Browser share

Since each web browser behaves differently, web developers are always interested in how many visitors are using which version of each of the major browsers. As new versions are released, fewer people end up using older versions of browsers and we have to worry less about our pages looking perfect in some of the less common versions. Additionally, newer browsers have better support for web standards which will allow web applications to be built faster and better. This, in turn, makes the visitor’s experience richer and the developer’s life much easier. The real payoff comes when most people have left older browsers for newer versions–we can then spend considerably less time developing our pages and web applications.

From time to time, we look at what browsers our visitors are using to access the Gustavus website. This lets us know which browsers we should be testing our work in to make sure that the most people have a good experience on our website. For those interested, below is a sample of our data:

Additionally, Internet Explorer 6 is typically regarded as the browser that is both frustrating for web developers and still too popular to ignore. Lets take a look at our statistics on Internet Explorer:

According to this data, 7.12% of our visitors are still using Internet Explorer 6. Which, while small and shrinking, is still a significant percentage. With any luck, by the end of 2009, this number will have fallen enough where Internet Explorer 6 support will no longer be a factor.

Now is as good of time as any to upgrade your browser. Web Services uses and recommends Mozilla Firefox.