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Browser Market Share Data Comparison
Jun 12, 2014Web and InternetComments (0)
When viewing browser market share data at sites like StatCounter, NetMarketShare, or W3Schools, be very mindful that this data may not be accurate for your website. Different websites attract different types of users, and the browsers people use can vary greatly from one site to another. To give you a visual example, here is a comparison of the browser market share between this website (h3xed.com) and the website for a boating/recreational company (harbormarine.net):
h3xed.com
A website focused on programming, PC gaming, and web-related topics.
harbormarine.net
The website for a boating/recreational retail company.
They are very different. Most people accessing this website (h3xed.com) are using Chrome or Firefox on a PC or Mac, while most people accessing the company website (harbormarine.net) are using Internet Explorer on a PC or Safari on an iPhone.
When developing your website, you may be tempted to use browser market share data to decide what browsers you should build for, and which ones you might be able to ignore. My advice is to not use other website's market share data since it could be drastically different. Once you've established good traffic for your website, you can use Google Analytics or another analytics provider to determine what the real browser market share is for your website.
If you're just starting out and don't have traffic yet, it's best to make a simple website that can work well on all browsers.
Here is the data in a table:
h3xed.com
A website focused on programming, PC gaming, and web-related topics.
harbormarine.net
The website for a boating/recreational retail company.
They are very different. Most people accessing this website (h3xed.com) are using Chrome or Firefox on a PC or Mac, while most people accessing the company website (harbormarine.net) are using Internet Explorer on a PC or Safari on an iPhone.
When developing your website, you may be tempted to use browser market share data to decide what browsers you should build for, and which ones you might be able to ignore. My advice is to not use other website's market share data since it could be drastically different. Once you've established good traffic for your website, you can use Google Analytics or another analytics provider to determine what the real browser market share is for your website.
If you're just starting out and don't have traffic yet, it's best to make a simple website that can work well on all browsers.
Data Table
Here is the data in a table:
| Site | Chrome | Firefox | IE | Safari | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| h3xed.net | 55.5% | 22.4% | 7.0% | 9.8% | 5.3% |
| harbormarine.net | 25.1% | 11.6% | 30.9% | 25.3% | 7.2% |