Redirecting mobile clients

To create a better experience for our users, it is standard practice to scan the client for certain criteria and redirect them to a site that would better serve their device. There are basically two approaches for redirection. The first involves sniffing the "user agent".

The word request is defined as, "The act of asking for something to be given or done." A client using a browser enters a URL into the address bar and we refer to that as a request. The browser's host networking protocol then does a lookup on the domain name of the address in the bar. Once the domain's IP has been resolved, it then makes a GET request of the remainder of the URL, or the index, if there's nothing behind the domain. The browser sends its identity along with the request in the form of a user agent string. Each browser will have a slightly different user agent string. Here's one from a browser I'm currently using: