Good tools for browser capability detection?
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I am tasked with migrating our organization’s static website to a more dynamic one with plans for several web applications for our users. I plan on using jquery[^]as my js foundation. Our users are various school districts which may have a variety of browsers and a variety of security policies, meaning that browser and capability may be dictated by an IT dept and not the user. Can someone recommend a good example of browser capabilities detection? I’d really like to get a good idea of the browser demographics we’ll be serving before we start developing. I saw BrowserHawk[^]) which looks incredible. Does anyone have experience with this? Anyone have other suggestions? Anything free? (I only ask the free question because it’s easier to start developing when I don’t have to get budget approval. I’m not looking for a free lunch. :)) Thanks! Matt Penner
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I am tasked with migrating our organization’s static website to a more dynamic one with plans for several web applications for our users. I plan on using jquery[^]as my js foundation. Our users are various school districts which may have a variety of browsers and a variety of security policies, meaning that browser and capability may be dictated by an IT dept and not the user. Can someone recommend a good example of browser capabilities detection? I’d really like to get a good idea of the browser demographics we’ll be serving before we start developing. I saw BrowserHawk[^]) which looks incredible. Does anyone have experience with this? Anyone have other suggestions? Anything free? (I only ask the free question because it’s easier to start developing when I don’t have to get budget approval. I’m not looking for a free lunch. :)) Thanks! Matt Penner
Browserhawk gets alot of its functionality from background Java files, therefore Javascript is lacking. Either use JQuery.browser and make do with that or This JQuery plugin[^] or use Google Analytics[^] for free which is always good :-D although Google Analytics isn't in real time.
hmmm pie
modified on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 1:48 PM
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Browserhawk gets alot of its functionality from background Java files, therefore Javascript is lacking. Either use JQuery.browser and make do with that or This JQuery plugin[^] or use Google Analytics[^] for free which is always good :-D although Google Analytics isn't in real time.
hmmm pie
modified on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 1:48 PM
Thanks for the reply! What do you mean when you say Javascript is lacking? I do like how BH shows various things like Javascript enabled (not just supported), flash version, Silverlight version (not a requirement though), XMLHttpRequest, file upload, DHTML, ConnectionSpeed, GZip, PNG, browser dimensions, SSL, etc. So, it's more of browser capability than simply browser detection. I do like Google Analytics, and I will be using it for tracking, but they don't go into real depth on capabilities. I suppose I could recreate much of this using jquery on my own but I thought I'd ask before I spent time on it. Plus, if it has been done before and is freely available chances are it will be better than my first implementation. Thanks!
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Thanks for the reply! What do you mean when you say Javascript is lacking? I do like how BH shows various things like Javascript enabled (not just supported), flash version, Silverlight version (not a requirement though), XMLHttpRequest, file upload, DHTML, ConnectionSpeed, GZip, PNG, browser dimensions, SSL, etc. So, it's more of browser capability than simply browser detection. I do like Google Analytics, and I will be using it for tracking, but they don't go into real depth on capabilities. I suppose I could recreate much of this using jquery on my own but I thought I'd ask before I spent time on it. Plus, if it has been done before and is freely available chances are it will be better than my first implementation. Thanks!
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I am tasked with migrating our organization’s static website to a more dynamic one with plans for several web applications for our users. I plan on using jquery[^]as my js foundation. Our users are various school districts which may have a variety of browsers and a variety of security policies, meaning that browser and capability may be dictated by an IT dept and not the user. Can someone recommend a good example of browser capabilities detection? I’d really like to get a good idea of the browser demographics we’ll be serving before we start developing. I saw BrowserHawk[^]) which looks incredible. Does anyone have experience with this? Anyone have other suggestions? Anything free? (I only ask the free question because it’s easier to start developing when I don’t have to get budget approval. I’m not looking for a free lunch. :)) Thanks! Matt Penner
I'd recommend to use a JavaScript library that gracefully degrades with browser capabilities (like jQuery) and not rely on Flash, Java, or SilverLight. If you do need to use one of those technologies, the Flash is probably the way to go, though you should pay attention to the last point below. Also, make sure that you support varying levels of CSS compliance. Finally, make sure that if you're in the US that it complies with Section 508[^]. If your Web applications don't comply, some school districts won't use it because of federally mandated restrictions.
"we must lose precision to make significant statements about complex systems." -deKorvin on uncertainty
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I'd recommend to use a JavaScript library that gracefully degrades with browser capabilities (like jQuery) and not rely on Flash, Java, or SilverLight. If you do need to use one of those technologies, the Flash is probably the way to go, though you should pay attention to the last point below. Also, make sure that you support varying levels of CSS compliance. Finally, make sure that if you're in the US that it complies with Section 508[^]. If your Web applications don't comply, some school districts won't use it because of federally mandated restrictions.
"we must lose precision to make significant statements about complex systems." -deKorvin on uncertainty
Thanks. Good points. I'm planning on standardizing on CSS and jQuery. I don't plan on Flash (I'm not a Flash developer) and I don't plan on Silverlight simply because of the requriement for IT admins to install the client. Since this is strictly an "internal" app (loosely meaning that I have a very defined set of specific users, not for public use) I am interested in the ability of my pool of users. Thanks for info about the varying levels of CSS support. Also, thanks for the info on Sec508. While my current project is for defined business staff I don't think this applies. however, as we begin to offer more and more public info on our site this will be something we need to take into account. Great stuff! Matt
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Thanks. Good points. I'm planning on standardizing on CSS and jQuery. I don't plan on Flash (I'm not a Flash developer) and I don't plan on Silverlight simply because of the requriement for IT admins to install the client. Since this is strictly an "internal" app (loosely meaning that I have a very defined set of specific users, not for public use) I am interested in the ability of my pool of users. Thanks for info about the varying levels of CSS support. Also, thanks for the info on Sec508. While my current project is for defined business staff I don't think this applies. however, as we begin to offer more and more public info on our site this will be something we need to take into account. Great stuff! Matt