Fellow Nestanalysts,
No, the browsers haven’t all gotten together to create a funky tune in an unusual meter. Rather, it’s simply time for the latest instalment in a series of posts (1 2 3 4) which concern themselves with the popularity of various browsers, as used to access Nestoria.
Why
To be honest, there’s more than one reason we’re interested in keeping track of how users access Nestoria.
However, the single largest concern is user experience. Using Nestoria should be easy, intuitive and a consistent experience, no matter what your choice of browser. Keeping an eye on browser usage lets us test and tweak Nestoria so that we can achieve these goals.
Microsoft: losing ground
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has managed to lose a further 3% share of the ‘visits pie’ since our last review (in June):
2% of that goes to Chrome;
1% to Firefox;
1% to Safari; together with
a 1% decrease in ‘others’ (Opera, Camino and the like).
Slow but steady
Whilst change may not happen overnight, the browser arena is definitely an interesting space, and it’s nice to see that things are far from stagnant.
Even my parents know of and use Firefox – that has to say something about this open-source browser’s impact on society, although adoption seems to be slowing when compared to that of less established browsers.
The uptake of Google’s Chrome is an indication that users can be lured by promises of speed and stability (having said that, I’m sure a whacking great banner on the world’s most popular homepage doesn’t hurt either).
Perhaps Safari’s success can be attributed to the rising market share of Macs, or perhaps impressive standards compliance.
Firefox 2: Going, going…
Firefox 2.x usage pales in comparison to that of it’s 3.x brethren, representing less that 1% of browsing on Nestoria.
3.x versions account for nearly 18%.
IE8 & 7 = substitutes, IE6 = no substitute
The most obvious (and probably correct) conclusion that can be drawn from the above graph, is that IE7 users are the new IE8 users. They switch from new to newest, and this is reflected in the almost mirror-like red and blue plots. I suspect these are home users, free to upgrade to the latest and greatest at the instruction of Windows Update.
Many ‘corporate’ users have no such freedom, but instead are subject to the oversight of their IT departments. I would hazard a guess (not for the first time in this series), that the majority of our IE6 users are browsing from workplaces, where IE6 still reigns supreme. Will Windows 7 succeed where Windows Vista failed, and bring with its success the banishment of IE6? Tune in next time (or the time after) to find out.
iPhone >> Penguins
As predicted, more users visited Nestoria using iPhones/Pods in this period than they did using Linux-powered computers (no, not including OS X). There was an especially sharp uptick in such usage around the festive season – I think there were a number of happy iGift recipients around that time. It should also be noted that these figures don’t include iPhone app usage.
Also interesting is that Symbian visits continue to increase, whilst Android really hasn’t made that much of a splash.
That’s all for this instalment. We’re always keen to hear your thoughts and opinions on topics we blog about, and those we don’t. Please get in touch, comment below or tweet at us.
