Detect Internet Explorer 6 or below in jQuery

Question

I'm new to jquery and was wondering: is a simple way to detect whether a browser is Internet Explorer 6 or below?

Answer 1

As simple as this:

if($.browser.msie && $.browser.version=="6.0") alert("Im the annoying IE6");

Update

Please note that $.browser is removed from jQuery 1.9

If you still need to use $.browser in jQuery 1.9 (or other deprecated functions), try jQuery-migrate (https://github.com/jquery/jquery-migrate/ - http://code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-1.2.1.js)

Answer 2

You could also ask IE directly.

<!--[if lte IE 6]>
<script type="text/javascript">
  var isRunningIE6OrBelow = true;
</script>
<![endif]-->

Answer 3

jQuery checks for features, rather than "browsers". That said, you can use the jQuery.support method to detect what the users browser is capable of.

Deprecated Methods (Do not use)

• $.browser
• $.browser.version
• $.boxModel

https://api.jquery.com/jQuery.support will give you a summary of which features are supported by which browsers. Taking that data, you'll develop a couple conditional checks to determine if the browser being used is your target browser or not.

Answer 4

if ($.browser.msie && parseInt($.browser.version, 10) <= 6) {
  alert("I'm not dead yet!"); 
}

-- update

Please not that $.browser is removed from jQuery 1.9

Answer 5

Very nice way to detect IE is:

if ('v'=='\v') {
   welcome to IE )) 
}

Unfortunately it can't recognize its version but it's not always nessecary.

Answer 6

If ActiveXObject exists and XMLHttpRequest does not, it's IE6:

/* IE6 Check */
(!!window.ActiveXObject && !window.XMLHttpRequest) ? true : false;

In IE7, it would be:

(!!window.ActiveXObject && !!window.XMLHttpRequest) ? true: false;

References

• JavaScriptKit: AJAX

Answer 7

Also, another good point is that with JQuery, you are not supposed to worry about the version.

That doesn't help if you're using jquery to fix an IE6 css rendering bug though.

Answer 8

I often check the version of a browser. The .support method is great, but it doesn't really help when you need to hide selects when there's an overlay. There is no "supports selects are windowed controls". You just need to check the browser version, so I would say err towards the .support method where you can, and use the .browser where necessary.

Answer 9

Just to let people know $.browser.msie && /6.0/.test(navigator.userAgent) is not reliable, I've come to this question looking for an answer to a problem with the JQuery bgiframe which breaks on my machine because I have 'Media Center PC 6.0' in my navigator.userAgent string. I've now edited the source to use the $browser.version test.

Its silly of JQuery to deprecate these browser tests because ugly as they may be they are necessary to deal with the ugly state of the browser ecosystem.

Answer 10

i always used this solution

http://sinfinity.pl/blog/2012/02/12/detect-internet-explorer-and-browser-version-in-jquery/

Answer 11

"While it is unlikely jQuery.browser will be removed, every effort to use jQuery.support and proper feature detection should be made."

So I say go ahead and use it. They have to maintain backwards-compatibility with scripts that still use the user-agent sniffing method.

Answer 12

http://docs.jquery.com/Utilities/jQuery.browser.version is how

EDITED: Corrected link from Douglas

http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.browser/#jQuery.browser.version

I mean, if you had the old version not the latest 1.3...

Also, another good point is that with JQuery, you are not supposed to worry about the version. JQuery does feature testing and handles all that malarky for you. Worrying about versions and platforms is pretty 1999

Answer 13

Try this out:

 jQuery.each(jQuery.browser, function(i, val) {
  $("<div>" + i + " : <span>" + val + "</span>")
            .appendTo(document.body);
});

if you need more info refer to this:

http://docs.jquery.com/Utilities/jQuery.browser