SEO Expert Blog

Statistics provide important information for web developers, designers and search engine optimizers. The W3Schools' Browser Statistics page can be used as a reference on the usage of browsers, operating systems, screen resolutions, color depths, and JavaScript support. The data used for calculating the figures displayed is extracted from their own log files as well as other sources for better reliability.

Though "global" averages may be misleading in certain cases the statistical data on this page conveys important information to consider when planning, developing, designing, and optimizing websites. As of May 2006 Internet Explorer 6 with 56.7% is still by far the dominant browser followed by Firefox with 25.7%. Developers and designers who care about web standards compliance may be discouraged by these figures but have to face the facts.

The Windows family of operating systems is even more dominant with a share of 90% (April 2006) clearly outnumbering Linux and Mac. More important: only 17% of the users have a screen resolution higher than 1024x768. Considering the increasing popularity of mobile devices, such as laptops and smartphones, and personal digital assistants smaller resolutions will need to be supported in the future as well.

Another fact to consider is that JavaScript is turned of by 10% of the users (January 2006). Though technologies like AJAX can really enhance user experience and decrease server load, solely relying on these technologies without providing alternatives such as HTML only navigation keeps away those users and may result in search engines not spidering such websites.