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The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

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Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#111

Post by daveoc64 »

Bick2 wrote: post #40
masswerk wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think, there's still use for it. E.g., I recall when Chrome 32 would fail to play a newly created Web Audio BufferSource, unless the playback call came from inside a decodeAudioData() callback. At the same time, you couldn't use this approach to playback sound from e.g. Safari iOS, since the callback lacked the user interaction blessing, resulting in muted audio. Try-catch wasn't an option either, since, as soon as…

Also this: https://catchjs.com/Blog/SameSiteCookies

This was a huge issue for some of the software I maintain.

The link explains the problem really well.

User agent sniffing was the only option.

We have a lot of end users on older iPads that can't upgrade to a newer browser.

These users are the general public, so you can't force them to upgrade devices.

We will have to continue to do the user agent sniffing for years to come.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#112

Post by mattl »

cma wrote: post #82
mattl wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn’t quite right. The BIOS checks for a copy of the Nintendo logo/name in certain ways on boot because licensed games include a copy. Nintendo also manufactured the games which made this easier.

The lawsuit ruling said unlicensed games could include/present a copy too, despite trademark.

Which lawsuit was that? Having no luck finding it

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#113

Post by oefrha »

feyman_r wrote: post #38

Client Hints are the recommended replacement for UA strings. I believe the default behavior for Chromium browsers is already changing (looking for schedule link). [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Client_hin...

> Client Hints are the recommendedChrome's replacement for UA strings.

FTFY. Last I checked it's just a unilateral Chrome implementation, no one else recommends it.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#114

Post by oefrha »

gregmac wrote: post #101
andirk wrote: post #59

User agent sniffing is poor practice anyways. Try to use the feature and react according to the browser's abilities. Analytics and similar can sniff all day though. To push browsers to get rid of UA string, we should all use a UA string extension that uses the same string like "DOG-SHIT". That way it'll start showing up in analytics. And if you're trying to date the "data science" girl, spam the app/website with UA s…

Does anyone know of (or work on) an app still doing user-agent sniffing to determine browser features (as in, the sniffing code has been touched in the last ~decade)? If so, why do it that way?

User agent sniffing is still a very typical way to determine whether to send the mobile or desktop version of a site.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#115

Post by zagrebian »

oefrha wrote: post #113
feyman_r wrote: post #38

Client Hints are the recommended replacement for UA strings. I believe the default behavior for Chromium browsers is already changing (looking for schedule link). [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Client_hin...

> Client Hints are the recommended Chrome's replacement for UA strings. FTFY. Last I checked it's just a unilateral Chrome implementation, no one else recommends it.

Well, Chrome and Edge.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#116

Post by zagrebian »

MBCook wrote: post #33

I know it would be a temporary disaster but I think at this point I wish Safari, FF, Chrome and Edge would just decide on a flag day to get rid of user agents. From March 17th, 2023 (or whatever) all user agent strings are now “WebBrowser/1.0” until the end of time. Just force the switch to better methods.

This would break so many websites, which would have negative consequences for many people.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#117

Post by toast0 »

MBCook wrote: post #56
logicallee wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what are better methods?

Just check if the thing you want is defined in JS. Maybe add some supplementary methods to help with that kind of check. Parsing out the UA header mess is a disaster.

It can be difficult to check for bugs in this manner. Especially if the feature you want to use worked fine before, then has one or two version where it crashes, and then works again.

If you feature test for browser crashes, people are going to think it's your site, not their browser.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#118

Post by scraptor »

zagrebian wrote: post #115
oefrha wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Client Hints are the recommended Chrome's replacement for UA strings. FTFY. Last I checked it's just a unilateral Chrome implementation, no one else recommends it.

Well, Chrome and Edge.

Google Chrome and Microsoft Chrome.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#119

Post by mmis1000 »

MBCook wrote: post #56
logicallee wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what are better methods?

Just check if the thing you want is defined in JS. Maybe add some supplementary methods to help with that kind of check. Parsing out the UA header mess is a disaster.

That don't work with render only bug, safari has tons of them. And in that case, JS is useless. Because everything reports correct, only the screen messed up.

Another example, Android webview 69 on certain devices has a bug that will take down the whole app. There is no way you can workaround it without ua sniffing. Because a single try will take the whole app away.

Re: The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string

#120

Post by rwalle »

feyman_r wrote: post #38

Client Hints are the recommended replacement for UA strings. I believe the default behavior for Chromium browsers is already changing (looking for schedule link). [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Client_hin...

"recommended"? That's just something that Chrome team created and no other browser vendor is interested in supporting it. Google seems to think that they can use their market dominance to force the idea.
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