Unfortunately we still live in a world where we (web developers) have to
sniff for quite a few browsers, versions and platforms. Adding a new UA
string variant to the zoo for a browser like mozilla (that globally
speaking will have to start its seamonkey 1.0 existence in a niche)
would probably have a fatal effect, because web developers will simply
omit to test for Seamonkey. Fatal because almost all content developers
still have to use plenty of WORKAROUNDS to achieve an efficient
compromise between time_spent_coding and browser_family_reached. Most of
the time they settle for Communicator and (whatsit called again)
Internet Exploder on Windows (Mac sometimes).
Failing the tests Mozilla would be fed (and actually digesting)
poor-quality HTML 3.whatever which is used to push stuff around in
tables in Communicator.
So I think we're still better off with a "super-imposed" "netscape 6" as
UA string that actually gets served rich (or better lean) HTML 4, CSS,
DOM, XML, etc., than having a bold new numbering system that is almost
never tested for.
Later on when Mozilla takes over the world (think of SVG), all this will
be irrelevant of course.
Henri Sivonen wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, fantasai
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
>> Henri Sivonen wrote:
>>
>>>> c.
>>>> This has probably been debated countless times,
>>>
>>> It has.
>>
>> Where? Any place I haven't looked? *does not consider 3 == countless*
>
>
> My mistake.
>
>
>>>> This is soooo confusing.
>>>
>>> Until you have read the documentation.
>>
>> But can you avoid the confusion in the first place?
>
>
> You could, yes. But using the same version numbering in Mozilla and
> Netscape 6 would be problematic.
>
> Netscape marketing does what it wants with version numbers anyway. That
> leaves mozilla.org who choices:
> 1) using different version numbering
> 2) letting the marketing dept. of one notable contributor decide about
> Mozilla version numbering while giving other contributors a bad
> impression about the Netscape-mozilla.org relationship.
>
> (Whatever the version number, the UA string needs to begin with
> "Mozilla/" followed by a digit grater than 4.)
