Third most used browser?

what is it?

[hayluke]

I am putting some technical information on my site about what browsers my site users will need (and what a browser is etc). One thing I would like to put is the top three browsers currently in use.

The top two are obviously IE and Netscape but which one is third? Is it Opera? Does the much loved AOL make up the top three? Or is it another one of the lesser used browsers?

Thanks,

luke

[EliteWeb]

Id say Opera

[TallTroll]

Gotta be AOL, surely. We might all prefer Opera (and I know there are issues with ID Opera sometimes) but there are more AOL users than you can shake a hairy stick at.

On those sites where I check the stats, I see IE, then AOL, then NS as the top 3

Could depend on the target audience of your site though. Opera would be more likely on a technically sophisticated site

BTW, see Googles Zeitgeist page [google.com] for details of browsers used to query Google (mostly different IE versions). Look at the IE6 trace. Scared yet?

[Brett_Tabke]

AOL is not a browser, it is rebranded IE. The #3 browser is Netscape - right behind #1 IE and #2 Opera.

[Key_Master]

I'd also vote for Opera at #3.

[hayluke]

Thanks for the replies.. it is not a site aimed at technical users but it is aimed at business users. I guess AOL is possibly used for home use rather then business use.

Oh, and I forgot to mention before it's aimed at a UK audience, not sure if that makes much difference.

Thanks again,

[EliteWeb]

Like he said AOL is branded IE. Although you think since they own NS they would use that....

[seth_wilde]

StatMarket just did a "featured statistic" (free) about browsers in Mid Dec, but they've already changed that page over to OS wars...

They had #1 IE #2 Netscape #3 Opera

This is all I could scrape from the email (they made you go to there site for exact stats)

Microsoft and Netscape Still Dominating Browser War, but Opera Holds Its Own, According to WebSideStory's StatMarket.

Opera Browser Accounts for Less Than 1% of the Global Market, But Has a Significantly Higher Usage Share In Some European Countries…

[Brett_Tabke]

I do not believe that Stat Market can correctly identify Opera. Opera hits go in as ie with them.

[Son_House]

The last four months at our site show IE, Netscape and Opera.

[Key_Master]

<<<I do not believe that Stat Market can correctly identify Opera. Opera hits go in as ie with them.>>>

I might be missing something, but what's so hard about sorting Opera hits from Explorer hits? My web tracker identifies User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 98) Opera 6.0 [en] as Browser: Opera 6.0 (MSIE 5.0 Emulation). Are you saying that Opera uses a straight MSIE agent with no reference to Opera?

[Air]

More likely is that older tracking software finds a reference to MSIE in the User Agent, identifies it as IE and considers it's job done.

[Brett_Tabke]

Exactly air. Especially when you use javascript to drive a counter. Check the agent response sometime from Opera.

They just don't get it right KM. There was a post around here a bit ago from ExtremeTracking of one of my client sites that I visit daily - not an Opera hit to be seen in the tracking.

The 5 faces of Opera:
Opera/6.01 (Windows 98; U) [en]
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows 98; U) Opera 6.01 [en]
Mozilla/4.78 (Windows 98; U) Opera 6.01 [en]
Mozilla/3.0 (Windows 98; U) Opera 6.01 [en]
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 98) Opera 6.01 [en]

Additionally, when set in IE mode, it runs IE javascript. Thus triggering IE js counters.
When in Mozilla mode, it runs netscape code. Triggering NS counters.
When in native Opera mode, it runs the Opera code first, and if not present, it runs the Netscape code next. Again triggering Netscape counters again.

Thus, unless the code is fairly intelligent, they screw it up right at the js level and count Opera as something else.

[Crazy_Fool]

theres a pretty good bunch of statistics here:
[thecounter.com...]
i believe these stats are from the million or so sites that use their free hit counter.
it's interesting to note the decline in usage of netscrap over the last 2 years.

i've noticed a tiny increase in the number of webtv users on my sites over the last year. i think this could be big within the next couple of years or so, but i also think that webtv "browsers" will have to fall into line with existing website design practices rather than websites having to be built for webtv.

[Key_Master]

Ok Brett, I see what you mean. I would never would rely on a JavaScript logger and I can see how an old tracker would miss Opera hits. That's what makes a plugin option so useful in web tracking software.

As far as Opera hits go on my site, it usually runs 1.5 - 2 percent of my visitors, consistently. WebTV visits can run equal percentages but the visits are erratic and I think this service is on the decline (slated for the DOTCOM MORGUE).

I have seen a big increase in PDA browsers. It's hard to connect each user agent with a specific device though.

[tedster]

>> WebTV ... slated for the DOTCOM MORGUE.

I'm not sure about that one. The biggest challenge for WebTV has been the ordinary TV CRT, which can't handle 640 pixels wide very well, to say nothing of 1024 on up.

But what happens as high definition screens and digital signals become the norm?

[andrey_sea]

1. IE - 90%
2. NS - 6%
3. Opera - 1%

[TallTroll]

>> AOL is not a browser, it is rebranded IE

Hmmm, I know what you mean, but they have fiddled with it sufficiently, I think there is a case for considering it separately to IE

Wasn't there a class action suit over v5 messing up peoples PCs or something?

[knighty]

1) Explorer - 85%
2) Netscape - 14%
3) Opera - 1% (and thats being generous)

[Robert Charlton]

>>But what happens as high definition screens and digital signals become the norm?<<

I'll bet that hi-def TV owners also own computers.

[GoV]

Greetings...

Before I give my stats on which browser comes in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Lets look at it this way. I bet it has to do with site content which browsers are used.

Example:
How many everyday people (lets call them "Users") How many users know about Opera? Not many!

How many techie aware people know about Opera? Many!

So based on this information, we have to think about site content. If I ran a techie site like Perl programming and such - I bet more Opera browsers would show more. If I my website was all about Martha Stewart *LOL then I would be willing to bet that Opera would not be as popular as say AOL.

So lets look at my findings..
-----------------------------------
I have several clients I develop sites for, one (record company) which gets over 300,000 hits a month. I show #1. Internet Explorer, #2. Netscape a close second. #3. is AOL! and that depends on the month - some months AOL comes in a number 2.

I would be interested in seeing what a tech sites hits show for browser access? Anyway have that info to show?