[thelist] browser detection on server side

Shawn K. Quinn skquinn at speakeasy.net
Sun Apr 24 18:47:07 CDT 2005


On Fri, 2005-04-22 at 14:50 +1000, Ken Schaefer wrote:
> Despite the zealots on the list, there is a reason why there is
> browser
> detection code running on the site (because the average person who
> uses it
> doesn't understand the ins-and-outs of how the various updating
> processes
> work).

IMHO, if it's specific enough to a given OS that it makes no sense to
make it cross-browser or cross-platform, it's specific enough to a given
OS to write it as a program for that OS and get rid of any pretense that
it needs to be in a Web browser (or pathetic rendition trying to
masquerade as a Web browser) at all.

> Additionally, if you want to use additional software (like firewalls
> that change your user-agent strings), then it's incumbent upon you to
> be
> cognizant of that (and if the product's manual doesn't tell you what
> it's
> doing, then change products).

Agreed, though well-written applications shouldn't trust User-Agent
anyway.

-- 
Shawn K. Quinn <skquinn at speakeasy.net>



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