The Camino team would like to change their user agent string to add the Firefox version number of the closest Firefox release. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=384721 They want to do this because a number of sites sniff for "Firefox".
This is somewhat controversial, because historically the Mozilla project's line on browser sniffing has been: 1) Don't sniff at all 2) If you must sniff, use object sniffing 3) In the rare cases that doesn't work, use the Gecko version Changing Camino would be construed as giving up on that line. So it was requested in the bug that a discussion be started. Some questions it might help to consider when assessing the scale of the problem: - Is it OK if a site warns you that your browser has not been tested, but allows you to continue anyway? - What about sites (e.g. banks) for which lack of support for Camino is a deliberate policy? - Does it matter how serious the problem is? I.e. total site blockage vs. lack of flyout submenus on msnbc.com? Useful documents for the discussion ----------------------------------- Tracking bug for sites which sniff for "Firefox": https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=334967 (Note: not all bugs in this list are relevant here - e.g. some correctly exclude Camino, like rollyo.com, bug 337056) We have a specification for user agent strings: http://www.mozilla.org/build/revised-user-agent-strings.html Various Mozilla pages on the topic: http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Browser_Detection_and_Cross_Browser_Support http://wiki.mozilla.org/User:Sardisson/Gecko_is_Gecko Advocacy site on the topic: http://geckoisgecko.org/ Gerv _______________________________________________ dev-tech-layout mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-tech-layout
