[mani04]

I used to be a fan of JSONView or one of those chrome plugins / extensions. Then I realized that I can simply use the network tab to view the JSON data as it gets loaded.

Here is how it works - keep the network tab ready. When you see the JSON data request, click on the request and hit the "Preview" tab. It gives you data in a collapse / expand format.

Advantages: 1. There is one less plugin that scans all your browsing activity, 2. Slightly extra battery life when just browsing and not developing stuff.

Disadvantage: You need to keep the network tab ready, otherwise you will have to reload the entire page with the network tab open.

EDIT:

My apologies if it wasn't clear. I was talking about the "Developer Tools" option in Chrome, in which there is a "Network" tab. It is available in "Chrome Menu" > "More Tools" > "Developer Tools". Alternatively you can hit Command + Option + I in mac, or some equivalent in Linux / Windows to get there.

[cyphax]

Usually F12 opens these tools in most browsers (IE, Chrome, Firefox at least) on Linux and Windows, but I do not have a Mac to test Os X. Your tip also applies to Firefox, but I don't know about IE or Edge. :)

I've never really had to handle really large JSON files, as I'm not a big fan of those but for smaller files I tend to be lazy and paste it in jsonlint.com. It's usually just for reference or debugging purposes (like finding the name of a property or some strange value).