Re: Browser Sniffing

I have a question/quiry and a thought.  is this not a server issue?  the
server through a "script" that examines where a user is coming from gets
the user agent information and decides what to do with it.  this is most
likely similar to deciding to put up those nasty messages like "you're
browser is not frames capable, download this or that browser and try
again".  or you are not using xxx shame on you.
is there a group in the wai that handles server issues?
here's the thought.  in our ua guidelines, we can have a list of browsers
that support security and hope/ask servers to allow them.


On Mon, 30 Mar 1998, Jon Gunderson wrote:

> At the meeting in LA last week a new accessibility problem was announced
> called browser sniffing.  Browser sniffing is done by a Web server to
> determine what browser requested information and denying information if you
> are not an approved browser.  This is a problem since many browsers used by
> persons with disabilities are not "approved" by these servers.  The
> practice seems to orginate by organizations (like banks) concerned about
> security and limiting the site to browsers that support secure transations.
>  The current method of sniffing does not really detect if a browser
> supports secure transactions, it mainly just wants to know if you are
> netscape navigator or microsoft explorer.  So even if your browser can
> handle secure transactions, the serve will ignore the request.
> 
> Main questions for the user agent group is:
> Is this an issue the user agent working group wants to deal with?
> If so what do we want to do?
> How many people in the current working group are familiar with this problem
> and the technical issues surrounding it?
> 
> Jon
> 
> Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
> Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
> Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
> University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
> 1207 S. Oak Street
> Champaign, IL 61820
> 
> Voice: 217-244-5870
> Fax: 217-333-0248
> E-mail: jongund@uiuc.edu
> WWW:	http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund
> 	http://www.als.uiuc.edu/InfoTechAccess
> 

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Received on Tuesday, 31 March 1998 09:37:13 UTC