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You are here: Home / User-Computer Issues / OS, Browsers, Connecting

OS, Browsers, Connecting

Worldwide Operating Systems – Past Few Years
Worldwide Operating Systems – Past Year
United States Operating Systems – Past Few Years
United States Operating Systems – Past Year
Worldwide Mobile Operating Systems – Past Few Years
Worldwide Mobile Operating Systems – Past Year
United States Mobile Operating Systems – Past Few Years
United States Mobile Operating Systems – Past Year
Worldwide Browsers – Past Few Years
Worldwide Browsers – Past Year
United States Browsers – Past Few Years
United States Browsers – Past Year
Website Connectivity

 

Operating Systems (OS)

As you know, an ‘operating system’ is the software that controls the operation of a computer by directing the processing of programs, i.e., by controlling input and output functions, assigning storage space, etc. Even though at least a thousand operating systems have been developed over the years, only a very few of these are still being used today. We divided the data into ‘full operating systems’ that are used on desktop and laptop computers, and ‘mobile operating systems’ that are used on tablets, smartphones, etc. [http://gs.statcounter.com/]

Full Operating Systems

Worldwide Operating Systems – Past Few Years

The seven most commonly used operating systems in the world over the past few years are shown below. It is important to consider the trends. Obviously, some are losing market share, while others are gaining. Web developers should ensure that your sites work well on these operating systems, particularly those that are gaining market share.

World Operating Systems

Worldwide Operating Systems – Past Year

The seven most popular operating systems in the world in 2014 are shown below. Currently, developers should ensure that your sites work well on these operating systems, particularly Microsoft’s Windows 7, as well as others used by the majority of your users.

Worldwide Operating Systems

United States Operating Systems – Past Few Years

The seven most commonly used operating systems in the United States over the past few years are shown below. It is important to consider the trends. Obviously, some are losing market share, while others are gaining. Web developers should ensure that your sites work well on these operating systems, particularly those that are gaining market share.

US Operating Systems

United States Operating Systems – Past Year

The seven most popular operating systems in the United States in 2014 are shown below. Currently, developers should ensure that your sites work well on these operating systems, particularly Microsoft’s Windows 7, as well as others used by the majority of their users.

US Operating Systems

Mobile Operating Systems

Worldwide Mobile Operating Systems – Past Few Years

The eight most commonly used mobile operating systems in the world over the past few years are shown below. It is important to consider the trends. Obviously, some are losing market share, while others are gaining. Web developers whose sites are used on mobile devices should ensure that their sites work well on these operating systems.

Mobile Operating Systems

Worldwide Mobile Operating Systems – Past Year

The eight most popular mobile operating systems in the world in 2014 are shown below. Currently, developers should ensure that their mobile sites work well on these operating systems, particularly Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

Mobile Operating Systems

United States Mobile Operating Systems – Past Few Years

The eight most commonly used mobile operating systems in the United States over the past few years are shown below. It is important to consider the trends: some are losing market share, while others are gaining. Web developers whose sites are used on mobile devices should ensure that their sites work well on these operating systems.

Mobile operating systems

United States Mobile Operating Systems – Past Year

The eight most popular mobile operating systems in the United States in 2014 are shown below. Currently, developers should ensure that their sites work well on these operating systems, particularly Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

Mobile operating system - US

Browsers

A web ‘browser’ is a software application used to locate, retrieve and display Internet content. This can include web pages, text, images, sounds, and video. Entering a website’s address (URL) in the address window of a browser will bring up that website in the browser’s main window. [http://gs.statcounter.com/]

Worldwide Browsers – Past Few Years

The most commonly used browsers in the world over the past few years are shown below. It is important to consider the trends: some are losing market share, while others are gaining. Web developers should ensure that your sites work well on these browsers, particularly those that are gaining market share.

Worldwide Browsers

Worldwide Browsers – Past Year

The most popular browsers in the world in 2014 are shown below. Currently, developers should ensure that your sites work well on these browsers, particularly Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), as well as others used by the majority of your users.

Worldwide Browsers - Past Year

United States Browsers – Past Few Years

The most commonly used browsers in the United States over the past few years are shown below. It is important to consider the trends: some are losing market share, while others are gaining. Web developers should ensure that your sites work well on these browsers, particularly those that are gaining market share.

United States Browsers

United States Browsers – Past Year

The most popular browsers in the United States in 2014 are shown below. Currently, developers should ensure that your sites work well on these browsers, particularly Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), as well as others used by the majority of your users.

Browsers in United States

 

Website Connectivity

What should concern a user interface developer is the download speed of your website – primarily the homepage and other commonly used pages. Your download rate is based partially on design decisions you have made related to navigation, display and content issues. The main question is whether your site is downloading so slowly that it is irritating many of your users – particularly those in countries that have slower Internet connections.

Here is one way to obtain a better understanding of whether or not you have a ‘slow loading’ problem:

  1. Determine your own download speed using this speed test.
  2. Go to this NetIndex site to determine the average download speed of the countries that have a large number of people using your site. The large number at the top is the average worldwide download speed. The average download speed of each country is shown as you look down the page.
  3. For example, assume that you have many users in Bermuda, and that the measured download speed of your Internet connection is 28.79 Mbps. The NetIndex chart shows that the connectivity index for Bermuda is 6.4 Mbps – this is about 4.5 times slower than your computer (28.79/6.44=4.5).
  4. There is another tool (Charles) that you can use to simulate what it feels like to access your site in Bermuda.

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