Browser sniffing sucks!

I would post this as a comment, but the fascists at Friendster won’t allow non-Friendster members to make comments.

From A man and his Penguin:

We’re all annoyed when a website tells us that we need to be using Internet Explorer on Windows. I got *really* annoyed at NineMSN when one of its sites told me that I needed IE 5 on Windows, with Flash 5 and Windows Media Player 9. I even e-mailed the web developers, telling them that I was using Firefox on Linux with Flash 5 and the MPlayer plugin with w32codecs. In reply, I got the same old crap about “Internet Explorer has essential security features” and “we will look into allowing Firefox users into our site”.

People who pull this kind of nonsense on their websites have got to be living in some kind of sick, twisted alternate dimension or something. “Internet Explorer” and “essential security features” do not belong in the same sentence! I love how they seem to think that locking out Firefox users is somehow necessary for their own protection. What on earth do they think will happen??

For these kinds of reasons, I’ve always hated browser detection. It’s okay if it merely says “These are the system requirements, which you don’t live up to, but click here if you want to continue nevertheless”. But I’ve just come across an example of why browser detection is the MOST EVIL thing on the web.

Amen! Nothing pisses me off more than some asshole webmaster telling me that my browser is inadequate and I should “upgrade” to Internet Explorer 5. It’s one thing to honestly say that your website requires Flash 8 (apparently I only have 7) or to warn me that some features may not work without Javascript (I have it turned off by default to avoid annoyances and possible security threats). But god damn it, quit telling me that my browser isn’t “modern” enough (what a joke) just because I’m not interested in your stupid little statusbar crawl or I’d like to avoid your Javascript served advertising. Get a clue, people.

Tags: Geeky, The Interweb