Web User Statistics

Perhaps the single most frustrating (or exciting, your choice) aspect of designing for the web is that every user is having a slightly different experience. By that I mean if you print a book, say, you can be sure that every copy, whether you print twenty or twenty thousand, is more or less the same. Not so on the web. Just a few of the variables:

There are many different web browsers available, each one of which has its own quirks. Current browsers include:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Camino
• Opera
• Netscape

Add to that platforms (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) and versions, and you start to get something like this:

Of those, there are probably just 4 or 5 in mass use, but still, let's throw a few more variables into the mix:

• Monitor size: does the user have a smallish monitor, perhaps on a laptop? Or a honking-big 24" iMac?
• Connection: does the user have a broadband or dial-up connection?
• Platform: is the user on a Mac or PC? If on Windows, is it XP or Vista? Are they using ClearType or not?
• Does the user have access to a particular media type, like QuickTime or Flash?

And, adding more complexity, your specific audience on any particular project is likely to be different from another site's audience. If you're designing something suitable for mobile users, a smaller monitor size is appropriate.

All of these things combined mean your user can be seeing something quite different from what you're seeing as you develop the site. Font metrics alone are so different on a Mac and a PC, you can align things quite nicely on one and then see it change quite a bit on the other platform. There's no simple formula to juggling all of these variables, it just helps to be a) informed and b) aware that how you see the website as the designer is not necessarily how the user will see it.

A summary of current browser usage statistics is available on wikipedia.