JSON Formatting & Validation: Best Practices for Clean Data
A practical approach to pretty-printing, validating, and safely handling JSON in the browser.
JSON powers APIs, dashboards, and micro-services. A formatter must do more than add spaces; it should validate, highlight syntax errors, and handle large payloads gracefully. Client-side JSON.parse inside a try/catch is enough for validation in most cases. Pretty-printing with JSON.stringify(value, null, 2) improves readability and collaboration.
Teach users common pitfalls: trailing commas, unquoted keys, or mixing arrays and objects at the root. Offer sample payloads and a one-click copy button. If payloads are huge, consider chunking or a streaming reader to avoid UI freeze.
Privacy matters too. A browser-only formatter avoids uploading sensitive data to servers, which builds trust. Finally, include a quick ‘How to Use’ and a FAQ. Clear documentation turns a basic formatter into a go-to utility people bookmark and share.
Teach users common pitfalls: trailing commas, unquoted keys, or mixing arrays and objects at the root. Offer sample payloads and a one-click copy button. If payloads are huge, consider chunking or a streaming reader to avoid UI freeze.
Privacy matters too. A browser-only formatter avoids uploading sensitive data to servers, which builds trust. Finally, include a quick ‘How to Use’ and a FAQ. Clear documentation turns a basic formatter into a go-to utility people bookmark and share.