Re: Newbie NN4 help...

Who is shutting who out? Upgrade. That's the clients job, not ours. The idea that being 100% compatible adds value to your service is a myth.. and an expensive one at that. No software company in the world provides that level of compatibility, and yet web developers are expected to.. why? You'll see many more web dev houses making this same decision here in the next year or so. The economy isn't exactly booming, money is tight, wages are going down becuase the jobs aren't there, and the advantage of full compatibility is no longer cost effective. -Kevin ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Nichel" <jnichel@by-tor.com> To: "Kevin Stone" <kevin@helpelf.com> Cc: "Stephanie Sullivan" <design@violetsky.net>; <php-general@lists.php.net> Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 2:51 PM Subject: Re: [PHP] Newbie NN4 help... > The problem with that option is that most Netscape users are still using > Netscape 4.x. There hasn't been a big rush to update for Netscape > users. Granted this number may be anywhere from 2 - 10% of your visits, > but if you're trying to sell something, that's like putting a guard out > in front of your store and not letting in anyone with an income over > $60k. To me, the best option is to code as much as possible w3c > compliant, and if there is something that works in Netscape 6+ and IE > 5+, but not in NN4, just don't make that option available for NN4 > users...don't shut them out entirely though. > > Just my $0.02 > > Kevin Stone wrote: > > Well one option is obvious.. stop coding for legacy browsers. The company I > > work for recently decided to stop developing for anything older than NN6 and > > IE5. It is no longer cost effective for us to spend time developing for the > > other browsers. Okay so this may not be an option for you but it is > > something that I highly recommend you consider. > > > > Fortunately there is a fix to your problem and that is not to rely on > > Cookies. Many programmers have noted a number of incompatibilities and bugs > > with Cookies and legacy browsers which seem to change on a per-installation > > basis. You can instead use the $HTTP_USER_AGENT environment variable to > > cloak the style sheet. > > > > For example here's the $HTTP_USER_AGENT for Netscape 7.0 on Windows.. > > Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) > > Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 > > > > And for Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows... > > Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1) > > > > You can preg_match() for the indicators and write a function that cloaks > > your CSS file. Something like this.. > > > > ----------------- > > <? > > function css_cloak ($useragent) > > { > > if (preg_match("/Netscape\/4/i", $useragent)) > > return "legacy.css"; > > else > > return "modern.css"; > > } > > > > echo "<link href=\"".css_cloak($HTTP_USER_AGENT)."\" > > rel=\"stylesheet\" > > type=\"text/css\">"; > > ?> > > ------------------ > > > > Note I really don't know exactly what indicators are in the $HTTP_USER_AGENT > > for Netscape 4.0 but this should do the trick. Good luck! > > > > -Kevin > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Stephanie Sullivan" <design@violetsky.net> > > To: <php-general@lists.php.net> > > Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 1:49 PM > > Subject: [PHP] Newbie NN4 help... > > > > > > > >>Hi people... I've just used PHP for the first time... It's being used as a > >>CSS-style switcher (my client didn't want to use a javascript client-side > >>solution)... I have it all working well in most browsers I've tried it > > > > in... > > > >>EXCEPT the dreaded NN4* ... This script uses a cookie... And then switches > >>the styles... Is there something I don't know about that would cause NN4 > > > > to > > > >>be unable to use this? > >> > >>I'm rather at a loss and my site is two days over deadline... :( If anyone > >>could point me in the right direction I'd be VERY appreciative... > >> > >>The page I'm playing with is here: > >>http://www.kspope.com/phpswitch/test6.php > >> > >>The switcher is at the bottom of the page... And it reloads the NN page, > > > > but > > > >>doesn't change it. (Don't mind the NN "mess" I"m working on > >>the styling > > > > for > > > >>that browser right now)... > >> > >>Thank in advance for any input... :) > >> > >>Stephanie Sullivan > >>VioletSky Design > >>http://www.violetsky.net > >> > >>³I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how > > > > to > > > >>do it." -Picasso > >> > >> > >>-- > >>PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > >>To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > >