How your site is displayed

Web browser usage

Different people use different browsers so it is important that you ensure that your site displays well in all browsers. Browser usage tends to be collected from website visitors so to gain a general view of browser usage we decided to look at the average number of visitors to a number of websites to get a general idea of what browser usage is like.

The major browsers that are around are Internet explorer, FireFox and safari. By our average statistics we find the most used browser was Internet explorer at around 80% followed by FireFox with 13% safari comes around 3% other browsers are smaller proportions which are negligible.

Although the various proportions are reflected in various websites it is important to understand that in terms of different websites the proportions can vary for instance more technology oriented websites will find other browsers are most likely to be used unlike Internet explorer the default windows browser. Even in the various browsers the versions tend to vary quite considerably as people are sometimes a bit slow to move to a newer version. A good number of people only change browsers when they get a new operating system which is usually with a new computer. According to the statistics collected by the W3 schools website in Jan 2008.

Among the Internet explorer users only 21% used IE7 and 32% used IE6 and IE5 was used by only 1%. The statistics in this case need to be taken in context as statistics from just one site cannot be used to define a general trend online but in this case a general look at other sites back the trend up.
The various ways these browsers display information varies lightly but if true HTML is used browser compatibility is not an issue.

An issue which one needs to pay good attention when developing a site is how people with various resolutions will view your site. Let us look at some numbers . Most people use 1024 x 768 about 60% followed by 800 x 600 at about 15% and the others are higher as well as lower. It is important that you plan your site bearing in mind the various resolutions that exist. If you make the site too big then people with smaller screens will have to scroll to the left to see the full site which is something people find annoying. The question of a fluid design versus a solid one is at play . For those not familiar with the term a fluid design is a design which allows the site to resize depending on the viewers` screen size . A solid design is one in which the size is constant . I personally like the mixture of the two a semi fluid design.