Use of Netscape 4.7

how widespread is it?

[seindal]

I regularly see users of Netscape 4.7 in my logs, with a user-agent such as:

Mozilla/4.73C-CCK-MCD {C-UDP; EBM-APPLE} (Macintosh; U; PPC)

I have gone through some ordeal to make my site work minimally (and I mean minimally - it is not pretty) with such ancient browsers, mostly because I noticed that the users are generally from rather large organisations, like major universities and big corporations, that I don't want to send away.

My stats say about 3% of my users are using Netscape 4.7, many on macs but also some on windows. Is that representative?

What would be the common profile of a Netscape 4.7 user as of Anno Domini 2002?

The browsing experience much be horrible with loads of broken and awfully looking sites (like mine).

Rene.

PS
My site is on ancient history, so maybe I shouldn't complain about ancient browsers :)

[martinibuster]

I think it depends on the subject of your web site. If your site attracts older folks, then I think you will tend to see more 4.7 users.

It would be safe to assume that those who use 4.7 are not technologically saavy enough to upgrade because they are older and don't want to deal with technology. That's my deduction based on what I've seen. Nothing scientific.

If you are a hip site, with Flash animations etc. then you probably might see less of it.

3% sounds close to what I've seen on an eccommerce site.

[bobriggs]

I'm starting up my popcorn popper to watch this, unless everyone's tired of the same subject.

Your stats are very close to mine: if I see a 4.7 browser, it's usually on a Mac (and I'd say anywhere from 80 to 90%)

You're going to get some purists here that will say that the site should look exactly the same to them as as on IE6 and Mozilla and Opera. But my opinion is that you should forget it. They're used to seeing crummy pages. Also, there are some corp entities that require it, so you won't get away from that either. As long as they can get the info they need, I wouldn't worry about it.

I agree with the statement about ancient history. As long as you're not selling anything and need to be flashy, let it be.

[pageoneresults]

Here is a great resource that is updated weekly in regards to Browser Statistics [upsdell.com].

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics"
- Benjamin Disraeli (quoted by Mark Twain).

[edited by: pageoneresults at 8:59 pm (utc) on Nov. 27, 2002]

[DrCool]

I use Netscape 4.7 probably 90% of the time. There are a lot of sites that just don't look right but I can't bring myself to use Explorer. There is something about Explorer that I don't like but I am not sure exactly what it is.

I have been using Opera more and more and eventually will probably switch over to that. It seems that everyday I come across more and more sites that look terrible in Netscape.

[Sinner_G]

Not only depends on the subject of the site, but also on the location. In general, Europe is more NS4 'friendly' than the States. Here in Switzerland, I have seen sites with up to 30% Netscape users, most of which 4.7.

[seindal]

My site is in Europe, but my visitors are 50/50 European/American, and I have the impression that most of the NN4 users are from the US, mostly big universities.

Maybe I get a disproportionate part of my traffic from academia because of the subject matter. I don't know.

René

[indiechild]

DrCool: you could also try Mozilla/Netscape 7 if you don't like the feel of Internet Explorer.

Opera 7 looks very promising as well.