Browser Stats

Jonathan Dingman | August 28th, 2007 @ 1:52 pm

Ewwww that’s too high for IE, I started converting my IE users to Firefox. It’s been a great revenue stream and helped the effectiveness of my coding.

I feel that browser stats are actually quite useful. It provides a basis for which I actually design my sites. If I know my target audience, that provides me a platform for which I can optimize my site for that particular audience.

I respect Eric and what his background brings to the table, but I disagree with him on that point.

Brian | August 28th, 2007 @ 1:56 pm

I wonder if those stats are close to overall market share or if wordpress visitors are more IE adverse than the general population - if it’s the former, then that’s a pretty strong/impressive showing for Firefox

James | August 28th, 2007 @ 2:12 pm

I’m not surprised at the reversal for WordPress.org. Go take a look at Aaron Wall’s (SEOBook.com) stats while he has them on display. He’s a “techie” writer, and most of his users are using FireFox.

And, I would say WordPress.com’s browser stats will probably be among the most accurate (unless you could take a look at Google’s stats)…

Michael from Pro Blog Design | August 28th, 2007 @ 2:17 pm

Thanks for sharing. Could you let us know the split between IE 6 and IE 7 as well please?

engtech | August 28th, 2007 @ 2:43 pm

Would love to see the IE6/IE7 split.

Eric Meyer | August 28th, 2007 @ 2:57 pm

The last time I was able to check meyerweb.com statistics (I think it was last year), I had more Firefox/Mozilla users than all versions of IE combined, much like the wordpress.org numbers.

For those interested in more information on why I say “generic” browser statistics are “worse than useless”, see Don’t Care About Market Share (lawdy, that was written almost three years ago).

Ryan Imel | August 28th, 2007 @ 3:07 pm

That’s really interesting, especially when (I forget which speaker said it) it was said that WordPress is for geeks, whereas blogger is for everyone else. That idea works for .org but not for .com. Thanks for posting these.

Roland | August 28th, 2007 @ 3:25 pm

Google Analytics versions breakdown:
For OS version go: Browser Capabilities > OS and click on the OS for a breakdown in versions.
For Browser Versions go: Browser Capabilities > Browsers and click the browser name for versions.

for http://wordpress.designpraxis.at I have for the top 5 OS:
1. XP 83.05%
2. Vista 10.81%
3. 2000 4.56%
4. Server 2003 0.95%
5. 98 0.52%

and for the top 5 browsers:
1. Firefox 70.17%
2. Internet Explorer 16.52%
3. Safari 7.77%
4. Opera 2.57%
5. Mozilla 1.40%

top 5 Firefox versions are:
1. 2.0.0.6 88.35%
2. 2.0.0.5 2.74%
3. 2.0.0.4 2.51%
4. 2.0.0.3 1.72%
5. 1.5.0.12 1.59%

Alex | August 28th, 2007 @ 3:35 pm

Where’s the Konqueror browser? Are there really so few users with this neat KDE-browser, or did you merge it with Safari in the stats? (Konqueror is powered by the KHTML rendering engine which is also used by Webkit/Safari.)

Dextro | August 28th, 2007 @ 3:36 pm

The wordpress.com statistics probably reflect more the general population than the wordpress.org ones since regular people aren’t usually tech savvy enough to install wordpress into a server, it’s just easier and just as effective for them to use a free service like wordpress.com

Matt Brubeck | August 28th, 2007 @ 3:49 pm

Click the name of the browser to see the statistics by version.

Alex | August 28th, 2007 @ 3:54 pm

How many visitors from IE6, IE7?

bob | August 28th, 2007 @ 4:32 pm

Thanks for sharing. Matt stats for IE version please. :p

Michael Stubblefield | August 28th, 2007 @ 4:56 pm

While I agree that general browser statistics don’t mean as much as personal web stats for an established site, that doesn’t mean they’re worthless. You have to look at general web browser stats when you’re starting your web site design, because if your site doesn’t exist, you have no personal stats. You can look at general stats to figure out how important certain things are for your site design.

Vasken Hauri | August 28th, 2007 @ 5:23 pm

C’mon Matt, I hit the site with my Blackberry all the time…where’s the love for ye olde “BlackBerry/3.6.0″ UserAgent string?

Kelson | August 28th, 2007 @ 5:58 pm

Are there really so few users with this neat KDE-browser…?

In my experience: yes. (But keep Eric Meyer’s article in mind.)

My site, hyperborea.org, is seeing this for August through today:

62.8% IE (26.4% IE7, 35.9% IE6)
27.4% Firefox
4.5% Safari
1.8% Mozilla (prob. mostly Seamonkey)
1.3% Opera
0.9% Netscape (abt. 1/3 of these are “Netscape 4.0″ — probably bots.)

This is using AWStats, which lists totals and per-version breakdowns for IE, Firefox, and Netscape. Other browsers, like Opera and Safari, only list totals. It can actually recognize Konqueror, Camino, and several other browsers, but none of them manages to pull even 0.1% here.

Still, Konqueror’s 1487 hits this month are better than OmniWeb’s 32, or iCab’s 19.

Michael from Pro Blog Design | August 28th, 2007 @ 6:00 pm

Matt - Just click “Internet Explorer” from the page you were on. It will give ya the info there.

