Question

Is there a simple conditional statement, css command, html, jquery, javascript or simple PHP dynamic way of detecting the current browser?

<!if firefox>
    .element { top:4px; }
<![endif]>
<!if chrome>
    .element { top:6px; }
<![endif]>
<!if ie>
    .element { top:8px; }
<![endif]>
<!if opera>
    .element { top:10px; }
<![endif]>
<!if safari_webkit>
    .element { top:12px; }
<![endif]>

Can this Psuedo code be done in jQuery/JS/HTML or CSS PHP etc?

Answer 1

With CSS there is no way you can achieve browser detection.
However with PHP, ASP and other programming languages you can get browser detection within the page. I am not here to tell you the pro or cons about it – I take it you know about the bad and good about browser detection and web standards but here is the list.

PHP solution.

if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])){
    $agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
}

Then, compare it to what you want

For compare with, for example “firefox” you should do:

if(strlen(strstr($agent,"Firefox")) > 0 ){      
    $browser = 'firefox';
}
if($browser=='firefox'){
    echo '<style type="text/css">.element{top:2px}';
}

jQuery solution.

// Safari CSS and Webkit Google Chrome
if ($.browser.webkit) {
   $("#element").css('top', '2px');
} else if ( $.browser.safari ) //not fully supported on 1.7 jQuery {
   $("#element").css('top', '2px');
// Opera CSS
} else if ( $.browser.opera ) {
   $("#element").css('top', '2px');
// Internet Explorer CSS
} else if ( $.browser.msie ) {
   $("#element").css('top', '2px');
// Mozilla FireFox CSS
} else if ( $.browser.mozilla ) {
   $("#element").css('top', '2px');
// Normal Revert, careful and note your the use of !important
} else {
   $("#element").css('top', '2px');
   // You can have normal JavaScript between these too
   document.getElementById("element").style.top="2px";
}

Mootools solution.

if (Browser.ie){
    // This code will only run in IE
}

if (Browser.firefox2){
    // This code will only run in Firefox 2
}
if (Browser.firefox){
    // This code will only run in Firefox 
} 
if (Browser.chrome){
    // This code will only run in Chrome
} 
if (Browser.opera){
    // This code will only run in Chrome
}   
if (Browser.ie6 || Browser.ie7){
    // Please upgrade your browser
}
// Also notice you can use Engine.trident
if(Browser.Engine.trident) {

}

Prototype solution.

if(Prototype.Browser.IE){
  // do something IE specific
}
if(Prototype.Browser.Opera){
  // do something Opera specific
}
if(Prototype.Browser.WebKit){
  // do something WebKit specific
}
if(Prototype.Browser.MobileSafari){
  // do something MobileSafari specific - iPhone etc
}
if(Prototype.Browser.Gecko){
  // do something Gecko specific
}