Why JSON Matters: Plain Text with Structure

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a text-based, language-independent format for exchanging structured data. It supports objects, arrays (lists), strings, numbers, Boolean values, and null. ¹

What JSON Adds to Plain Text

Plain text can store structure by following a format like JSON. JSON provides a standard way to organize data that people can read and programs can process.

For example:

{
  "title": "Importance of JSON",
  "published": false,
  "tags": ["plain text", "data"]
}

Here, title contains text, published contains a true-or-false value, and tags contains an array—a list of values. The names identify the fields, and the values hold the information.

Formatting for Readability

Indentation and line breaks make JSON easier to read without changing its data. Nested objects and arrays define the structure; braces, brackets, commas, and colons express it. Whitespace outside strings can be adjusted without changing the data. ¹

The example above can also be written on one line:

{"title":"Importance of JSON","published":false,"tags":["plain text","data"]}

Both versions represent the same data. Adding indentation and line breaks is often called pretty printing. It is especially helpful when objects or arrays are nested inside other objects or arrays, making their relationships easier to see.

Making Nested Data Readable

Indentation becomes especially useful when the data contains nested objects and arrays. In this example, the indentation helps you see that author and tags belong to article, and that name and website belong to author:

{
  "article": {
    "title": "Importance of JSON",
    "author": {
      "name": "Alex",
      "website": "https://plaintxtoffice.com"
    },
    "tags": [
      "plain text",
      "JSON"
    ]
  }
}

Here is the same data without indentation or line breaks:

{"article":{"title":"Importance of JSON","author":{"name":"Alex","website":"https://plaintxtoffice.com"},"tags":["plain text","JSON"]}}

The structure is identical in both versions. Braces enclose objects, brackets enclose arrays, colons separate names from values, and commas separate members or elements. Those punctuation marks define the structure; indentation makes it easier for humans to see. ¹

Why It Matters

JSON gives plain text a structure that software can work with. In the example above, a program could retrieve the article's title, check whether it is published, or find articles with a particular tag.

This makes JSON useful for several everyday tasks:

• Application settings: Store named options and their values in a file you can inspect in a text editor.
• Records: Organize information about articles, books, or other items using consistent fields.
• Data exports: Move structured information between programs that support JSON.

The format is public and widely supported, so your data can remain accessible beyond the application that created it. However, the receiving program still needs to understand what your fields mean. Recognizing JSON syntax does not automatically tell it how to use an article record or a settings file.

Limitations

Standard JSON does not allow comments. Some applications support JSON with Comments (JSONC), commonly saved with a .jsonc extension. Renaming a file does not make a standard JSON parser accept comments; the application must support JSONC. ²

JSON also has strict syntax rules. Missing commas, unquoted property names, and trailing commas can make a standard JSON file invalid. An editor that checks JSON syntax can help catch these mistakes. ¹

A valid file can still contain incorrect information. For example, "published": "false" is valid JSON, but it stores text rather than the Boolean value false used in the example above. Whether that is acceptable depends on what the application expects.

Possibilities

Learning to read and edit JSON gives you more control over data stored in plain text. For small files, readable formatting and an editor that checks JSON syntax can make manual editing practical.

Pretty printing makes the data easier to inspect; validation checks whether it follows the syntax rules. Neither guarantees that the values are correct, but together they make handwritten JSON easier to manage.

JSON can be a useful choice for storing small collections of structured data without a proprietary file format. It provides a portable way to represent the information, while the applications using it determine what the fields mean and how the data is managed.

Bibliography

1. Bray T. The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format. RFC Editor; 2017. RFC 8259. RFC 8259. DOI: 10.17487/RFC8259.
2. JSONC Specification [Internet]. Accessed 2026-10-09. https://jsonc.org/.