Re: Need advice on reliable way to identifyIE asthe browser

Walden,

IE is riddled with bugs and non-standard implementation of standards. You
have to remember that the purpose of IE was to kill Netscape and protect
Microsoft's desktop monopoly, not to foster an equal playing ground on a
world wide web. If you're unwilling to program in a subset of functionality
common across multiple browsers -- and that IE can do right -- then you have
to use some schemes to deal with IE whether in XHTML, CSS, or JavaScript.

It used to be that lazy developers would develop web sites that'd tie in to
non-standard IE functionality and would block out anyone whose User Agent
didn't report IE. When other browsers duplicated the functionality to deal
with market realities, they'd still be locked out unless they reported it
was IE or IE-compatible to match the string likely being checked. Now that
competition has returned to browsers MS is in a bind to improve IE when
there's tons of code out there expecting it to be broken based on the User
Agent. That's a better example of ugliness.

On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 5:22 PM, Walden H. Leverich <WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

wrote:

Pete,

Just curious, why would you ever want to be sure it was IE? (as opposed
to being sure it supported whatever function you needed in IE)

-Walden

--
Walden H Leverich III
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x3051
WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.TechSoftInc.com

Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
(Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)
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