[Javascript] Serious browser detection.

[Peter-Paul Koch]

>Agreed, on all points, but the main issue for us is the fact that Opera7 
>(for example) DEFAULTS to IE6/XP userAgent string.

It doesn't. It defaults to a string that quite resembles the IE6/XP 
userAgent string, except that it also contains "Opera".

>And Safari, as mentioned earlier, can't even stand for its own rendering 
>engine but actively tries to fool us that it's really Gecko/Mozilla. 
>Nothing could be further from the truth, of course.

It doesn't. Its userAgent string always has "Safari" in it.

If you insist on writing this sort of rubbish, make sure that you understand 
the userAgent string instead of making uninformed comments on what it does 
or doesn't contain.

>This is all the fault of software developers, and it is all sort of "hard 
>coded" faults, and we can't blame them on the user. :)
>
>If the user, on the other hand, is stupid enough to personally change his 
>userAgent string before launching our web application, he is to blame. If 
>you want to drive a car, you can't change the tires into tractor tires and 
>expect it to work.

Total and utter nonsense.

If the user changes his browser string and the page ceases to function, YOU, 
as web developer, are guilty as hell. You used imprecise, theoretically 
questionable techniques to find out what the user's browser can and can't 
do, and this user is the primary victim.

Blame for the browser detection mess is to be spread equally among browser 
vendors and web developers. It has become a sort of arms race.

Web developer: "Oh, let's detect this browser out of existence because it 
can't do X."

[1 year later]

Browser vendor: "Our browser now supports X, but people detect around it. 
OK, let's spoof the userAgent string".

etc.

Don't blame the users for your mistakes.

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ppk, freelance web developer
Interaction, copywriting, JavaScript, integration
http://www.quirksmode.org/
Column "Keep it Simple": http://www.digital-web.com/columns/keepitsimple/
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