Appendix A - Web User Statistics

twinIsles.dev >> Photography on the Web

Every request for an HTML document results in certain characteristics of the requesting client being sent to the HTTP server. Consequently there is no shortage of availability of web user statistics, some of which are reviewed in this appendix.

Caution should be adopted against relying too heavily on any such statistics since every site has a unique target group whose characteristics may vary considerably from the users from whom the statistics were obtained. The most useful statistics for any site are obtained from that site itself once it is live, thus providing the direction for its self-evolution.

The following table is reproduced from Browser News: Statistics [11]

 
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
IE6
-
-
10%
IE5
80%
78%
72%
IE4
8%
10%
3.4%
IE3
0.2%
0.2%
1.8%
IE2
0.2%
0.2%
0.06%
NN6/Mozilla
0.3%
0.3%
1.7%
NN4
7%
8%
10%
NN3
0.2%
0.2%
0.06%
Opera
0.3%
0.2%
0.6%

Source 1 is obtained from sites using a certain hit counter and is thus likely to exclude professional offerings. Source 2 comes from sites most likely to attract visitors with a special interest in Internet issues. Source 3 comes from the Browser News' author's website which is again likely to appeal to a specialist audience.

Browser Statistics from Refnes Data [87] show the following figures for April 2001:

Browser Version
Apr 01
Internet Explorer 5.x
79%
Internet Explorer 4.x
8%
Internet Explorer 3.x
0%
Netscape 4.x
7%
Netscape 3.x
0%

The statistics also give details of screen resolutions:

Screen Resolution
Apr 01
>1024x768
39%
800x600
51%
640x480
6%
Other or Unknown
4%

Statistics for visitors to BrowserWatch [12] from June 1st - 18th 2001 are as follows:
Browser Types Visiting BrowserWatch(Must Have .25% Share Or Better)

Browser
Value
Percent
Microsoft Internet Explorer
55049
62.4%
Netscape Navigator
22496
25.5%
Opera
3768
4.27%
AvantGo 3.2 (compatible; AvantGo 3.2)
790
0.89%
Konqueror-2.1.2 (compatible; Konqueror
648
0.73%
Konqueror-2.1.1 (compatible; Konqueror
614
0.69%
Powermarks-3.5 (compatible; Powermarks
563
0.63%
Lynx
384
0.43%
Ibrowse
321
0.36%

The following statistics give characteristics of visitors to my existing photographic website, fotoGallery, at http://www.geocities.com/abracad_1999/gallery.html to June 19th 2001.

MSIE 5.0

30.16%

MSIE 5.5

27.62%

Netscape 4.06

11.01%

MSIE 4.01

10.48%

MSIE 4.5

7.66%

Netscape 4.75

6.29%

MSIE 5.01

2.97%

Netscape 4.5

2.53%

Netscape 4.73

0.99%

Netscape 4.7

0.28%

 

Screen resolution:

1024x768

61.03%

800x600

25.36%

1024x721

11.07%

720x480

1.91%

1152x864

0.64%

A recent survey by PC PRO magazine [81] found that Internet Explorer 5 was used by a massive 93.5% of respondents.

Although precise figures differ all sources examined suggest that Microsoft Internet Explorer, and in particular versions 5.x, is currently hugely dominant in the browser market.

A June 20001 article in BrowserWatch [13] quoted Netscape President Jim Bankoff's comments to the Reuters news organization: "The browser is a crown jewel. However, six months from now, you won't consider Netscape to be a browser company", suggesting that Netscape is about to leave the Browser market.

The statistics also suggest that screen resolutions below 800x600 are now uncommon.

twinIsles.dev >> Photography on the Web

e-mail me with your comments and suggestions | Home