I would like to detect whether the client browser can render png images. I see the following from Netscape 4.61 HTTP_ACCEPT image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, image/png, */* HTTP_USER_AGENT Mozilla/4.61 [en] (Win95; I)
and this from MSIE 5.0 HTTP_ACCEPT image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/msword, */* HTTP_USER_AGENT Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 95; DigExt; btclick.com Build BTCFUNFD1)
I know that MSIE 5.0 can render png's (by observation) and by report that Netscape 3.x cannot.
Question: Parse HTTP_USER_AGENT to determine netscape/msie or do I rely on the apparently unreliable HTTP_ACCEPT?
HTTP_ACCEPT is definitely unreliable - in fact I often wonder why they waste bandwidth with image/gif etc. when they just go and tack '*/*' on the end... :^) There has been some recent discussion on the list of some kind of 'supports' database that would let you figure out client capabilities, but I don't know if anyone ran with that... Brian Lloyd brian@digicool.com Software Engineer 540.371.6909 Digital Creations http://www.digicool.com