eHelpYou'd think a Mac would be as good as a Windows box for browsing the web. After all, they both come with modern browsers that follow most of the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium, and there are alternative browsers available for both that are arguably even better. So what's the deal?
The deal is that some web sites and web applications are still mired in the 20th Century, when browser "standards" weren't, and a complex web site might have to feed different content to different browsers—browsers that most people don't use any more, because they are so ancient. Unfortunately, even Cal Poly Pomona has some of these, and BroncoDirect is probably our most notorious example.
These pages provide different ways of coping with the problem. One way is to download a second browser. As good as Safari 3 and Internet Explorer 7 are for Mac and Windows users, having a second browser helps you to isolate browser problems, the new browser might work better on some sites, and you might end up deciding you like it better than the one that comes with the operating system.
Another approach is to teach your browser how to pretend it's a different, supported browser. Many web applications use the "user agent string" sent by the browser to determine how to support a browser, and sometime telling the page you're Netscape 7 or Internet Explorer does the trick.
And if you have an Intel Mac, you can install your very own copy of Internet Explorer 6 for Windows. In most cases, it works as well as if it were on a Windows machine.
You might be thinking, ""I choose to use a Mac because it's supposed to be easy. Why do I have to deal with all this complication?" In the old days, Macs were easy, but in some very important ways they were also limited. Modern Macs are still easy, but they are also powerful. It's nice to drive a sports car without opening the hood, but it's nice when you do open it to see a high-tech engine there.
