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Show HN: Stop asking your clients "What browser are you on?"

93 pointsby jonasvpover 12 years ago

22 comments

meatyover 12 years ago
We wrote our own version of this which took about 2 minutes to write.<p>1. Client hits /support/client-info which generates a specific system error with a unique ID (right 6 digits of a GUID) and pumps browser, error and user context information via log4net into our logging system. Client tells us the error ID.<p>2. Open monitoring system, type error ID in. It's all there.<p>Not only that, we use it for error monitoring too.
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mootothemaxover 12 years ago
You need to add support for custom domains so that I can tell people to visit blah.mydomain.com by setting a CNAME record in DNS.<p>This is especially important given that your domain name is less than ideal at present for support purposes; I've had enough of reading out hyphenated domains over the phone, and will avoid services that involve doing so.<p>Looks good though! Do you remember previous visits to the page as well?
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dubcanadaover 12 years ago
Google Chrome on a Mac reports the following...<p>PDF: No - wrong Chrome has a built in PDF reader JAVA: No - wrong I do have java OGG-VIDEO: Probably supported - lol? probably H.264-VIDEO: Probably supported - ^ WEBM-VIDEO: Probably supported - ^<p>And not to be a party pooper but why do I need to signup? Why can't I just click "Get Browser Details" get a unique hyperlink that I could then send to someone.<p>What if I have mulitple clients? I have no way of saying, okay Joe is using IE8, and Sandra is using IE9.<p>What if my client is using IE6. Bootstrap doesn't support IE6.<p>I think thats it for now.
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deanclatworthyover 12 years ago
I have found this to be useful: <a href="http://supportdetails.com/" rel="nofollow">http://supportdetails.com/</a><p>What benefit does your service have over this one? Furthermore, if I send mycompany.browser-details.com links to two people, how does your system identify who clicked on the link?
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raover 12 years ago
I think it's a GREAT idea.<p>Now, this might just be me, and I don't want to sound negative, or take anything away from the effort you've obviously put into making this really good, but ...<p>For $120 / year I think, hmm I could probably build something that does this (just for me) in an hour, and it'd be fun!<p>However at $10 per YEAR, I would think it's a steal and jump at it. Not suggesting you should drop your pants on price, but that's my view on it.<p>I think charging for a CNAME is a good strategy.
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nodataover 12 years ago
Unless your client's problem is "I can't log in", why not just look in your log to see which browser they are on?
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taf2over 12 years ago
The problem this doesn't solve is the customer who emails support, includes a screenshot. The screenshot doesn't include the browser frame, but just clearly shows something being rendered incorrectly. You kind of are stuck - first trying to reproduce locally, and then you have to resort to asking "what browser are you on?"... Anyone have other ideas about how to handle the email support when it's like this?
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ComputerGuruover 12 years ago
One of these gets posted on HN every month. I'm sorry, but I don't get the big deal.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4499435" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4499435</a><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3526446" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3526446</a><p>and more.
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jakub_gover 12 years ago
In my Firefox @ WinXP it displays Java 10 :)<p>I guess it's an issue with the values reported by the browser (about:config lists Java plugin with 10.13.2.20). Chrome and Opera correctly say Java 7.<p>Also, the Flash version could be more detailed. <a href="http://supportdetails.com/" rel="nofollow">http://supportdetails.com/</a> lists precise version. Flash 11.2 vs 11.6 might make a difference. The more details, the better.
rartichokeover 12 years ago
If I'm on the phone with a client and ask them to look at something I can generally figure out what browser they have (minus the version) by asking 1 or 2 questions and that's often good enough.<p>Now... if you used this data in a way to automate some typical developer-&#62;client BS then I could see paying for it maybe.<p>For example, let's say you load up a few VMs with every major browser / browser+version combo.<p>Then you can tell a client to goto some url, maybe it could be something like:<p><a href="http://browser.somedomain.com?for=somepage.com/preview" rel="nofollow">http://browser.somedomain.com?for=somepage.com/preview</a><p>If the client goes to that address it captures his browser details just like your site does but then:<p>1. Replicates his settings with one of the VM browsers.<p>2. Takes a screenshot of what somepage.com/preview looks like.<p>3. Sends the screenshot and data to my e-mail or have an API letting me get that data back in on my end.<p>That has pretty high value because when a client says "the border looks weird!" that means nothing to me. I have to see the problem to be able to fix it and people who aren't technical are horrible at explaining technical problems.
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jonasvpover 12 years ago
We semi-launched with a comment here: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4499937" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4499937</a><p>Just finished the Pro version and launched for real, would love some feedback from HN!
deepGemover 12 years ago
<a href="https://aboutmybrowser.com/" rel="nofollow">https://aboutmybrowser.com/</a> does the same without any signups
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rplntover 12 years ago
It detects that I have a Flash plugin. While this is correct, I have plugin on demand enabled, so it is not available until I either play it or whitelist it.<p>Tested with Opera and Chrome. (Firefox supports it as well.) Could lead to some confusion.
jonaldomoover 12 years ago
@jonasvp: I would be extermely interested in reading about how many people signed up for the service if you would be willing to share. As well as any other one service products you guys sell.
churreiroover 12 years ago
Why not just a JS API for this? I just cannot see the full application for this app. It is interesting but the work required to get that info by using JS and just plot it is not that high.<p>Just my 2cents
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btiplingover 12 years ago
We use graylog for logging plus a client side logging script, and that gives us a lot of information. User id + agent + plus time they loaded the the site + any client errors they got.
MatthewPhillipsover 12 years ago
What would make this <i>really</i> worthwhile, is if along with the browser details you included common/known bugs and quirks for the given browser version.
Kerrickover 12 years ago
I've always been a fan of this one: <a href="http://supportdetails.com" rel="nofollow">http://supportdetails.com</a><p>But, yours supports a few more details.
kviraniover 12 years ago
The Authentication forms should ideally submit to HTTPS, but it looks like you haven't setup SSL, but should.
HyprMusicover 12 years ago
Would be great if it also took note of the DPI so retina-style devices could be detected.
burembaover 12 years ago
please stop creating projects for this issue. there are already tons of them.
adandyover 12 years ago
It reports Windows Phone 8 as Windows 8.