[Sigi_BC84]

hrothgar, on Nov 18 2005, 09:38 PM, said:

I'm no expert on HTML and browsers
I do have some interest in industrial concentrations and monopolies...

As I recall, there are standard strings that different browsers use to identify themselves to webserver...  There is a widely held belief that many web sites and servers discriminate against users who aren't running Internet Explorer.

By default, Opera Browsers lie about their identity and claim to be IE.

Opera identifies itself as (using the default setting "Identify as MSIE 6.0"):

User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; en) Opera 8.50

So there is no reason to assume that it "lies" about it's identity at all. In fact, the header contains the explicit information that it is in fact Opera you're dealing with.

I think if websites discriminate against browsers, it's mainly to achieve correct rendering. Conspiracy theories are in the wrong place here in my not so humble opinion.

I've just finished a small web project using some recent standards (CSS 2.0) and I've found that the browser who messes up the most is Internet Explorer. So, as a developer, you could start coding against the standards but afterwards you are forced to plug numerous holes due to IE not obeying these standards. Needless to say this is annoying as hell (especially due to the fact that you need to run IE to test your designs, which is not completely straightforward when you are not running Windows as your operating system...).

All in all, Opera is the most stable browser when modern web standards are concerned, and also outstanding on many other fronts (yes, I've been a fanboy for a long time :-).

Unfortunately MSIE still covers most of the browser market, and MS is not making a great effort to make it more standards compatible. There is a well-known standards test, called "Acid2". Opera is the only popular browser at the moment that passes this test completely. Microsoft, in turn, have even made it explicit that they are not trying to make Internet Explorer 7 (the upcoming version) pass this test (needless to say that they easily have the resources to do so). In my eyes that speaks volumes about their motives...

Having Internet Explorer pass Acid2 would make a huge difference for web developers. Huge.

--Sigi

[Sigi_BC84]

The counting game is nice, and the comments popping up when you are wrong are priceless.

Unfortunately the page also proves my iron rule that there simply are no good-looking web pages concerned with the game of Bridge (maybe the ACBL website qualifies as the single exception to the rule). I'm still wondering why this is so -- I haven't hit that phenomenon as hard in any other area.

--Sigi

[kgr]

Sigi_BC84, on Jul 9 2006, 07:21 AM, said:

Unfortunately the page also proves my iron rule that there simply are no good-looking web pages concerned with the game of Bridge

I like the layout and content of www.vbl.be
It's in Dutch and only has the info that you expect from the Flemish Bridge federation, but if you want to see a nice web page about bridge...

[Sigi_BC84]

kgr, on Jul 9 2006, 12:04 PM, said:

Sigi_BC84, on Jul 9 2006, 07:21 AM, said:

Unfortunately the page also proves my iron rule that there simply are no good-looking web pages concerned with the game of Bridge

I like the layout and content of www.vbl.be
It's in Dutch and only has the info that you expect from the Flemish Bridge federation, but if you want to see a nice web page about bridge...

Uh... nothing to write home about. At all. The download links open an empty window (ugly and inconvenient). Website uses a frame (unnecessary and inconvenient). It's not a complete disgrace, though.

(And no, I don't think my standards are too high ;-).

--Sigi

[inquiry]

Sigi_BC84, on Jul 9 2006, 12:21 AM, said:

The counting game is nice, and the comments popping up when you are wrong are priceless.

HEHEHE, thanks for point this out.. I went back and missed a few to see what you were talking about.