Tips on Targeting Your Audience's Tech

A statistical snapshot from January/February 2004

By Matthew Stanton, Metromemetics LLC
(first posted 02/27/2004; updated 03/19/2004)

All mass media creators target audiences for their products, but with new media, the end-user's technology is as big a factor as their demographics, geography, expectations, brand loyalty, and other typical profile factors.

The following charts illustrate a snapshot of American industry norms facing new media designers reaching audiences through the World Wide Web. When using these charts to make design decision, consider not just what the majority it using, but also what the price for failure will be. For example, if a user's browser does not support the correct version of Flash, how badly will their experience be affected? Can they still access the Web site's content? If not, are they given an adaquate substitution?

Browsers

		75%		Internet Explorer 6.x (including current AOL, Opera)
		18%		Internet Explorer 5.x (including some previous AOL)
		4%		Netscape 5.x (including Mozilla, Firefox, Safari, etc.)
		3%		Something else (old Opera, Lynx, spiderbots, etc.)

Sources: WebReference.com, TheCounter.com, W3 Schools, LeanWebDesign.com, and private server records.

Stanton's recommendation: Follow standard HTML and CSS as closely as possible; you can check your work using W3C's MarkUp Validator. The various browser makers have gotten much better at supposting true markup standards, and never trust that any design will appear or perform the same between two browsers, even between versions. Also, see Webmonkey's browser chart for details on was is - and more importantly, is not - supported in each browser.

Operating Systems

		62%		Windows 2000/XP
		24%		Windows 98/ME
		5%		Windows NT
		2.5%		Macintosh OS 9/OS X
		1.5%		Windows 95
		5%		Something else (UNIX, Linux, Windows 3.x, etc.)

Sources: W3 Schools and private server records.

Stanton's recommendation: As above for browsers, rely on standard HTML and CSS. Windows continues to dominate, and since Microsoft claims to no longer offer Internet Explorer separate from its operating system, chances are good that IE will remain most Windows users' default browser. In addition, IE's integration with Microsoft Office allows users to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly within their browser windows. Users who do not have Office tied to IE will have to download such documents as individual files.

Connection Speeds

According to Nielsen//NetRatings, 38% of all home Internet users as of January 2004 connect to the Internet via broadband with either a digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable connection. That leaves 62% of home users on dial-up modem connections, receiving data at approximately 2 kilobytes per second; a typical 50k Web page thus takes about 25 seconds to load completely.

Stanton's recommendation: As always, base design decisions on your target audience.

For a workplace audience, assume users will have a shared broadband connection during American business hours (7 a.m. EST through 6 p.m PST). The "shared" part of that "broadband" connection is a wildcard: Office networks during peak times - the morning e-mail check, the lunch hour Web surf - can bog down to worse than dial-up performance.

For home users, wait a few months for the tipping point. Price points will continue to separate households into broadband haves and have-nots.

In either case, follow a tiered approach but don't fear offering broadband-only content. Aim your entry homepage at an ideal 30k threshold, or as small as possible, to avoid alienating home users; the "wait no longer than 8 seconds" behavior translates into a scant 16k load. Provide links to broadband content with an appropriate warning or, better yet, a choice of file sizes. Provide and clearly label mission-critical content available in lean dial-up sized formats.

Display Resolutions

		47%		1024x768
		37%		800x600
		10%		Bigger than 1024x768
		5%		Smaller than 640x480
		1%		640x480

Source: W3 Schools.

Stanton's recommendation: Make your design work within 770 pixels width. Even through the majority has 1024x768 room, many browsers have an optional left-side navigation window which reduces the Web page display pane into 800 pixels width. Staying at 770 pixels gives the right edge plenty of room for the browser window's scrollbars.

In terms of height, users are not afraid to scroll down, but as always, the most critical elements of a design, whether for visual impact or useability, should be high on the layout to avoid falling "below the fold" of the first screen. Users decide to stay on a page based on what they can see at first glance.

Color Depth

		65%		Millions (16,777,216 colors)
		37%		Thousands (65,536 colors)
		10%		256 Colors or less

Source: W3 Schools.

Stanton's recommendation: Design for millions of colors, but understand everyone's monitor to be calibrated differently. For example, gamma settings for PC monitors tend to be noticeably darker than Macintosh displays. True color matching is simply impossible.

Javascript

		90%		Yes, Javascript is enabled
		10%		No, Javascript disabled or not supported

Source: W3 Schools.

Stanton's recommendation: Use Javascript, but don't rely on it. Many users resort to disabling Javascript in their browsers if for no other reason than to thwart cookies or stop popup windows. Use the <noscript> tag for alternative content where needed.

Flash

According to Macromedia's Web site, more than 90% of U.S. Web users have a modern version of the Flash Player installed with their browser. While the animation and scripting power of Flash is a great tool for designers, its potential for abuse has lead to sharp criticism about its usability.

Stanton's recommendation: Use Flash only when it meaningfully adds to content in one of more of the following ways (suggested by Jakob Nielsen):

• Shows continuity in transitions (step A leads to step B).
• Indicates dimensionality in transitions (show direction with movement).
• Illustrates change over time.
• Multiplexes the display (show lots of information in a small space by hiding info until needed, like popups).
• Enriches graphical representations (show, don't tell).
• Visualizes three-dimensional structures (rotate 2D point-of-view).
• Attracts attention ("Hey, that's cool!").

In terms of giving non-Flash users an alternative, Flash expert Colin Moock offers a veery workable Flash detection script from his Web site which redirects a user's browser to one of three outcomes: a Flash page, a flash upgrade page, or a no-Flash page.