The userAgent string doesn't say anything about the user but solely identifies the used browser. This is (unfortunalely) necessary especially for Javascript. And yes, it is possible to load a map using a non-existent or a faked userAgent string. In most cases the result would be a map that isn't fully operable - if you actually get a map.
At least there a three different API code variants available for desktop browsers: one for Webkit browsers, one for Mozilla browsers, and one Internet Explorers. I'd guess that mobile phone browers would also need their own code, so there are probably more than these three code variants available. Every browser category gets its own code variant. What code the map server serves depends on the reported browser. What browser is being reported depends (mainly) on the userAgent string. So I wouldn't touch the userAgent string if I wanted a properly working map Try a clean and fresh installation of Safari instaed. And if the speed problem persists in certain browsers I would beginn to clear out the currently used third party libraries. On Jun 5, 6:20 pm, TheShrew <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > I've searched in this forum and all over the web to see if there is an > answer to this question so I hope someone can help me out! > > I've noticed that loading a map up is very slow (it takes around 4 seconds > to load a 464x234 sized map) when using Safari, it makes the whole browser > freeze for this time and then finally resumes with the map loaded. > > I initially blamed Google Maps v3 until I tested the same page on all the > other common browsers, and then blamed Safari for being slow and cumbersome. > However I then started playing around with user-agents as I had to make a > workaround which targeted only Safari 3-5 users so that they would have to > initiate the map load (originally the user hovered over a static google map > image and that would load up the javascript map seamlessly). > > When I was testing to make sure Chrome and other browsers wouldn't be > affected by this workaround (I was being lazy and just changing the > user-agent string in Safari), I discovered that the map would load in under > a second in Safari, as it does in Chrome and all the other browsers I had > tested this on. > > So I have two questions I guess. > a) Why does the API serve up anything different to Safari than what it > serves to Chrome etc? What ever the difference is, it is in fact causing > more issues than it's sorting. > > b) Is there any way to load Google Maps with a different user-agent string > to what the user's default user-agent string is? It may be something simple > but again, Googling this question didn't get me very far. > > The page that I've been testing this with ishttp://goo.gl/SBrcL. You just > have to hover over the map at the bottom of the page to load the map (except > in Safari where I have added a workaround). > > Any help would be greatly appreciated, > Thanks, > TheShrew -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Maps JavaScript API v3" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-js-api-v3?hl=en.
