How to simulate any browser by editing the user agent string in Safari

I recently modified one of my websites to display different content depending on which device is used to access it. For conventional web browsers, a traditional homepage is displayed, while for mobile devices the user can choose between downloading a mobile app or proceeding to the website. The question was how to test this without borrowing several different types of mobile devices and installing several web browsers. Safari provides a convenient way. Here's the procedure, using Safari 5.1.1 on Windows...

If the "Develop" menu isn't already enabled, click the "Tools" icon at the top right and select "Preferences..." from the resulting menu. On the "Advanced" tab, ensure that "Show Develop menu in menu bar" is selected.

Now use the "Develop" menu -- either by selecting the icon just to the left of the tools icon, or by pressing the Alt key to display the menu bar across the top of the window. On the "Develop" menu, click "User Agent".

You'll be presented with a list of several user agent strings to choose from, simulating popular browsers. Better still, you can click "Other..." and type in any user agent string you wish.

Safari uses the specified user agent string for the current page. The setting appears to persist for any page viewed in the current tab, but doesn't apply in new tabs, new windows, or after your close the browser.

Thanks to my colleague Nidhi Bhargava for researching this tip.