Earlier this year James Weiner and Ben Welby wrote about the browsers and devices that we are supporting on GOV.UK. We made these decisions using browser/device data from various sources including Directgov, BusinessLink, central government departments and several other big sites.
Now that GOV.UK has been getting real traffic for a while, we are starting to gather our own usage data. I wanted to share quick snapshot of the data so far. The figures we've collected aren't much different from what we expected before launch.
All of this data is from 11th November to 11th December 2012.
| OS Type | Browser | Version | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 9 | 22.44% |
| Desktop | Chrome | 23 | 20.09% |
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 8 | 15.75% |
| iOS | Safari | 6 | 8.71% |
| Desktop | Firefox | 16 | 6.48% |
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 7 | 3.07% |
| Desktop | Safari | 6 | 2.81% |
| iOS | Safari | 5.1 | 2.32% |
| Android | Android Browser | 2.3 | 1.79% |
| Desktop | Firefox | 17 | 1.54% |
| Desktop | Safari | 5.1 | 1.42% |
| Android | Android Browser | 4 | 1.29% |
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 6 | 1.02% |
As expected, Internet Explorer is the top browser with around 42% of the traffic. IE9 is the most used version (22.4%) followed by Chrome (20.1%), IE8 (15.7%), Safari on iOS devices (8.7%) and Firefox 16 (6.4%).
In January around 3% of visitors to Directgov used IE6, this has dropped to just over 1% on GOV.UK.
This data looks at all of GOV.UK. If we extract out just the Inside Gov part of the site, the figures change quite a bit, reflecting the change in audience.
| OS Type | Browser | Version | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 8 | 24.96% |
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 9 | 19.7% |
| Desktop | Chrome | 23 | 18.22% |
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 7 | 6.57% |
| Desktop | Firefox | 16 | 6.29% |
| iOS | Safari | 6 | 5.8% |
| Desktop | Safari | 6 | 2.32% |
| Desktop | Internet Explorer | 6 | 1.64% |
| iOS | Safari | 5.1 | 1.6% |
| Desktop | Firefox | 17 | 1.46% |
| Desktop | Safari | 5.1 | 1.39% |
Internet Explorer is still the top browser but gets a much higher percentage of visits - around 53%. IE8 (not IE9) is the most used version (24.9%) followed by IE9 (19.7%), Chrome (18.2%), IE7 (6.5%), Firefox 16 (6.2%) and Safari on iOS devices (5.8%).
IE6 use is around 1.6% for Inside Gov traffic.
As we know this data is valuable to many people, including those outside government, we are planning to share these figures regularly, as we do with the GOV.UK Performance Dashboard. More on that soon.
9 comments
Comment by Howard Yates posted on
Having struggle to log on to the State Pension e-service using both Chrome and IE 11, I contacted the DWP Online Helpdesk.
I was disappointed by their reply which suggested I try logging on with Firefox as the problems I had experienced were "consistent with some users accessing the site using Safari, Internet Explorer 11 or Google Chrome".
How can a (supposed) public service be so restrictive?
Comment by Leigh Holly posted on
Is there any data for IE10 and IE11?
Comment by Dafydd Vaughan posted on
Hi Leigh,
The latest figures suggest that IE10 accounts for approx 4% of visitors and IE11 approx 10%. IE10 is on a downward trend while IE11 is trending upwards.
We also <a href="https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2014/01/28/browser-operating-system-and-screen-resolution-data-for-gov-uk/">published</a> some more recent data at the end of January.
I hope this helps.
Comment by p4j5n posted on
Is a more up-to-date release of these stats available? I've looked but can't find!
Comment by Phil Rumens posted on
Interesting to note the comparatively low use via mobile.
I suspect this isn't down to any problem with the site but the nature of services accessible through it.
Comment by Tom Loosemore posted on
Be aware there's a (very!) long tail of 'mobile' browsers, which if you add up gives around 19% of the total. That said, definition of 'mobile' gets trickier and trickier!
Comment by Phil Rumens posted on
Very true, which strengthens the case of the former in the Responsive vs separate mobile site debate.
Would be interesting to see the above stats broken down by device type.
Comment by Robert Pogson posted on
Interesting. Will you publish OS usage as well? I like the fact that many visitors do not use IE, a characteristic that increases their chances of using GNU/Linux by several times.
Comment by Frances Berriman posted on
Yeah - we have stats for that too. We'll hopefully give a permanent place for folks to go to see a break down of browsers, their OSs and devices.