Browser Detection

You appear to be using Unknown Browser 0.0 running on Not Detected.

This page explores several different methods of detecting which browser a visitor is using to view a web page. Although things are better than they used to be, it remains an annoying fact of web development that all browsers (known officially as "user agents") do not render all web pages the same. In some cases the differences are minor and can be ignored. In other cases, however, differences can be so extreme that pages are unusable in certain browsers.

To overcome these differences, web developers can make adjustments based on which browser the visitor is using. In order to make these adjustments, however, the web developer needs a means of detecting which browser is being used. One common method is to use JavaScript, which runs in the browser itself (assuming the user hasn't disabled it). Thus, the adjustments will be made after the page is received by the browser (also known as the "client"). Other methods work on the server and can make adjustments before the page is sent to the browser.

In many cases, the user's browser can be determined by the "user agent string" that the browser sends when it displays a page. Here is the user agent string that your browser sent:

1. Browser Detection Using JavaScript (On the Client)

The table below shows the values returned by several common JavaScript properties. Most properties about browsers are found in JavaScript's navigator object. Other useful information about the user's environment can be determined using the screen object.

Object.Property	Value
navigator.userAgent:
navigator.appCodeName:
navigator.appName:
navigator.appVersion:
navigator.platform:
navigator.language: *
navigator.systemLanguage: *
navigator.userLanguage: *
navigator.cookieEnabled: †
navigator.javaEnabled(): †
screen.height (pixels):
screen.width (pixels):
screen.colorDepth (bits):

2. Browser Detection Using ASP.NET (On the Server)

ASP.NET offers the HttpBrowserCapabilities class as a means of determining which browser the visitor is using. This class relies on information stored on the server about various browsers (it does not actually detect information from the browser itself). Thus, for example, it will indicate whether a particular browser type is capable of handling JavaScript or supporting cookies, but it will not determine if the user has disabled these features on his particular browser. The table below displays only a few of the many browser properties exposed by the HttpBrowserCapabilities class.

Property	Value
Browser:	Unknown
Version:	0.0
Platform:	Unknown
Cookies: *	True
JavaScript: *	False
EcmaScriptVersion:	0.0
AOL:	False
Crawler:	False
ActiveXControls: *	False
JavaApplets: *	False
For a complete list of all properties returned by the HttpBrowserCapibilities object, click here.

Browser Detection Using Custom Class (On the Server)

In connection with creating this web site, I wrote my own custom class to handle browser detection.

Property	Value
BrowserBrand:	Unknown
BrowserName:	Unknown Browser
FullVersion:	0.0
OpSysBrand:	Unknown
OperatingSystemName:	Not Detected
IsAOL:	False
IsWebBot:	True