as a formula. How the default protection stops it, and what it leaves alone.
• A customer address with a comma shifted the values across a whole row. How do I spot and fix it?An address like Dubai, Marina without quotes splits one cell into two and pushes the rest along. How to read the extra-fields warning and __parsed_extra, then fix it.
• A product description with an inch mark, like a 55" screen, makes the conversion fail. What is the fix?A size like 55" inside a quoted cell stops the conversion with a quote error. When the mark is a problem, why it must be doubled, and how to fix the row named.
• My orders JSON has a different number of items in each order. Should I flatten them into columns or keep them in one cell?When each order has a different number of items, flattening adds columns to fit the longest order. When to flatten and when to keep items as JSON text in one cell.