Learn how to accurately track website visitors using Netscape Gecko-based browsers. For more information regarding detecting browsers related to content development, please see Browser Detection and Cross Browser Support.
Background
It is no longer a two-browser world (Navigator and Internet Explorer). Netscape GeckoTM based browsers present a unique challenge for properly reporting browser usage due the variety of browsers which use Netscape Gecko embeddable browser. If your web analytics software reports solely on Netscape 6.x and/or Netscape 7.x in web logs, you will miss the other browsers based upon Netscape Gecko such as Mozilla, CompuServe 7, AOL for Macintosh OS X, Galeon, Phoenix, Chimera and others.
Tracking Netscape Gecko Server Side
Tracking Netscape Gecko traffic on the server requires use of the user-agent string reported by the browser. Mozilla user-agent strings define the Netscape Gecko user-agent string format:
Mozilla/5.0 (Platform; Security; OS-or-CPU; Localization; rv:x.x.x) Gecko/CCYYMMDD Vendor/Version
Where
Platformdescribes the general class of operating systemOS-or-CPUdescribes the operating system in more detailLocalizationdescribes the language of the user interfacerv:x.x.xdescribes the branch from which the browser was created (this is also referred to as the Prerelease version in the mozilla.org user-agent string reference).Geckois the signature of all Netscape Gecko browsersCCYYMMDDis the date (e.g. 20021205) the browser was builtVendordescribes the vendor or brand. Note that for Mozilla, the Vendor is not present.Versiondescribes the Vendor's version number.
The most important parts of the Gecko user-agent string for reporting browser statistics are:
Gecko-
The string
Geckois the unique identifier for all Gecko based browsers. This is the single most important aspect of the user-agent string to detect in order to properly report Gecko usage. rv-
rvsignifies which version of Netscape Gecko is being used and is the second most important aspect of the user-agent string to report for Gecko based browsers since each version of Gecko may be used by a variety of different browsers from different vendors. Vendor/Version-
The value of the
Vendor/Versionportion of the Gecko user-agent string is not specified by the Mozilla user-agent string reference and can be any value determined by the organization responsible for creating each particular browser based upon Gecko.Netscape branded browsers based upon Netscape Gecko will contain the string
Netscapefollowing theGecko/CCYYMMDDportion of the user-agent string. For example, Netscape 6.x browsers will containNetscape6/6.xfollowing theGecko/CCYYMMDDand Netscape 7.x browsers will containNetscape/7.xfollowingGecko/CCYYMMDD.AOL-branded Gecko-based browsers based upon Netscape Gecko will contain the string
AOLfollowing theGecko/CCYMMDDportion of the user-agent string. For example, AOL agents based upon Netscape Gecko will containAOL/7.0orAOL/8.0depending upon their version.CompuServe branded browsers based upon Netscape Gecko will contain the string
CS 2000 7.0following theGecko/CCYMMDDportion of the user-agent string.See Gecko User Agent Strings for a list of Netscape/AOL released user-agents based upon Netscape Gecko.
Example
The following code fragment illustrates the process of detecting Netscape Gecko using Perl.
)
{
++$hittotal;
my ($rv, $gecko) =
$_ =~ /rv:([^); ]+).*(Gecko)\/[0-9]{8}/;
if ($gecko)
{
my ($vendor, $version) =
$_ =~ /Gecko\/[0-9]{8} ([^\/"]+)\/([^" ]+)"/;
if (!$vendor)
{
$vendor = "Mozilla";
$version = "$rv";
}
$vendorversion = "$vendor/$version";
$vendorrv = "$vendor/$rv";
if (!$geckorv{$rv})
{
$geckorv{$rv} = 0;
}
if (!$geckovendor{$vendorversion})
{
$geckovendor{$vendorversion} = 0;
}
if (!$geckovendorrv{$vendorrv})
{
$geckovendorrv{$vendorrv} = 0;
}
$geckototal += 1;
$geckorv{$rv} += 1;
$geckovendor{$vendorversion} += 1;
$geckovendorrv{$vendorrv} += 1;
}
}
printf "%-20s = %9d\n", "total hits", $hittotal;
print "\n";
printf "%-20s = %9d\n", "total gecko hits", $geckototal;
print "\n";
print "gecko by rv\n";
foreach $x (sort keys %geckorv)
{
printf "%-20s = %9d\n", $x, $geckorv{$x};
}
print "\n";
print "gecko by vendor/rv\n";
foreach $x (sort keys %geckovendorrv)
{
printf "%-20s = %9d\n", $x, $geckovendorrv{$x};
}
print "\n";
print "gecko by vendor/version\n";
foreach $x (sort keys %geckovendor)
{
printf "%-20s = %9d\n", $x, $geckovendor{$x};
}
]]>
The output of this perl script on recent DevEdge logs shows the variety of user-agent strings which are possible with Gecko. Note how the "gecko by rv" report and the "gecko by vendor/rv" report are more reliable than the "gecko by vendor/version" due to the non-standard format used by some user agents.
