Browser Rendering Engines

Is anyone interested in detecting them?

[GaryK]

Hi. I normally hang out in the Search Engine ID forum. I hope you'll pardon my intrusion here.

I manage a project that helps webmasters identify what browser is visiting their site.

Recently I've had a request to return the browser's rendering engine as part of the properties for the browser.

I've always felt this wouldn't serve any useful purpose. I'd appreciate your take on it.

Thanks.

[DrDoc]

Useful? Not really, as it can be spoofed and cannot be relied upon for any real-world application.
Interesting information? For sure. It's always good to at least have a general idea of who your visitors are and which browsers they use.

But I wouldn't put too much of an emphasis on it myself.

[encyclo]

Feel free to "intrude"! ;) I agree with DrDoc for the most part, most browser-sniffing is hazardous as you can't depend on the information for reliable handling of layout, for example. There may be some limited value in identifying the browser family when it comes to the myriad of Gecko variants (from Firefox to Netscape to Galeon) and distinguishing them from Safari or Konqueror (which claim to be Gecko-based but use a different rendering engine).

The main use of such statistics would be to check for general trends regarding browser usage to help make decisions regarding browser support. Personally, I wouldn't put much emphasis on the rendering engine question either.

[GaryK]

Thanks for the welcome and the feedback. Having heard it from two members I respect a lot I feel more confident about telling people the rendering engine is something I might include someday when I have the time. :)

[coopster]

Out of curiosity, have you asked the requester why they would like to see the rendering engine?

[GaryK]

Hi coopster. It has something to do with how MediaWiki handles CSS and floats. I don't really understand the problem completely but the project leader posted in my forum about it and I thought I'd ask about it here.

[coopster]

It has something to do with how MediaWiki handles CSS and floats.

OK. Assuming you meant how each browser is handling the CSS and floats, MediaWiki likely wants to deliver a different style based on the rendering engine.

Boy, you could certainly look at this issue from a number of different angles, couldn't you!

[GaryK]

Yes there are many ways to look at this issue. The main problem as I see it is the poster seems to think that the rendering engine will handle CSS the same for every browser it's used in. My experience has shown me that's simply not true. IE uses Trident, but 5.5, 6.0 and 7.0 each have their own CSS quirks. Therefore simply looking for Trident doesn't seem like a good way to decide how to handle floats. What do you think?

[coopster]

I (incorrectly) assumed that the build/version of the engine was to be included with the rendering engine information you were being asked to include.

[GaryK]

That's a fair assumption. But it's not gonna happen. I already spend too much time on this project. ;)

[coopster]

LOL! That's exactly what I was thinking! But, please don't ever think that all your your time and effort is unappreciated. It most certainly is appreciated. Thanks.

[GaryK]

It's the e-mails and messages expressing appreciation that keep me going. Thanks. ;)