How does Android Chrome's "View desktop version" work?

Question

When you open webpage in Chrome on Android, there is "View desktop version" option. How does that work, as this is often determined by screen size. It "lies" to page about screen size too get desktop version? Or how?

Answer 1

Page layouts are often determined by the @media property in the css code. Specific screen sizes correspond to certain styling rules. As such, when you press the desktop button, it tells the page that it is the size of a desktop computer. From there, the appropriate styling rules are applied. Hope this answers your question. :)

Answer 2

SuperC, thanks
I was just curious