Note that commonly available browser statistics reporting programs under reported Gecko based browsers by over 5% on the same input.
total hits = 10799274 total gecko hits = 3317791 gecko by rv 0.1 = 51 0.9 = 122 0.9.1 = 621 0.9.1+ = 13 0.9.2 = 26209 0.9.2+ = 10 0.9.2.1 = 3392 0.9.3 = 405 0.9.4 = 121583 0.9.4.1 = 186999 0.9.4.2 = 1382 0.9.5 = 1575 0.9.5+ = 2 0.9.6 = 673 0.9.6+ = 213 0.9.7 = 838 0.9.7+ = 190 0.9.8 = 7517 0.9.8+ = 757 0.9.9 = 13948 0.9.9+ = 331 1.0 = 124 1.0.0 = 219419 1.0.0+ = 1354 1.0.1 = 1415067 1.0.2 = 55378 1.01 = 15 1.0rc1 = 5011 1.0rc2 = 65893 1.0rc3 = 7714 1.1 = 437016 1.1+ = 10 1.1.0 = 34 1.1: = 40 1.1a = 12710 1.1a+ = 1245 1.1b = 82288 1.2 = 40398 1.2.0 = 6 1.2.1 = 87679 1.2.x = 2 1.2a = 79352 1.2a+ = 42 1.2b = 345416 1.2b+ = 36 1.2b-s = 1 1.3a = 94473 1.97 = 47 2.5.7 = 76 21.0.3 = 8 9.9.9 = 8 alpha = 98 gecko by vendor/rv AOL/1.0.1 = 444 AOL/1.0.2 = 198 AOL/1.0rc1 = 7 AOL/1.0rc3 = 4 AOL/1.1a = 1 AOL/1.1b = 1 Bayanihan/1.0.1 = 83 Beonex/1.0.1 = 88 CS 2000 7.0/0.9.4.2 = 1230 CS-Netscape6/0.9.2 = 10 CSIV-Netscape6/0.9.2 = 19 Chimera/1.0.1 = 50471 CyberSouls/1.1 = 204 Debian/0.9.9 = 183 Debian/1.0.0 = 23590 Debian/1.0.1 = 572 Debian/1.0rc1 = 85 Debian/1.0rc2 = 49 Debian/1.1 = 11992 Debian/1.1a = 21 Debian/1.2 = 1927 Debian/1.2.1 = 1272 Debian/1.2b = 11 E-kochanPower/1.0.1 = 13 Explorer/0.9.4 = 10 GLU/1.0.0 = 8 GLU/1.2.1 = 16 GLU/1.2a = 123 GalionPublicLibrary/1.1 = 27 GalionPublicLibrary/1.2b = 7 IBM Web Browser for OS/1.0.1 = 30 K-Meleon/1.2b = 45 Kent Pharmaceuticals Ltd/0.9.4.1 = 11 Kristof/0.9.5 = 16 Mozilla-Gumi/1.1 = 49 Mozilla/0.1 = 51 Mozilla/0.9 = 122 Mozilla/0.9.1 = 293 Mozilla/0.9.1+ = 13 Mozilla/0.9.2 = 2416 Mozilla/0.9.2+ = 10 Mozilla/0.9.2.1 = 3392 Mozilla/0.9.3 = 405 Mozilla/0.9.4 = 7532 Mozilla/0.9.4.1 = 4407 Mozilla/0.9.4.2 = 152 Mozilla/0.9.5 = 1559 Mozilla/0.9.5+ = 2 Mozilla/0.9.6 = 673 Mozilla/0.9.6+ = 213 Mozilla/0.9.7 = 838 Mozilla/0.9.7+ = 190 Mozilla/0.9.8 = 7517 Mozilla/0.9.8+ = 757 Mozilla/0.9.9 = 13765 Mozilla/0.9.9+ = 331 Mozilla/1.0 = 124 Mozilla/1.0.0 = 193546 Mozilla/1.0.0+ = 1354 Mozilla/1.0.1 = 148622 Mozilla/1.0.2 = 1404 Mozilla/1.0rc1 = 4896 Mozilla/1.0rc2 = 5594 Mozilla/1.0rc3 = 7618 Mozilla/1.1 = 416077 Mozilla/1.1+ = 10 Mozilla/1.1.0 = 10 Mozilla/1.1: = 40 Mozilla/1.1a = 12603 Mozilla/1.1a+ = 1234 Mozilla/1.1b = 79391 Mozilla/1.2 = 38416 Mozilla/1.2.0 = 6 Mozilla/1.2.1 = 86150 Mozilla/1.2.x = 2 Mozilla/1.2a = 77475 Mozilla/1.2a+ = 42 Mozilla/1.2b = 147100 Mozilla/1.2b+ = 36 Mozilla/1.2b-s = 1 Mozilla/1.3a = 30681 Mozilla/1.97 = 47 Mozilla/2.5.7 = 76 Mozilla/21.0.3 = 8 Mozilla/9.9.9 = 8 Mozilla/alpha = 98 MultiZilla/1.0.0 = 1817 MultiZilla/1.0.1 = 978 MultiZilla/1.0.2 = 127 MultiZilla/1.0rc2 = 35 MultiZilla/1.0rc3 = 59 MultiZilla/1.1 = 8343 MultiZilla/1.1.0 = 22 MultiZilla/1.1a = 85 MultiZilla/1.1b = 2337 MultiZilla/1.2 = 55 MultiZilla/1.2.1 = 160 MultiZilla/1.2a = 1234 MultiZilla/1.2b = 2068 MultiZilla/1.3a = 13 Netscape 6/1.0rc1 = 23 Netscape/1.0.0 = 386 Netscape/1.0.1 = 1213553 Netscape/1.0.2 = 53649 Netscape/1.0rc2 = 60203 Netscape/1.1 = 57 Netscape/1.1a+ = 11 Netscape/1.1b = 302 Netscape/1.2a = 453 Netscape/1.2b = 3784 Netscape/1.3a = 3914 Netscape6/0.9.1 = 328 Netscape6/0.9.2 = 23764 Netscape6/0.9.4 = 114041 Netscape6/0.9.4.1 = 182581 Netscape6/1.0.0 = 71 Netscape6/1.0.1 = 154 Netscape6/1.0rc2 = 12 Netscape6/1.0rc3 = 33 Netscape6/1.1 = 222 Netscape6/1.1.0 = 2 Netscape6/1.1b = 257 Netscape6/1.2.1 = 64 Netscape6/1.2a = 44 Netscape6/1.2b = 133 Netscape6/1.3a = 15 Netscape7/1.01 = 15 Pescadero/1.3a = 53 Phoenix/1.2b = 192268 Phoenix/1.3a = 59797 PiTech/1.0.1 = 6 Smart WebGuide/1.1 = 10 Sylera/1.2.1 = 17 TCODEUTIWB20__000 IBM Web Browser for OS/1.0.1 = 1 TCODEUTIWB20__001 IBM Web Browser for OS/1.0.1 = 52 WebWasher/1.1 = 35 Y la bestia será hecha legión/1.2a = 9 ZenonWT/1.0.0 = 1 [http:/1.2a = 14 gecko by vendor/version AOL/7.0 = 620 AOL/8.0 = 35 Bayanihan/1.0 = 83 Beonex/0.8.1 = 88 CS 2000 7.0/7.0 = 1230 CS-Netscape6/6.1 = 10 CSIV-Netscape6/6.1 = 19 Chimera/0.5+ = 3510 Chimera/0.6 = 38282 Chimera/0.6+ = 8679 CyberSouls/20020906 = 204 Debian/0.9.9-6 = 165 Debian/1.0.0-0.woody.1 = 17492 Debian/1.0.0-1 = 343 Debian/1.0.0-2 = 11 Debian/1.0.0-3 = 5682 Debian/1.0.0-3.Xft.0 = 1 Debian/1.0.0.xandros1-3 = 104 Debian/1.0.1-0.3 = 10 Debian/1.0.1-2 = 441 Debian/1.0.1.xandros1-1 = 121 Debian/1.0rc2-2 = 10 Debian/1.0rc2-3 = 10 Debian/1.1-0.Xft.0 = 11 Debian/1.1-0.bunk = 14 Debian/1.1-0pre1v1 = 83 Debian/1.1-1 = 11888 Debian/1.1a = 21 Debian/1.2-0beta1 = 11 Debian/1.2-1 = 993 Debian/1.2.1-0 = 9 Debian/1.2.1-1 = 925 Debian/1.2.1-2 = 661 Debian/1.2.1-3 = 611 Debian/1.rc1-1 = 85 E-kochanPower/2800+ = 13 Explorer/6 = 10 GLU/0.0.16 = 8 GLU/1.0.2 = 8 GLU/1.0.4 = 123 GLU/1.0.8 = 8 GalionPublicLibrary/1.1 = 