On Aug 4, 2011, at 2:19 PM, Richard Wiggins wrote:
> Ever since the Internet Explorer vs. Netscape browser wars, I've always considered browser detection and redirection evil. I believe Web sites should be coded to standards, not to devices or browsers. I spent several months using an iPad as my only computer, and often found myself redirected to sites designed for the iPhone, not the iPad. So I got a tiny view on a large screen.
>
> We finally made a breakthrough with the previous design of
www.msu.edu, where we built for standards. It is sad to learn that now the server is going to decide how you'll view the site.
>
> It used to be fashionable to offer text-only views of a Web site. Advocates for people with disabilities observed that text-only sites inevitably fall out of sync with the "real" site. Assuming CSS and maybe CMS, maybe this isn't an issue in this case. But why not just code one site with multiple views, and users get to choose which?
>
> If you insist on browser detection, an alternative would be to ask the user: "You appear to be using a mobile device. Would you like to visit the mobile version of
www.msu.edu?" If you insist on a non-prompted redirect, then please at least offer an obvious link back to the real site. You may want to put me in a "mobile" box, but you have no clue what my actual browser is or what it's capable of.
>
> /rich
>