Simon Jessey | August 28th, 2007 @ 6:07 pm

“I feel that browser stats are actually quite useful. It provides a basis for which I actually design my sites.”

I disagree. Standards provide a basis for design. Unless you are trying to identify an unusual user group (mostly mobile users, for example) any kind of generic statistics should be irrelevant.

Thorsten Meyer | August 28th, 2007 @ 11:03 pm

I seem to get more Firefox user accessing http://www.StrongMocha.com

* Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox 42.6%
* Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 37.4%
* Unknown 8.1%
* Safari Safari 6.9%
* Others Others 5.1%

Thorsten

Cody | August 29th, 2007 @ 12:04 am

I’ve never really done anything with my browser stats. I just find it interesting to see who visits my site using what hardware and software.

BoltClock | August 29th, 2007 @ 12:33 am

That is a lot of IE6 users…

Tom | August 29th, 2007 @ 2:05 am

Strange to see that most of IE users are using IE6,and almost 90% Firefox users use 2.0.
In my opinion browser stats are very usefull.
Thanks for the info

David Russell | August 29th, 2007 @ 6:13 am

Not really surprising. Enjoyable though it is, blogging is still a partly ‘geeky’ pursuit. Geeks are more likely to use a non-IE browser, therefore geek-oriented sites like wp.com are likely to have a lower proportion of IE use.

Michael from Pro Blog Design | August 29th, 2007 @ 6:32 am

Thanks.

Laundro | August 29th, 2007 @ 6:48 am

I find stats totally interesting. However, stats are only as good as finding the number that works for you.

muzeek | August 29th, 2007 @ 8:29 am

eh… why don’t have flock?

tabrez | August 29th, 2007 @ 8:39 am

I am surprised to see IE scoring so heavily over Firefox on wordpress.com.

Over last one month on my blog:
Firefox: 69%
IE: 20.45%
Opera: 3.6%
Safari: 2.0%
Konqueror: 1.4%
Others: Camino, Netscape, Galeon

jim | August 29th, 2007 @ 9:27 am

~34,500 PSP hits… wow, that’s higher than what I would’ve guessed.

Lasse Havelund | August 29th, 2007 @ 9:44 am

I find it scary, and worrying, that 65% of people use IE6.

Michael Stubblefield | August 29th, 2007 @ 10:00 am

Standards are of course a basis for design. Unfortunately, some (ie) browsers don’t follow standards all the time. The browser stats just provide a reminder to not design your site for your firefox-using friends and also make sure the site looks good in IE 6 and 7 as well.

gray | August 29th, 2007 @ 10:39 am

im wondering if its possible to know what the screen resolutions are overall. that would be interesting i hear people are still on 800×600 and i shudder at the thought. but interesting enough im wondering if more people are using 1024×768 or 1280 x 1024….and what that breakdown is.

nice work matt

Chad | August 29th, 2007 @ 10:50 am

Once people start using IE7, Firefox will probably start falling even further. It’s hard to admit, but IE7 is actually a very good product (still not perfect, but makes Firefox less of a must-have).

Joe Clark | August 29th, 2007 @ 11:15 am

If we had to start �"supporting Firefox” (i.e., using Web standards) when it hit 10%, does 36% IE6 usage mean we can stop �"supporting IE6” (i.e., defying Web standards)?

I have about 16% IE6 on my sites and never lift a finger anymore to help them.

Doug Smith | August 29th, 2007 @ 1:12 pm

Matt, What period of time do those stats cover?

said | August 29th, 2007 @ 3:10 pm

thank you

GoodThings2Life | August 29th, 2007 @ 7:59 pm

Given the way IE handles CSS styles, standards come second to the statistics. Sure, I could design my site entirely in CSS styles that look beautiful in non-IE browsers, but why in the hell would I do that if 90% of my visitors are IE users unless I want to alienate them or force them into something they may not be comfortable with. In that case, I would be just as bad, if not worse, than Microsoft for forcing visitors to their site and resources to use IE.

Knowing the statistics allows you to say, OK, I can use these standards and styles but not these, because it will alienate my users.

You don’t have to like a browser to recognize a need to still code for it responsibly rather than annoy your visitors.

MattL. | August 29th, 2007 @ 11:37 pm

I personally find it kind of sad (literally) that more people use Mac OS than Linux.

Robert Synnott | August 30th, 2007 @ 9:28 am

Obviously, the controversial BrowseHappy links aren’t working so well, then.

chanux | August 31st, 2007 @ 11:32 am

WP.org stats are reversed coz it’s used by geex…Cheers Firefox …n cool wordpress too

n-blue | August 31st, 2007 @ 8:00 pm

For most blog, including WP.com and .org is representation of greek. So this will lead to the high percentage of Firefox users. If tracking on non-tech releating sites, just something els, IE will get higher score. The stat is directly relate to site content. I compared two of my sites, tech and non-tech, the stat is totally difference.

mb | August 31st, 2007 @ 11:48 pm

The good news is that once SP1 hits for Vista then IE7 should take over as the dominate IE browser.

KingJacob | September 6th, 2007 @ 9:00 pm

Im amazed at that .03% psp share I didnt think that many people surfed the web on their psps.

Jonathan Volk | September 8th, 2007 @ 12:39 am

I find it hilarious how many people are actually using 5.5… That’s a bit scary actually. Even if it is just a small percent, it’s still too many people.