7 GalionPublicLibrary/1.1a = 27 IBM Web Browser for OS/2 = 30 K-Meleon/0.7 = 45 Kent Pharmaceuticals Ltd/6.2.3 = 11 Kristof/1.0 = 16 Mozilla-Gumi/Wazilla-Mac-1.1-trial7 = 9 Mozilla-Gumi/Wazilla-Mac-1.1-trial9 = 40 Mozilla/0.1 = 51 Mozilla/0.9 = 122 Mozilla/0.9.1 = 293 Mozilla/0.9.1+ = 13 Mozilla/0.9.2 = 2416 Mozilla/0.9.2+ = 10 Mozilla/0.9.2.1 = 3392 Mozilla/0.9.3 = 405 Mozilla/0.9.4 = 7532 Mozilla/0.9.4.1 = 4407 Mozilla/0.9.4.2 = 152 Mozilla/0.9.5 = 1559 Mozilla/0.9.5+ = 2 Mozilla/0.9.6 = 673 Mozilla/0.9.6+ = 213 Mozilla/0.9.7 = 838 Mozilla/0.9.7+ = 190 Mozilla/0.9.8 = 7517 Mozilla/0.9.8+ = 757 Mozilla/0.9.9 = 13765 Mozilla/0.9.9+ = 331 Mozilla/1.0 = 124 Mozilla/1.0.0 = 193546 Mozilla/1.0.0+ = 1354 Mozilla/1.0.1 = 148622 Mozilla/1.0.2 = 1404 Mozilla/1.0rc1 = 4896 Mozilla/1.0rc2 = 5594 Mozilla/1.0rc3 = 7618 Mozilla/1.1 = 416077 Mozilla/1.1+ = 10 Mozilla/1.1.0 = 10 Mozilla/1.1: = 40 Mozilla/1.1a = 12603 Mozilla/1.1a+ = 1234 Mozilla/1.1b = 79391 Mozilla/1.2 = 38416 Mozilla/1.2.0 = 6 Mozilla/1.2.1 = 86150 Mozilla/1.2.x = 2 Mozilla/1.2a = 77475 Mozilla/1.2a+ = 42 Mozilla/1.2b = 147100 Mozilla/1.2b+ = 36 Mozilla/1.2b-s = 1 Mozilla/1.3a = 30681 Mozilla/1.97 = 47 Mozilla/2.5.7 = 76 Mozilla/21.0.3 = 8 Mozilla/9.9.9 = 8 Mozilla/alpha = 98 MultiZilla/v1.1.15 = 350 MultiZilla/v1.1.16 = 12 MultiZilla/v1.1.17 = 179 MultiZilla/v1.1.18 = 2826 MultiZilla/v1.1.20 = 2904 MultiZilla/v1.1.21 = 1779 MultiZilla/v1.1.22 = 9261 MultiZilla/v1.1.26 = 22 Netscape 6/6.2.1+ = 23 Netscape/4.07 = 2 Netscape/6.2 = 24 Netscape/7.0 = 1216006 Netscape/7.0+ = 6479 Netscape/7.01 = 51648 Netscape/7.0; = 16 Netscape/7.0b1 = 60163 Netscape/7.0b1+ = 1892 Netscape/7.1 = 11 Netscape/7.6 = 71 Netscape6/6.1 = 23793 Netscape6/6.1/FJUSF01 = 29 Netscape6/6.1b1 = 328 Netscape6/6.2 = 42958 Netscape6/6.2.1 = 71232 Netscape6/6.2.2 = 42398 Netscape6/6.2.3 = 140368 Netscape6/6.2gnu.org = 43 Netscape6/6.5 = 303 Netscape6/7 = 238 Netscape6/7.0 = 31 Netscape7/7.0 = 15 Pescadero/0.1a = 53 Phoenix/0.1 = 1935 Phoenix/0.2 = 23811 Phoenix/0.3 = 59772 Phoenix/0.4 = 123028 Phoenix/0.5 = 43519 PiTech/0.9 = 6 Smart WebGuide/1.0 = 10 Sylera/1.1.0 = 17 TCODEUTIWB20__000 IBM Web Browser for OS/2/DB = 1 TCODEUTIWB20__001 IBM Web Browser for OS/2/DB = 52 WebWasher/1.2.2 = 12 WebWasher/2.1.1rce = 21 WebWasher/2.1.1rcw = 1 WebWasher/2.1.1rcÓ = 1 Y la bestia será hecha legión/31.337. = 9 ZenonWT/1.0 = 1 [http://www.soraia.com] = 14
