Have you ever been curious to find out when a web page was updated? There’s a little trick that you can use to determine the date and time that a specific page was updated. Simply type the following into your address bar, and then hit “Enter” on your keyboard:
javascript:alert(document.lastModified)
This only works on some pages, and your browser must be javascript-enabled for it to work. If you want to automate this with a bookmark, WorldStart.Com has some instructions, which basically involves placing the above code in the address line of a bookmark.
In my experience, this isn’t foolproof. A site needs to have date information contained in its code, either because the developer placed it there manually, or because the system upon which the site runs did it automatically. When it works, though, it is a handy trick.
When Was It Updated? [WordStart.Com]
Roshan Shrestha says:
Actually, Java is not required to use javascript:alert(document.lastModified); It is JavaScript that needs to be enabled.
An easier way (no need to remember JavaScript) is to right click on a page and select “Properties” (IE) or “View Page Info” (Firefox).
August 27, 2010 — 4:16 pm
Evan Kline says:
Thanks for the clarification and the tip, Roshan. I’ll fix the post.
August 27, 2010 — 4:30 pm
Pali Madra says:
Hi Evan,
Thanks for the post. However this does now work for blogs which is a sham. For example this posts page’s last update was shown as 10/06/2010 19:06:21.
Probably the fact that the pages are created dynamically it does not work therefore it would not work for websites which are CMS based as pages are created on the fly.
Is there another option to find out when the page was updated last?
Thanks in advance.
October 6, 2010 — 9:49 am
Evan Kline says:
Yes, the site really has to support it, so if something is dynamically generated like a WordPress site, it won’t work. I don’t know if there would be a way to determine it otherwise, as the site would really need something in its source code to be able to determine that.
October 6, 2010 — 1:14 pm
Lewis says:
You could look at the Google cache to get an idea
April 22, 2013 — 7:13 pm
Evan Kline says:
Good idea, Lewis. I think it can give a general idea, but I’m not sure it is spot on. The cache for 40Tech, for example, shows an update of April 19, and there have been updates since then. But still good to get in the ballpark.
April 25, 2013 — 9:32 am