David E. Ross wrote:
Two recent threads in mozilla.support.seamonkey on this issue resulted
in very lengthy discussions. See "SeaMonkey and U.S. Government site
does not work" at
<news://news.mozilla.org:119/so-dntlowokak43wnz2dnuvz_r6dn...@mozilla.org>
and "Web site work in IE but not in SeaMonkey 2.0" at
<news://news.mozilla.org:119/xfadnab_io4m4inwnz2dnuvz_oodn...@mozilla.org>.
I can view the the TVGuide site with no problem and I do not have any
spoofing set up. I can not view the Government site in SM 2 as I do not
have any spoofing set.
as shown here:
Build identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.4; en-US;
rv:1.9.1.4) Gecko/20091017 SeaMonkey/2.0
These are just more examples of errors being asserted in a Gecko browser
when the real problem are invalid sniffing for UA strings by Web
servers. These problems are not new. Tracking bug #334967 for these
problems was written on 21 Apr 2006. The earliest bug tracked by
#334967 was bug #166261, written on 2 September 2002 and now closed.
Novice users of SeaMonkey and other non-Firefox browsers that use Gecko
are often confused about what sniffing and spoofing are. This was
readily noticed in the two threads cited above, where one user
repeatedly claimed that he could not be spoofing because he didn't even
know what that meant. He very strongly stated that SeaMonkey 2.0 was
broken but SeaMonkey 1.1.18 was not because he could view two web sites
with the latter but not with the former. When instructed how to report
his UA strings for both versions of SeaMonkey in
mozilla.support.seamonkey, it was seen that his SeaMonkey 1.1.18 was
spoofing Firefox 2.0.0.7. When he migrated to SeaMonkey 2.0, the
user-set preference variable to continue such spoofing was not included.
The problem is usually attributed to invalid sniffing for "Firefox" when
Web servers should sniff for "Gecko". The real problem is that servers
should not sniff at all. Interesting, informative, entertaining,
aesthetically pleasing Web sites can be created that can be
appropriately viewed by any modern browser without sniffing, providing
those sites fully comply with the W3C specifications.
To deal with this issue, I suggest the following:
1. Every detected instance of invalid sniffing must result in a bug
report blocking bug #334967. Documenting the problem via Bugzilla makes
it easier to communicate the problem to the Web site owner.
2. Today, much sniffing still excludes Opera, Safari, Konqueror, and
Chrome let alone non-Firefox Gecko browsers. When dealing with a bug
report tracked by bug #334967, Web site owners should be strongly urged
not to sniff at all because sniffing is excluding potential audiences
for their sites.
3. When helping users to defeat invalid sniffing, they should be
advised to treat spoofing as a temporary measure. Permanent sniffing
lends credence to assertions by Web developers that Firefox is the only
Gecko browser visiting their sites and that no one uses SeaMonkey.
Extensions such as PrefBar or User Agent Switcher should be recommended
because they revert the UA string back to the browser's true UA when
terminating or starting. Further, any spoofing must include the actual
SeaMonkey UA string with "Firefox" mere added; this is required so that
humans reviewing raw server logs will see that SeaMonkey is an actual
browser visiting their Web sites.
4. Users must be urged to contact the site owner with a complaint about
invalid sniffing, referring both to the bug report and to "Gecko is
Gecko" at<http://wiki.mozilla.org/User:Sardisson/Gecko_is_Gecko>.
5. Management at both the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla
Corporation should make similar contacts via postal mail with executives
of the companies and agencies whose Web sites are causing problems.
(Many executives are still more responsive to postal mail than to
E-mail.) Such contacts to U.S. companies should mention that sniffing
might yield Web sites that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA); contacts with U.S. federal agencies should mention that sniffing
might yield Web sites that violate Section 508 of the U.S.
Rehabilitation Act of 1986 (as amended in 1998).
6. If any complaint (#4 or #5 above) results in a response that no one
uses SeaMonkey, the responder should be asked to review the raw server
logs to see if "SeaMonkey" appears among the UA strings (see #3 above).
--
Phillip M. Jones, C.E.T. "If it's Fixed, Don't Break it"
http://www.phillipmjones.net http://www.vpea.org
mailto:pjon...@kimbanet.com
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