ViewState Snail is a free Chrome extension developed by Mike W, designed to assist ASP.NET developers in improving performance by increasing awareness of View State footprint. The purpose of this tool is to make it easy for developers to identify when a web page is using too much view state, without the need to manually check.

With ViewState Snail, developers can easily monitor the length of HTML and ViewState, as well as calculate the percentage of ViewState in relation to the HTML length. This information is conveniently displayed on the extension button, allowing for quick and easy access.

To further customize the tool, developers have the option to configure thresholds for the color display. The extension button will be displayed in red, amber, or green, depending on the configured thresholds. By default, the threshold for amber is set at 10,000 characters, and the threshold for red is set at 20,000 characters.

In terms of updates, ViewState Snail has continuously improved its functionality. Version 1.1 introduced support for view state chunking, providing developers with even more control over their view state management. In version 2.0, the extension migrated from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3, ensuring compatibility and stability.

Overall, ViewState Snail is a valuable tool for ASP.NET developers who want to easily identify and manage view state usage. Its user-friendly interface and customizable options make it suitable for individual developers as well as entire development teams.