# Same Web Site, Different Browsers, Diff. Results?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-web-site-different-browsers-diff-results/669174>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 18, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-web-site-different-browsers-diff-results/669174 "2013-09-18T20:15:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-web-site-different-browsers-diff-results/669174/21 "2013-09-19T22:55:03Z")

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This reply is optimized for Netscape Navigator 2.0.

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**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-web-site-different-browsers-diff-results/669174/22 "2013-09-20T13:46:05Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> …Huh, really? Maybe he turned off the cleverness. What image are you seeing?
> 
> When that comic was current, it showed different things (sometimes completely different) for different browsers, operating systems, geographic locations, language settings, and possibly a few other variables. Some people saw a heat-shimmering sun (what I’m seeing now), some saw a very long snake (exact length variable depending on window size), some saw a joke about the weather (with the punchline varying geographically), etc.

> [@RaftPeople](#):
>
> I see 4 panels with a long snake and a couple people

> [@Telemark](#):
>
> And I see a strip about earthquakes in CA and snow in Boston because I live in Boston. It’s a massively personalized page that displays different content based on browser, IP, OS, etc of the viewer.

Just tried again, and I see a shimmering sun in all three browsers. I also tried from my phone (not on Wi-fi, so different IP) and I get the same shimmering sun. Clearly Randall Munroe doesn’t like me - or just turned off the JS cleverness.

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-web-site-different-browsers-diff-results/669174/23 "2013-09-20T21:40:35Z")

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In my browser (way-old Firefox version running on way-old Linux platform), with JavaScript disabled, I get a mundane strip in which a male and a female character discuss the purchase of a simple desk lamp, as informed by various on-line reviews that they find. With JavaScript enabled, I see the Northern Lights strip, in which one of the characters says he only saw clouds.

In both, the mouse-over text reads:

> [@](#):
>
> Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit–from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.

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