Simple way to detect if someone is using a mobile phone to browse your website?

Mr. Loverman

Hi all

Do any of you know of a very simple way to detect if the person is viewing your website using a mobile phone rather than a laptop/PC?

Thanks

JOSman

Try "WNetWatcher" This will tell you what's connected including the modem/router.

Do a Google search for the site.

srsly78

Check the user agent (the client can lie tho ofc).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent

lynchie

JOSman wrote: »

Try "WNetWatcher" This will tell you what's connected including the modem/router.

Do a Google search for the site.

That app seems to only scan internal networks..

OP, you need to use the user-agent http header to figure it out.

28064212

Simplest way is user-agent detection. Read this: http://www.quirksmode.org/js/detect.html, and this: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Browser_detection_using_the_user_agent

However, it's not always the right approach. In fact, it rarely is. Why are you checking? Is it to display the page differently? Responsive Design is almost always a better option. Is it to check if it will support a particular Javascript feature? You can just check if that feature exists directly: http://www.quirksmode.org/js/support.html

neil_hosey

in .NET i use 51 degrees. Very handy to use aswell. Handles everything for you. Also allows to redirect to a .mobi site if its an iphone/android etc..

http://51degrees.codeplex.com/

ChRoMe

Wurfl http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/

Is the standard way to do this.

uck51js9zml2yt

use Google analytics. it tells u the browser type and geographical locations

L.Jenkins

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8269524/portable-device-detection-in-jquery

You could use JQuery.

partyatmygaff

There are hundreds of complicated ways and then there's Google Analytics. Just stick the code in your HTML header and you'll have all the data you need.

Ah_Yeah

Google Analytics all the way. It's Free! Tells you the browser type, Device Type, Device Operating System (iOS, Android, Windows).

Much simpler IMO

ChRoMe

Itzy wrote: »

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8269524/portable-device-detection-in-jquery

You could use JQuery.

Using javascript for this is just a really bad idea.

The Corinthian

ChRoMe wrote: »

Wurfl http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/

Is the standard way to do this.

Is it still? I got the impression that WURFL was at this stage largely defunct, or at least had lost its dominant position sometime after Andrea jumped ship to do Device Atlas for dotMobi in 2007? Genuine question.

ChRoMe

The Corinthian wrote: »

Is it still? I got the impression that WURFL was at this stage largely defunct, or at least had lost its dominant position sometime after Andrea jumped ship to do Device Atlas for dotMobi in 2007? Genuine question.

Still the standard, even the new Adobe CQ platform uses it. There are certainly other options, but its widely used.

On a side note Dotmobi was a colossal **** up from the get go, the whole concept was ridiculously dumb.

The Corinthian

ChRoMe wrote: »

On a side note Dotmobi was a colossal **** up from the get go, the whole concept was ridiculously dumb.

The TLD? Yeah, I think pretty much everyone apart from the marketing bunnies who conceived the whole idea in the first place knew this - even dotMobi Ltd knew that once the initial revenue from squatters, speculators and adopters died off, that well was going to dry up for the most part.

Why do you think they started selling themselves as some sort of mobile 'standards' body?

Interesting to hear that Luca's managed to keep WURLF alive though.

Steve

Yahir Abundant Rebel wrote: »

use Google analytics. it tells u the browser type and geographical locations

How does that work? Any good example code out there?

I've been using a combination of screen resolution and useragent so far and it works quite well.