Caveats for Server-Side Tracking
Except for Netscape, CompuServe and AOL-branded Gecko-based browsers, the variety of reported Vendors and Versions is practically unlimited.
Netscape Gecko based browsers can spoof the user-agent string reported to the server. Therefore reliance on server reported user-agent strings to determine browser statistics will not be 100% accurate.
Netscape Gecko based browsers can block images and cookies from specific domains. If your reporting software uses images or cookies on external sites which have been blocked then you will not see a full report of Netscape Gecko based browsers visiting your site.
Tracking Netscape Gecko Client Side
Tracking Netscape Gecko traffic using client-side JavaScript requires use of the navigator object and depends upon whether JavaScript is enabled in the client.
Useful navigator properties for tracking Gecko
- navigator.userAgent
-
reports the user-agent string exactly as is reported to the server by the user agent. Note that this property can be spoofed in the same fashion and is not 100% reliable in detecting Netscape Gecko based user agents.
navigator.userAgentis the only place where you can find the Geckorvvalue. - navigator.product
-
will always be the string
Geckofor Netscape Gecko browsers and is the most reliable means of detecting Gecko using JavaScript. This value can not be spoofed. - navigator.vendor
-
will be the vendor (blank for Mozilla). This value can not be spoofed.
- navigator.vendorSub
-
will be the vendor's version. This value can not be spoofed.
Example
The following script uses URL encoded data to report on the version of Gecko or Microsoft Internet ExplorerTM used.
Caveats for Client Side Tracking
The value of the Gecko branch rv value can be modified if the
user has spoofed their user-agent string.
The effectiveness of client-side reporting is dependent on whether the user has enabled JavaScript.
The effectiveness of of images or cookies in client-side reporting is depenendent on whether the user has blocked images or cookies for the domain.
Conclusion
Tracking accurate user agent statistics for Netscape Gecko-based browsers can be a very complicated affair. Rather than relying solely on your web analytics software reports, be sure to check the results against known results found in your web server logs.