Browser Capabilities

soleimanian

Sep 16 2004, 09:10 PM

When a browser connects to the Web server, it automatically sends an HTTP User Agent header. This header is an ASCII string that identifies the browser and its version number. The BrowserType object compares the header to entries in the Browscap.ini file.
If it finds a match, the BrowserType object assumes the properties of the browser listing that matched the User Agent header.

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almoo7

Sep 17 2004, 11:55 AM

QUOTE (soleimanian @ Sep 17 2004, 05:10 AM)

When a browser connects to the Web server, it automatically sends an HTTP User Agent header. This header is an ASCII string that identifies the browser and its version number. The BrowserType object compares the header to entries in the Browscap.ini file.
If it finds a match, the BrowserType object assumes the properties of the browser listing that matched the User Agent header.

For those who still do not know, you can change your HTTP User Agent header with some software(like what TuneUp Utilities does), the disadvantage though is some webpages cannot be viewed correctly because it does not match any browser type in that webpage's browser detection script(sometimes). I use Internet Explorer 6 SP2 and the logs show that I am using "almoo7 Internet Browser".

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FirefoxRocks

Sep 29 2008, 01:58 PM

Nowadays, it isn't particularly useful to alter the User Agent string. Most sites are compatible with Gecko (Firefox/Mozilla/Flock/etc) and Trident (IE/Maxthon/etc). Notable exceptions include Microsoft Update (for obvious reasons) and things like Yahoo! Launchcast Radio.

Opera is very easy to change the user agent string, just add the appropriate drop down box to a toolbar. I think that Firefox (and it's derivatives) have an extension that allows you to modify User Agent strings. As for Internet Explorer, you can download a 3rd party program to do so.

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wutske

Oct 2 2008, 01:59 PM

I always tought a webserver simply replies with a webpage (ASCII), not keeping mind of what a browser is capable of. Isn't it up to the developper to serve different pages depending on the browser ?

Also, it's completely useless to use custom user-agent strings, it messes up website stats

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Jeigh

Oct 2 2008, 02:37 PM

It's not completely useless if you don't want stats to be made about your useage

Also, even if it is left to the developer to account for different browsers there still needs to be some way to identify which browser it is, which is where this string comes into play.

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xboxrulz

Oct 2 2008, 05:13 PM

With the advent of many web browsers starting to use standards, I don't think it really matters that the designers need to make multiple copies for every single web browser since the browser market is no longer just Trident and Gecko anymore. There's now Presto, WebKit, and KHTML.

I'm sure that many designers won't make a version of their CSS for each one of the layout engines.

xboxrulz

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toby

Oct 2 2008, 07:49 PM

Now, it should be function sniffing, as javascript should be used to enhance an experience, and there are many ways to check what is possible, and to work from there, not to identify the browser and hardcode what that browser can do.

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Atomic0

Oct 14 2008, 07:36 AM

The source of the above excerpt in Post #1 is :
http://www.interantenna.omskreg.ru/iishelp...sp/comp3xx0.htm

On the topic, I occasionally use the Firefox extension User Agent Switcher to change my browser's user agent. For example, I have a preset user agent for Google Bot, which is useful for some websites requiring subscription to view but show the full text to Google Bot for indexing purposes.

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FirefoxRocks

Oct 25 2008, 04:28 AM

I remotely recall that there are PHP, ASP as well as JavaScript methods to check the user agent (specifically a string to identify the browser) that is accessing the page. I don't think that it is wise to spoof user agents anyways, you should write to the webmaster of the page instead if it doesn't work in something like Firefox or Opera.

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xerxes

Oct 25 2008, 04:47 PM

The only thing I imagine this to be useful for, would be debugging your websites. I seriously hope that with browsers complying to standards more and more, the need for various hacks for different browser will finally disappear.

QUOTE(Jeigh @ Oct 2 2008, 04:37 PM)

It's not completely useless if you don't want stats to be made about your useage

Yes, but what would you gain with this? I can't imagine why a user of Firefox would like to masquerade his browser as Internet Explorer. Likewise a user aware enough to see the need to "turn" his IE into FF due to security issues, would probably just switch to FF.

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