Forum Moderators: open
MICROSOFT
Msie 6.0 No 44497 59.8 %
Msie 5.5 No 9885 13.2 %
Msie 5.22 No 960 1.2 %
Msie 5.21 No 111 0.1 %
Msie 5.16 No 1382 1.8 %
Msie 5.15 No 94 0.1 %
Msie 5.14 No 99 0.1 %
Msie 5.13 No 269 0.3 %
Msie 5.12 No 79 0.1 %
Msie 5.01 No 2565 3.4 %
Msie 5.0 No 6503 8.7 %
Msie 4.01 No 411 0.5 %
NETSCAPE 4043 5.4 %
Netscape 7.02 No 874 1.1 %
Netscape 7.01 No 534 0.7 %
Netscape 7.0 No 37 0 %
Netscape 6.2.2 No 133 0.1 %
Netscape 6.1 No 218 0.2 %
Netscape 5.0 No 1396 1.8 %
Netscape 4.8 No 119 0.1 %
Netscape 4.79 No 2 0 %
Netscape 4.76 No 1 0 %
Netscape 4.75 No 33 0 %
Netscape 4.73 No 406 0.5 %
Netscape 4.7 No 86 0.1 %
Netscape 4.5 No 22 0 %
Netscape 4.08 No 131 0.1 %
Netscape 4.07 No 1 0 %
Netscape 4.0 No 1 0 %
Netscape 3.0 No 49 0 %
OTHERS
Unknown? 2033 2.7 %
Safari No 936 1.2 %
Galeon No 240 0.3 %
Opera No 195 0.2 %
WebTV browser No 75 0.1 %
Konqueror No 9 0 %
iCab No 1 0 %
So far I have only personally tested my site on IE 4.01, 5.5 and 6.0, and Netscape 7.0. Do I need to worry about all the other versions of these products, and how do I test for these "other" browsers safari/icab/Opera etc... should I be letting this keep me up at night?
Even if you're not going to test cross-browser, it's certainly worth validating if only to ensure the site will (should!) render correctly in future browser releases.
R.
There's no feeling quite like visiting with someone, pulling up your "gem" of a site on their system, and seeing something really wonky. It's been really important for me to test on the Macintosh OS - and even with validated code, that's where my nastiest surprises have been.
I now have regular access to several Macs, but a few years ago I didn't. But after seeing how awful Mac browsers could be (often barely related to their Windows cousin) I bought a used system and that investment was worth every penny.
Apple's Safari (only for Mac OS X 10.2+) is gaining market share very fast - and it's only a buggy beta at present. It's still faster and more usable than most of what has been tossed off to the Macintosh user, especially those awful versions of IE.
But still Safari has some js and css shortcomings. It's worth the effort to get in at least an occasional session - even if you need to go to a place where you can just buy some online time.
While I'm rambling on about the subject of testing, there are two areas that are worth checking out that are not browser-related: change the color depth and change the system font size. These factors are often overlooked, and they can upset the cart just as much as a browser bug.
As for iCab and the likes of OmniWeb... you could waste years of your life attempting to support those browsers, and the number of people that use them are actually very small. OmniWeb (not sure about iCab) costs money, and they both only run on MacOS, which cuts them down to 3%. Then, as most Mac users will now use either IE or Safari (whith Netscape, Camino etc. next), the OmniWeb/iCab usage is probably about 0.1%.
Opera is the worlds 3rd most popular browser.
I got quite a tickle from that statement.
It is true, for sure, but with barely a 2 - 3% worldwide usage I couldn't use the phrase "most popular" in conjunction with Opera. Aside from the geek community and a few universities, Opera is not a Joe Browser product.
with barely a 2 - 3% worldwide usage
Not sure where you get that stat from.
Actual usage of Opera is very hard to judge since most Opera users set it to identify itself as IE6 (to avoid 'Fear and Loathing' messages from badly written websites such as online banking).
From what I see, Opera is on that kind of track, although market penetration seems to build more slowly for a browser than a search engine. In the last two months I've run across Opera on some very "Joe Browser" machines. In each case I hear something like "my cousin designs websites and told me about it."
If they don't make a serious mis-step, I think they could hit critical mass and pop exponentially.
But with the competition being massive and offering their product for free, it doesn't stand a chance.
A great shame, but proven business reality.
TJ
By default Opera is set to ID as MSIE. Your Stat program does not read the full agent string and simply adds these Opera users to the MSIE6 tally.
Your true Opera stats are likely to be in the 1.5% (+/-)range... and growing.
I would definitely say Opera has broken ranks from the 'GEEK' crowd and is rapidly gaining popularity with the 'Joe Browser' crowd. I base this on logfile studies; many "non-geek" referrals are surfing in on Opera.
One other thing. Opera has an obvious "cool" factor going on... Look for the "in" crowd to begin to switch. It's tha features BABY!
As Brett once said, the free Opera browser is "adware done right."
However, no matter how good it is, until MS lets go of the desktop, there will be one browser, for all intents and purposes. Like it or not, IE is the deFacto standard, despite what the W3C wants to do. Any product that controls nearly 90% of a world-wide market is the standard.
On my tech support lines, the first question I usually ask is "What browser and version are you using?" and the most common response is "What is a browser?". No joke. The average user knows about the Internet, and knows that if they double click the big blue E on their computer screen they can see the internet. There is nothing to download, nothing to install, and it works.
So, despite OUR love of Opera and dislike for MS, the sad truth is that essentially there are no other browsers for the time being.
Personally, I would love to see something come along to rival MSIE, and for CSS, JS and HTML to work the same exact way across all browsers, which even with Opera 7 and NS 7 is just not the case.
[edited by: tedster at 8:45 am (utc) on June 12, 2003]
There is a free version, supported by easy-to-take advertising -- and you can choose the topics.
That's not the same as free.
I do love Opera (I'll even live with the way it does tables ;-)) but I can't see it being in with a chance of competing against the big boys offering massive resources (which means fast development) and with a free product.
TJ
Thus Opera = free.
I think Tim Berners-Lee would say here that we should not be thinking about browsers, but creating proper markup that works for everyone - access for all.
Thus Opera = free.
It isn't free - you have to either buy it, or subscribe to advertisements. I don't see either of those as "free".
Free = free!
Advertising nagware <> free!
As for your last paragraph, I agree with the sentiment entirely!
TJ
regards,
Mark
Yes it has adverts. But I don't pay to view them. I can even remove them entirely by pressing F11 to go fullscreen.
"Which part don't you understand?"
lol
I think we just have a different definition of the true meaning of "free". You're thinking of it purely in monetary terms.
But invading my desktop with adverts is not, in my mind, "free". The price you pay is having the advertising.
TJ
And by having so much of the world's information going through IE, we have a nearly disastrous concentration of resources. That's always a bad situation in any area, and on the web it makes the world ripe for malicious activities, which we all pay for one way or another.
The next version of IE is embedded in Windows completely. So you will have to pay to use it!
Well, that's unlikely to do MS any harm!
But you never know, maybe this is Netscapes best opportunity?
TJ
