2008

How to detect IE

Push the Internet Explorer users to switch to Firefox.

You can check the evolution of browser stats here.

Less IE please

Webmasters are tired of supporting Internet Explorer 6 or 7. (Personally I do not use any hack for accommodating the shortcomings of IE6 or IE7.)

Therefore you could stop the support of IE6 in your CSS files. Also do your users a favour and give them an alternative.

Not more Google please

Chrome lighter
reignites a browser war

The means to Web domination include owning the dominant search engine and controlling most of the web browsers. This in turn is done by promoting their own browser (Chrome) and by contracting with Mozilla: by default the Firefox search box triggers the Google engine. So please give the Mozilla foundation the means to stop their contract with Google. You can do that by promoting the use of Firefox -- rather than that of Chrome.

HTML snippet

You can add HTML to any web page. This snippet is less flexible than the PHP script further down. A proposal to switch shows only to users of older IE versions:

<!--[if lt IE 8]> You are using an unsafe, slow, outdated web explorer. You may consider installing an <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/">alternative <br><img src="/images/firefox-icon.png" align="middle" border="0" height="16" width="16"></a> <![endif]-->

What the script does

I have created a PHP script that pushes users to switch to a relevant browser. It works as follows:

1. A user triggers her browser to ask for your page (across the Web).

2. The page served is different depending on the user agent. A message only shows on the web page only if the client uses a "bad" browser. The piece of code detects the browser used and displays an upgrade message only if the browser version is bad.

3. The message can be anything. By default it proposes to switch to Firefox. You can choose what you consider bad by editing the $announcement between the simple quotes on line 15 below.

Code for detecting IE

Die Internet Explorer!

If you do not have a Wordpress blog, please use my PHP code herebelow. You can insert it into most HTML files.

<?php // Die IE! a script by Félicien Breton, at www.frenchscout.com, licensed under the GPL v3 ################################################## # Display a call to change browser ################################################## function die_ie($default_statement='') { global $language; // The announcement depends on the page language -- not on the browser language<br> if ( $language=='fr' ) { $announcement = 'Vous utilisez un navigateur internet qui n’est ni fiable, ni rapide.<br>Envisagez une <a class="external" href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/">alternative'; } else { $announcement = 'You are using an unsafe, slow, outdated web explorer.<br>You may consider installing an <a class="external" href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/">alternative'; } $announcement .= '.<br><img src="/images/firefox-icon.png" align="middle" border="0" height="16" width="16"></a>'; // The output depends on the user browser $agent_left = mb_substr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], 0, 31); if ( $agent_left=='Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5' ) { return $announcement; } elseif ( $agent_left=='Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6' OR $agent_left=='Mozilla/4.0 (compatible;)' ) { return $announcement; } elseif ( $agent_left=='Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7' ) { return $announcement; } elseif ( $agent_left=='Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8' ) { return $default_statement; } else { return $default_statement; } } # end of function // Trigger the function $language='en'; echo die_ie(':-)'); ?>

You may reuse and propagate this script with either one of two licenses:

• the MPL v1.1 (which is weak copyleft or weak viral);
• the latest GPL license (which is strong copyleft or strong viral).

This alternative allows the use of the "Die IE!" code in a variety of software projects, while still maintaining copyleft on the said code. So choose the license and adapt the code to your needs. Usage: launch an editor, open your HTML or PHP file, copy and paste the above script, change the French detection (on line 11) to your own language (if not English).