Browser Management

Brett BurridgeComputing Service, University of Essex,

Colchester, UK

Scope of presentation

• Why have a browser policy?• What browsers are there to choose from?• Using browser administration kits• Modifying the browser interface• Browser security• User Agent negotiation• A few new developments to watch...

Why have a browser policy?

• Most institutions will have a clearly defined list of which applications are supported (e.g. spreadsheet, word processor etc.)

• Should there also be a policy for web browsers?– Difficult to provide in depth user support for a large range of browser versions

– Difficult to develop Intranet apps on a wide range of different systems

– Browsers could be a big security risk, especially for staff working with confidential information etc.

– May not want staff installing their own browsers - can lead to problems for support staff

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20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Jan-96 Jul-96 Jan-97 Jul-97 Jan-98 Jul-98 Jan-99

Policy No Policy

Browser policies

• An increasing number of companies specify which browser employees should use:

Data from ZonaResearch (zonaresearch.com)

Browser policies

Data from ZonaResearch (zonaresearch.com)

• Of those with browser policies, an increasing number recommend Internet Explorer:

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Apr-96 Oct-96 Apr-97 Oct-97 Apr-98 Oct-98 Apr-99

IE Netscape Other

What browsers are your users using?

• Knowing the answer to this is important...– Your web designer(s) will find it useful

– You need to make sure your users don’t have obsolete web browsers

• Requests to web servers should contain a HTTP_USER_AGENT header (e.g. Mozilla/4.5 [en] (WinNT; I))– Most server log analysis programs (e.g. Analog) produce

detailed browser reports

– On IIS servers, use the Browser Capabilities component to automatically parse the user agent header

Browser survey - overview

Essex users Other users

• Used IIS Browser Capabilities component to record all sessions to our main IIS NT server over 4 days in August 1999

• Quite a small scale study (2786 sessions)

Browser survey - operating systems

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

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11

88

se

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ion

s)

oth

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(15

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ion

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WinNT Win98 Win95 Win16 MacPPC Mac68K Linux UNIX Unknown

WinNT Win98 Win95 ?

Browser survey - Internet Explorer by version

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

es

se

x (

73

3 s

es

sio

ns

)o

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6 s

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IE 2.0 IE 2.1 IE 3.0 IE 3.01 IE 3.01a IE 3.02 IE 3.03

IE 4.0 IE 4.01 IE 4.5 IE 5.0 IE 5.01 IE 5.0b1 IE 5.0b2

5.04.01

Browser survey - Netscape by version

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

esse

x (4

45 s

essi

on

s)o

ther

(41

5 se

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1.1 2 2.01 2.02 3 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 4 4.01 4.02

4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.5 4.51 4.6 4.61

3.0

3.0 4.01 4.54.06 4.64.04

Browser survey - statmarket.com statistics (1)

• Essex survey resembles statistics from other sites:

Data from statmarket.com

Browser survey - statmarket.com statistics (2)

• Some more statistics...

Data from statmarket.com

• Increasing reluctance to upgrade– More non-computer experts using the web

– Latest browsers don’t have any essential new features

– Browser downloads get ever larger

“Conservatism of Web users”

Data from useit.com

Which web browsers are worth supporting?

• Is it even worth considering…– Opera?

– New Netscapes?

– Lynx?

– Others?

• According to Zona Research we have a “Coke and Pepsi world” in the browser market.

Netscape vs. Internet Explorer

• Netscape– Available for a wide range of platforms– Users are familiar with the product– But…

• Netscape not exactly the same on all operating systems

• Still no support for XML/Data Binding etc. etc. etc.

• Massive loss in market share over the last 12 months

• Internet Explorer– Now more popular than Netscape– Integrates well with Windows (some applications require it)– Companies are choosing it for DHTML, databinding, XML support and other technologies– Good accessibility features– But…

• It’s from Microsoft!

• Only the Windows versions have all the features

Opera

• Small download & installation. Works on old machines• Good accessibility features• Non-Netscape or Microsoft product• Have to pay for it• Difficult for people used to other browsers• No administration kit (and a charge for customisations)

Mozilla

• In early 1998 Netscape source code released• Mozilla is the term for browsers derived from this code• But...

– The current version has plenty of bugs

– Development has not gone as well as hoped. Will probably be another 6 months before anything substantial is produced - if ever?

Palm tops/mobile phone devices

• Gimmicks or the next big thing?– The latest Palm VII connected organiser has wireless

access to parts of the Internet

– Many palmtops allow downloading of web pages

– Mobile phones are gradually turning into web appliances

• Essex home page in IE5 (WinNT) and AvantGo (PalmOS):

WebTV

• Another gimmick, or the future of home Internet access?• Currently only available in USA, Canada & Japan• Authoring for WebTV has many considerations...

• Make simple modifications:– change homepage URL

– specify web cache settings

– install other apps at same time (e.g. Acrobat Reader)

• Also make more complex modifications:– specify which components to install

– enable or disable features (e.g. enforce cache usage)

– make “kiosk mode” browsers

• Both Netscape and IE have free administration kits

Uses of browser administration kits

Availability of browser administration kits

• Netscape Customization Kit– Available for PC and Mac only

– No Unix or Linux version

• Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK)– IEAK for Windows makes IE4/5 for Windows 3.x, 95, 98, NT

4 and Unix.

– IEAK for Mac makes Mac versions

– IE5 version better than IE4 version:• Can save previous settings more easily

• More can be customised (including browser’s toolbars)

• Includes foreign language support

Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK)

• Synchronise to the latest version of the browser...

Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK)

• Specify various installation options...

Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK)

• Customise a large number of other settings...

Using the Netscape Customization Kit

• Use the Configuration Editor to set program options• The Install Builder will build the application with the

specified options

Modifying the browser interface

• Modifications to both Netscape and IE quite easy (i.e. adding toolbar buttons & menu links)

• Simple modifications to Essex version of IE5:

Customised search panel

Preset “favorites”

Browser security

• What to do if a significant security hole is discovered?– Windows Update|Netscape’s SmartUpdate for individual

machines– SMS or other apps for managing lots of machines– Don’t do anything because it doesn’t matter?

• Most browser security problems caused by users surfing dubious sites

• Automatic downloading of Excel Word files a problem (ensure a virus checker is installed)

• Fake updates to programs always a problem

• Stealing of data through “cut and paste” bugs?

User Agent negotiation

• The Browser Capabilities component of IIS converts HTTP_USER_AGENT headers into a list of properties that can be used in Active Server Pages...

• Could also use JavaScript to determine many of these properties

Uses of User Agent negotiation

• Example 1 (JavaScript): Essex website only loads CSS in Netscape 4+ and IE4+ (with a different CSS used for UNIX versions of Netscape).

• Example 2 (ASP): visit Essex website in a non-English browser and get a link to a localised welcome page...

Summary & Conclusions

• Things to consider...– Should your institution have a browser policy?

– What browsers are your internal and external users using?

– Is it worthwhile moving from Netscape to Internet Explorer?

– If you install large numbers of browsers, would a browser administration kit save time and money?

• Need to investigate further…– Browser security

– Management of plug-ins

– Growing use of WebTV type devices and PDA browsers

– The use of User Agent negotiation

In the parallel session...

• Browser administration kits– Hands on look at Netscape/Internet Explorer kits

– What browser features should we modify?

• Hands on look at Opera, Mozilla, PDAs, WebTV• Should we monitor browser usage?• Making kiosk mode browsers