Layout Engine
Browser detection done right
Adds the rendering engine and browser names as a class on the html tag and returns a JavaScript object containing the vendor, version and browser name (where appropriate)
Layout Engine uses feature detection so there can never be a false positive* and vendors cannot be spoofed. It's the simplest and most reliable way to target Edge, IE11 and IE10.
The following layout engines are detected: edge, ie, khtml, mozilla, opera & webkit
The following versions are detected: ie- 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 & opera- mini
The following WebKit browsers are detected: android, chrome (includes Opera Blink and Android 5+ WebView), safari, safari-ios & wiiu
Up to 3 classes are applied to <html> with the syntax: .vendor-vendor_name, .vendor-vendor_name-version (optional) and .browser-browser_name (optional).
A JavaScript object with up to 3 properties is exposed: layoutEngine.vendor, layoutEngine.version (optional) and layoutEngine.browser (optional).
Layout Engine will also identify the default Android v2-4 Browser (and its WebView variants), by adding a class of browser-android to <html>. Unfortunately, it has to use UA sniffing to do so. Anyway… why might you need to detect the Android Browser? Applying a border or background to <select>s makes them render as text inputs. Also, AOSP Browser's radio buttons and checkboxes are very badly positioned compared to other browsers.
Demo and Further Info:
- Test page: http://mattstow.com/experiment/layout-engine/demo.html
- Blog post: http://mattstow.com/layout-engine.html
Usage:
Reference layout.engine.min.js in the
<head>of your documentIn your CSS, use a vendor
classto style elements appropriately, e.g.:
.vendor-ie-10 {
line-height: 20px; /* 1px more than IE 8 */
}
.browser-safari-ios .text-input {
font-size: 16px; /* Prevent zooming in on iOS form inputs */
}- If appropriate, in your JavaScript, use
layoutEngine.vendor,layoutEngine.versionandlayoutEngine.browserto run conditional functions where relevant, e.g.:
if (layoutEngine.vendor === 'ie' && layoutEngine.version === 10) {
// Conditional script
}Caveats:
IE 8, 9 and 10's Browser and Document Modes incorrectly detect IE 7 as IE 8. Real IE 7 works as intended, however.
IE 6 cannot be detected with Layout Engine. I recommend using IE Conditional Comments to target IE 6 and 7 instead.
Minified version created with YUI Compressor Online
