Browser statistics

Which browsers and operating systems do people use to surf your website in Belgium? 

Is Firefox catching up with Internet Explorer? Is Chrome as popular with housewives as it is with geeks?

And what about the Mac guys and girls? Are they going to take over the world at last?

Browser market share

General figures

With almost 70%, Internet Explorer is still pretty much king. Firefox has managed to convince around 1 out of 5 people to go with their browser. Chrome and Safari follow at a great distance.

Internet Explorer statistics

The question I know you’re all waiting for: so what about Internet Explorer 6? The percentages in the image below show the division between the different versions of IE.  

Translated to the general figures, that means:

• IE 8: 8,41% of the total number of visitors
• IE 7: 51,71% of the total number of visitors
• IE 6: 9,38% of the total number of visitors

IE 6 is still used by more people than Chrome, Safari and Opera combined. Despite all the efforts of webdesigners and some websites to convince IE 6 users to upgrade.

Firefox statistics

Within the group of Firefox users a little over 50% uses version 3.5 or higher. Around 48% uses version 3.xx. Only 2% still uses version 2.

Operating systems

Less important than browser statistics but still interesting to know.

  Within the Windows group 54,67% uses XP. Vista is at 41,58% and NT still has 2,25% of diehard fans. Windows 95 is only used by 5 people living in caves. Or possible a cave, the same one.

Link between operating system and browser

Do all Windows users use Internet Explorer? And do all Steve Jobs fans use Safari?

Where do these figures come from?

The figures come from a very big Belgian website (we’re talking top 10 here). They date from August 15th 2009 till September 15th 2009.

The site in question (no, I can’t tell you which site exactly) had over a million visitors during that period. So the figures are pretty representative for Belgium.

What’s the impact of these figures on your website?

• Make sure your website works in the following browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 8
  • Internet Explorer 7
  • Internet Explorer 6
  • Firefox 3 and higher
  • Chrome
  • Safari 3 and 4
• Government sites have to be accessible for everybody. That’s why we advise them not only to make sure that their site works in IE 6 but that the site also looks good. Not pixelperfect, but good.
• You’re a private company? Then you should ask yourself what you stand to gain or lose by not making your site compatible with IE 6. Will it hurt your business if your site doesn’t look perfect to IE 6 users? Or do you make a point of treating all your customers the same?
• Ask your web builder what it would cost to make your website IE 6 compatible. If your website isn’t bogged down with loads of frills, it shouldn’t be all that hard.