{"id":257120,"date":"2017-07-27T06:08:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T13:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/css-tricks.com\/?p=257120"},"modified":"2020-02-24T17:00:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T00:00:04","slug":"browser-statistics-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/browser-statistics-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Browser Statistics That Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever had a web development related conversation discussion where someone brought up global browser usage statistics? I might be a little weird, but I\u2019d say I at least overhear a conversation like just about every day:<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to use FANCY NEW FEATURE, but it\u2019s not supported SOME BROWSER (probably old Internet Explorer) and GLOBAL MARKET SHARE of it is still 7.62%<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good on ya for considering the spectrum of browser usage on your web site. But there is a bit of a logic breakdown here. The global market share of any particular browser is irrelevant to whether you can use a feature or not. The browser statistics that matter are the browser usage statics of your web site, and nobody else\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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There is quite a bit of variance<\/h3>\n

The reason you can\u2019t use global statistics as a stand-in for your own is that they could be wildly wrong. Even keeping a wide-angle lens here, different continents (and even countries) have different breakdowns in usage. Zoom in a little and different industries and markets have different breakdowns. Zoom all the way in and your website will have browser usage statistics totally unique to you.<\/p>\n

Sites like StatCounter that track the worldwide<\/a> browser market are fascinating, but I\u2019d argue largely exist as dinner party talk.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked with plenty of folks who design for intranets where the browser usage is very specific because of the computers that the company provides to employees. Just recently, I heard of one with over 50% IE 11 use. The global statistic of 3.71% is irrelevant to them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked with folks who have sites so hugely skewed to mobile it\u2019s their obvious top priority. On CSS-Tricks, I see about 6% on mobile, which has been that or less since mobile was a thing. I\u2019d say it\u2019s OK if we have a little different of priorities based on our individual data sets.<\/p>\n

What if you don\u2019t have the data?<\/h3>\n

Google Analytics is free. Slap it on the site for a few days. That\u2019s enough to get a good idea of what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

If the site doesn\u2019t exist yet, make educated guesses, and adjust as you go. You could probably ask around from folks who work on sites with some similarity to your new one.<\/p>\n

Remember, there is always some degree of chicken-or-egg. If you build an excellent mobile website, you\u2019ll see higher mobile traffic. Some people see increasing mobile traffic and then build a better mobile website to accommodate. Which came first? There is no obvious answer.<\/p>\n

And so\u2026<\/p>\n