Talk:Browser sniffing

Mix up and object detection
Am I the only one that currently thinks that the methods of the "server-side" section and the "client-side" section are mixed up? Since when can one determine if the window.ActiveXObject of a client-side browser exists through JavaScript on the server? And if you're sending an HTTP request to the server that may have browser information in the HTTP headers that is parsed on the server to determine the browser, how is this client-side sniffing?

Also, I thought trying to find out if window.ActiveXObject exists is object detection and not browser sniffing. Wouldn't client-side sniffing be, say in JavaScript, the use of the navigator object to determine the browser? --Quilokos (talk) 23:17, 3 August 2009 (UTC)


 * sofixit. ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:56, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Browser fingerprinting; article organization.
Expansion needed :

There are other purposes of browser sniffing when it takes the form of Browser fingerprinting, as documented at http://panopticlick.eff.org. Browser fingerprinting (edit: oh, it's not a redlink!) enables persistent user tracking even when users try to stay pseudonymous, as described, e.g. here; it's a sort of extensive browser sniffing on steroids.] I'm wondering if content about that should go on this page or if this area needs a bit of re-jigging. Speaking of re-jigging: I think there should be a separate section the HTTP user-agent string; it's simply a string provided by the browser to the server, so it's neither client-side nor server-side. Agreed? (diff removed a section that would be a good starting point. I'm surprised it doesn't have its own article. If it's to be a section of this page, we should rename this page browser detection.) -- &#123;&#123;U&#124;Elvey&#125;&#125; (t•c) 19:21, 21 May 2014 (UTC)


 * That would be a very nice addition to the encyclopedia. --Guy Macon (talk) 06:49, 22 May 2014 (UTC)