Smalldog people have interesting things to show us

[jcarter]

I buy stuff from Smalldog in Vermont, and love to read their news. Just got this one from Matt, and I am wondering if I could use this to proofread my Dreamweaver classwork in IE, if Safari is indeed spoofing?
I really dont understand all he is talking about, but if I can use this to check in IE my stuff for class I would be happy.
Interesting,,,,,,,but perhaps a bit beyond me, so looking for someone here to explain a bit of it.
Jane
"Browser Spoofing in Safari
by Matt, matt@smalldog.com

In designing and programming our new web site, compatibility with all browsers and operating systems was a key requirement.  We had to use our UPS computer, the only Windows machine in the whole company, to test Internet Explorer!  Nowadays, it seems positively silly to restrict access to a web page based on operating system or browser, but some sites still do it.  Safari has a hidden menu--the Develop menu--that is chock full of good stuff.  Of particular note is the User Agent feature, which sets Safari to masquerade as one of several browsers, including versions of Internet Explorer for Windows.

To enable this menu, quit Safari, then fire up Terminal (Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities/Terminal), paste in the following line, and hit return.

 % defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

To revert to normal, repeat the steps above and use this command:

 % defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 0

When you launch Safari, the Develop menu will appear in the menu bar.  Pull it down, and you’ll see the User Agent submenu.  From there, select an alternate browser, and many of these restrictive pages will suddenly start working.  Your mileage may vary, as some of these restrictive sites require some resources embedded in the Windows operating system that cannot be spoofed.  Interestingly, these resources are a major contributor to the relative insecurity of the Windows world."

[Jack W]

firefox has had a plugin available for some time now called "User Agent Switcher" which emulates several browsers.

- Jack

[Paddy]

Jane, this allows Safari to masquerade as IE, but it doesn't allow you to see your pages as they will be seen in IE. For that you need some flavor of Windows - whether running on a Mac under Parallels or using BootCamp, or on an actual PC. There are some online services that allow you to see your page as it would be seen in IE and many other browsers - most of them cost money. BUT - I just found this one now:

http://browsershots.org

And it seems to work quite well, though a word of warning - don't select the default set of browsers as it will take way too long to see all the screen shots, if they appear at all. You can see how long it's going to take each browser's screen shot to load by clicking on "details" after you hit the submit button on the first page.

Just tested Chris' site, and with the exception of a few rather obscure (to me) Linux browsers, it works well. (And no, any of you Linux types, I'm not talking about Konqueror or Flock, but things like "Dillo" which I'd never heard of before. )

[krissel]

FWIW, the Debug menu is already available in the top bar of Safari 3.1.1.  You don't need to go through all those Terminal commands.

[Paddy]

QUOTE

FWIW, the Debug menu is already available in the top bar of Safari 3.1.1

On mine it's called "Develop" - I am using Webkit at the moment, so don't know if it's changed or what.

[jcarter]

Thanks for all this info, now I understand more about this,,,,,
I got the Develop in Safari, and the Firefox stuff already, and I am glad that you told me that this will not show my pages as they would look in IE.
So right back to the dentists office, thats easier.
Or my classmates can view them too.
Wouldnt it be nice if Firefox would replace IE!
Jane

[krissel]

Brain-Typo: I meant Develop.