As it says above, Page Detailer captures data at the Windows sockets level. Page Detailer captures a vast amount of information for every page element transferred from server to client. Double clicking on any item gives you a full rundown on the vast number of stats available.

After a page is loaded, you can select the "chart" option. The chart displays all of the page elements loaded, organized by time, so you can see the precise order in which page elements are requested and received. This is really good stuff, particularly for fine-tuning how complex rich-client browser applications work. Seeing how all of the page elements load over time gives a unique perspective on the page load process and allows you to see the sequence in which requests are sent by the browser.

The basic version of IBM Page Detailer is free to download. There's also a professional version with more features available for a license fee.

Finally
The final piece to this puzzle is that you need to dedicate yourself to understanding the meaning of all the information put out by these tools. There's no way to get there without many hours of research and effort.

You need to constantly apply yourself to understanding each new term you encounter. You should also get into the habit of reading relevant Internet standards and specifications at the W3C. RFC2616--the HTTP 1.1 protocol specification, at http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.html, is a good place to start.

These are some of the tools I keep in my Web development toolbox, and are among my favorites. Each is invaluable in its own way. When you need to get to the heart of a thorny problem, you'll find these tools are some of your best friends.

Andrew Stuart has been poking around computers since the Z80-based Exidy Sorcerer in 1979 when he was ten years old. He continues to do so and is now trying to find an Exidy Sorcerer on eBay for old times sake.