Want to make a page browser specific

and wonder about the effects

[richlowe]

I am upgrading a site to use css and xhtml 1.1 and ASP. One thing that I've considered is using ASP to display the CSS DIVs if the browser is advanced enough to support it, and if not, use a table. In a few places I have some simple javascript to popup a window, and I am considering using ASP to replace the javascript with a simple TARGET if javascript is disabled.

The question is simple: I've read that cloaking is a no-no, and this isn't cloaking. But it will make the pages look distinctly different to spiders, which might make search engines think the site is spammy.

Any thoughts on this? The effort is minor as all of the formatting is in included ASP files, but it would be silly to try and create the perfect pages that work in most browsers only to wind up with no one looking at them because the site has been banned...

Richard

[TheDoctor]

99%+ of the people who visit your site will have browsers that handle CSS. Of those that don't, a good proportion will not be able to handle tables.

There are ways [centricle.com] of using css to make sure pages render properly in all browsers.

And either use target for everyone (rumours are that it'll be undeprecated) or let the users decide for themsleves whether they want stuff in the same window or another one.

In general, let go and let the users have the experience they want not the one you want them to have. You should be concentrating on making sure the message of the site gets across.

[richlowe]

Yes, I did a simple check by removing the css entirely and it degrades beautifully. Of course, the problem now is to test it on different browsers to see if any do the wrong things with css...