What's the best way to detect a browser with php?

Question

Could anyone tell me the best way to detect a browser using php? IE 6 and 7 are terrible when it comes to achieving full browser compatibility with CSS so my site isn\'t going t

Answer 1

The best way to detect the user's browser with PHP is to not check the user's browser with PHP.

You've mentioned that IE lt 8 sucks for CSS (and that is something every web dev can agree on), the best way to tell the user that their browser is too old is with a conditional comment in the HTML:

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The code I've written shows two things you can do: first it shows you can set an IE only stylesheet, and secondly it shows you can set IE only chunks of HTML.

I see no reason you can't allow your IE users to use your wobsite, if it doesn't work, just let them know that it's their own fault for using a crummy browser.

This will also allow you to set a cookie for subsequent PHP calls: