4 ms·

This was so common in Opera 12 that there was a dedicated button in the UI to change the user agent for a page. The browser also included a built-in user agent

by Osiris 5y ago

This was so common in Opera 12 that there was a dedicated button in the UI to change the user agent for a page. The browser also included a built-in user agent compatibility list and the user could manually add sites to use a specific UA string. Most sites would work fine in Opera with the correct UA. Many did not work when using the default UA with the word "Opera" in it.

cpeterso 5y ago
Firefox has a built-in list of websites that need UA tweaks to work in Firefox. (In fact, Firefox's UA override feature was designed by ex-Opera engineers at Mozilla.) You can review the list (and toggle them) in Firefox's about:compat page. A recent success story: Mozilla recently added a UA tweak to work around Slack's Chrome-only check for video calls. Slack engineers reached out to Mozilla and, just a few days later, Slack removed their Chrome check and now support video calls in Firefox without a UA tweak. :)
- heftig 5y ago
  Except if your UA reports Firefox on Linux, where calls and huddles remain unavailable to this day. I wouldn't call that a success.
  - cpeterso 5y ago
    Do the calls and huddles work in Chrome on Linux? Do they work in Firefox if you use a UA that doesn't mention Linux?
    - heftig 5y ago
      Yes and yes.
      - cpeterso 5y ago
        Thanks for testing. I'll ping Mozilla's web compat team about this Slack Linux problem. (I work at Mozilla.)
        cpeterso 5y ago
        I was told Slack has some Linux-specific issues that they're working on with the Firefox team, such as some complications around screen sharing depending on the window manager (as mentioned in some other comments below about Wayland vs X11).
  - ljm 5y ago
    I couldn't use those through Safari on a Mac either. Nothing really tells you that it's unsupported. I could search or figure it out but I don't wear my programmer/software tester hat all the time. Welp, better spend a few minutes downloading the same thing but in a Chrome sandbox.
  - iib 5y ago
    A very curious case is that huddles for me work in wayland (under sway), and don't work in X11 (under i3), for the exact same configuration otherwise. I have not investigated what exactly the browser sends.

by Osiris 5y ago

cpeterso 5y ago

Firefox has a built-in list of websites that need UA tweaks to work in Firefox. (In fact, Firefox's UA override feature was designed by ex-Opera engineers at Mozilla.) You can review the list (and toggle them) in Firefox's about:compat page. A recent success story: Mozilla recently added a UA tweak to work around Slack's Chrome-only check for video calls. Slack engineers reached out to Mozilla and, just a few days later, Slack removed their Chrome check and now support video calls in Firefox without a UA tweak. :)

heftig 5y ago
Except if your UA reports Firefox on Linux, where calls and huddles remain unavailable to this day. I wouldn't call that a success.
- cpeterso 5y ago
  Do the calls and huddles work in Chrome on Linux? Do they work in Firefox if you use a UA that doesn't mention Linux?
  - heftig 5y ago
    Yes and yes.
    - cpeterso 5y ago
      Thanks for testing. I'll ping Mozilla's web compat team about this Slack Linux problem. (I work at Mozilla.)
      - cpeterso 5y ago
        I was told Slack has some Linux-specific issues that they're working on with the Firefox team, such as some complications around screen sharing depending on the window manager (as mentioned in some other comments below about Wayland vs X11).
- ljm 5y ago
  I couldn't use those through Safari on a Mac either. Nothing really tells you that it's unsupported. I could search or figure it out but I don't wear my programmer/software tester hat all the time. Welp, better spend a few minutes downloading the same thing but in a Chrome sandbox.
- iib 5y ago
  A very curious case is that huddles for me work in wayland (under sway), and don't work in X11 (under i3), for the exact same configuration otherwise. I have not investigated what exactly the browser sends.