There was a post made in the html forum stating that 40% of his website viewers used Internet Explorer. 83% of my viewers use Firefox. I was wondering if those of you providing websites could take a peak and see which browser is most used to view your site. I am just curious as to the differences. Any ideas on what might cause the difference?

If your sites in your signature are your sites that have 83% Firefox usage, the difference is probably that your users are probably web developers or in the tech crowd, groups which are far more likely to have Firefox than the general population.

Never trust browser statistics too much apart from the ones you get on your own site. Generally, the overall Firefox usage is supposed to be somewhere between 15% and perhaps 25%, while Internet Explorer (6 and 7) makes up the vast majority of the rest with Opera and Safari having a couple of percent each.

Wikipedia has an article that compares that statistics of leading websites with each other which you might find useful. However, the statistics of other sites don't really matter too much if you can see quite clearly the trend of browser usage on your own site. As VirtuosiMedia said, different types of users use different sites and you are probably attracting a large tech crowd if 83% of your users are using Firefox.

Dan

So, basically the standard is IE and I just have an odd-ball site.

Originally Posted by PC Catastrophe

So, basically the standard is IE and I just have an odd-ball site.

Exactly Your site just attracts a tech-crowd obviously who use Firefox mostly rather than IE.

yes.. it depends on your site's topic.
if your site is IT related, I think firefox browser will get higher percentage.

I run a travel site and 80% of my visitors using ie

I don't understand why anyone uses IE. It sucks so bad compared to firefox, and even worse compared to safari.

My family uses Firefox. I guess it's helps because I'm a techie. It also helps that IE tries to run your life.

I think techie users also tell their family, friends and anyone who says please, please help me with my computer problem to use Firefox.

73.33% Firefox
25.83% IE

That's from a UK modified car website I help run. Not exactly the techie crowd.

Originally Posted by joder

I think techie users also tell their family, friends and anyone who says please, please help me with my computer problem to use Firefox.

This is the truth! Nearly everyone I know I have converted to Firefox. Every computer I work on I instruct them to use Firefox.

Brandy I wouldn't say you have an oddball site, just one that appeals to people who prefer Firefox.

IE is still the market leader. I agree with Dan that you can't really trust all the numbers since they do vary widely, but most of the stats I see would put overall use of IE at around 80%, FF around 15%, Safari, Opera, and Konquerer each have a smaller share and then there's everything else.

FF users tend to be more tech savvy so tech sites usually end up with more FF users. I'd guess more than 15% of us here use FF.

My site I usually get an even split. Maybe 45% use FF, 40% use IE and then 15% for the others. I also have a higer % of Mac users so Safari is more represented than it might be in general.

When making decisions about design/development always defer to your own stats and not the general.

Originally Posted by VirtuosiMedia

If your sites in your signature are your sites that have 83% Firefox usage, the difference is probably that your users are probably web developers or in the tech crowd, groups which are far more likely to have Firefox than the general population.

Pretty much. If your webpage is frequently used by middle to older-aged women or men that aren't too tech savy, IE is what they use.

Wheras if your site is frequented by people who know their way around a computer, they know firefox is better.

Originally Posted by Mecca

Pretty much. If your webpage is frequently used by middle to older-aged women or men that aren't too tech savy, IE is what they use.

Wheras if your site is frequented by people who know their way around a computer, they know firefox is better.

I agree with that, most "up to date" computer users have found firefox is a better choice and will use it.

Mint shows me this for my Mustang forum:

70% Internet Explorer
24% Firefox
5% Safari

Google analytics tells me that 63% use Firefox, 32% use IE, 3% use Safari, 2% use Opera, and the rest is other. This is for my World of Warcraft Forum.

My main site is 42% FF, 36% IE and 22% Safari. That's actually alot closer spread than I imagined. My blog is primarily a tech blog though, with many articles about FF so take from this what you can.

IE still has the majority, but not much on my site. (I use FireFox!)

It's definitely a demographic issue. Most mainstream folks (can you believe that?) still don't know what Firefox even is. Your site isn't "oddball," but it just attracts the tech-savvy people above all others. Consider that a compliment!

My site is a mountain bike trail site.
I only get about 1000 unique visits per month, but here is the spread...

1 Internet Explorer 836 38.42%
2 Mozilla 365 16.77%
3 Google Robot 357 16.41%
4 Yahoo Robot 203 9.33%
5 Netscape 163 7.49%
6 Ask Jeeves Robot 96 4.41%

-C