Webkit now more popular than Firefox

[takemehomegrandma]

Just wanted to highlight the fact that the Webkit browsers (Webkit also being the engine used in the MorphOS web browser Odyssey) now seems to be more popular than Firefox.

Webkit is very popular, due to (among other things):
-Its good performance
-Its good HTML5/CSS3 support and new standards
-Its fast development pace

In many ways, Webkit is leading the way, pushing the envelope. It's a very young browser engine, only a few years old, but it has *quickly* gained ground and popularity. I guess it doesn't hurt having the two giants Apple and Google pushing it forward!

But just how much ground has it gained in these few years?

Well, individual statistics may vary depending on source, but if you weight various sources together it seems that the Webkit based Chrome and Safari browsers beat Firefox in popularity some time during December 2011.

Here is statistics from W3Counter (click to enlarge):



This shows how the Webkit browsers positions themselves way ahead of Firefox, and actually just a mere 1.1% from Internet Explorer.

Here are some statistics from StatCounter Global Stats (click to enlarge):



This graph shows how the Webkit Chrome browser *alone* is bigger than Firefox, also see news about it here (from 1st December, 2011):
http://gs.statcounter.com/press/chrome-overtakes-firefox-globally-for-first-time

If you add Safari on top of Chrome, the Webkit graph for December 2011 would rise to 33.35%, only a mere 5% below IE.

The graphs go back a full year, and you can clearly spot the trend for both Webkit and Firefox.

And according to this site, the Chrome browser version 15 even knocked Internet Explorer 8 off the throne as *THE* most popular web browser in the world, see news about it here (from 15th December, 2011):
http://gs.statcounter.com/press/chrome-15-becomes-worlds-most-popular-browser

These first two sources of statistics are examples of *mainstream* statistics, measuring all kinds of *general* users. But here is a graph I put together myself, based on the data found on Browser Statistics on W3Schools (click to enlarge):



This data comes from the world's biggest reference site for Web Developers, always top-ranked in Google searches for HTML/CSS/JS etc info. I would guess that this is probably why Internet Explorer scored relatively low; Web Developers and advanced users have traditionally avoided IE (because its reluctance to follow standards and doesn't keep up in current development) and they have preferred Firefox, much because of the flexible and useful developer tools you can use with this browser.

But in December 2011 the Webkit has taken over also in this population! And the trend, ranging back two whole years, speaks its clear language!

This is the engine used in Fabien Coeurjoly's *excellent* web browser Odyssey! It is extremely fun, coming from the Amiga heritage where you have been in the back-water of the computer industry since 1995, to see how a MorphOS browser displays CSS3 *better* than Internet Explorer 9, but in "the iBrowse style", with all the tools you need and with the native MUI GUI, the configuration possibilities, Arexx, etc.

*Extremely* satisfactory!

:pint:

[takemehomegrandma]

Firefox does what I need, doesn't do anything else that would annoy me

While Firefox 9 indeed shows HTML5/CSS3 better than IE9, it's almost just as slow. It takes forever to start and feels incredibly bulky.

IMHO of course...

[takemehomegrandma]

On newer Windows systems I've never noticed any performance problems with it.

I have a Win7/Core-i7 system. Never said that Firefox speed was a *problem*, only that Chrome (and Safari for that matter) is much faster and I prefer that when I have a choice. And so does most other people, as of December 2011.

[takemehomegrandma]

Agree with everything here.

Chrome may be a very good browser but AFAIK it is also a very good piece of spyware, don't people see this?

Maybe because the flip-side is that it helps the browser/google to intelligently present you various suggestions in many shapes and forms which actually helps you and improves your browsing experience a lot, and people care more about this? I use Chrome on every computer that supports it. It's an awesome browser! I use the other browsers only for reference, to see if my web pages look alright...

[takemehomegrandma]

Webkit is not more popular than Firefox here in Turkey. In fact people don't know what Webkit is.

They don't have to know what Webkit is, not many does, but many are probably very familiar with the names "Safari" and "Chrome".

(Turkish MorphOS users definitely uses the Webkit in the shape of the Odyssey browser )

[takemehomegrandma]

Wait, wait, all you have to do to justify spying now is claim you're doing it to help people? Well damn, have I got a new hobby!

I wouldn't use the term "spying on you", but rather "learning about your preferences" since this is what it does, it's not scanning your hard drive trying to find your personal ultra-secret documents you are hiding there somewhere. That's spying. See the difference?

A supplier learning things about you isn't always bad per se. A barber learning how you would want your hair cut, can make you visit a little easier as you don't have to explain the same thing over and over again. A restaurant learning you would know that you you prefer meat with potato Gratin, and would open this page of the menu before handing it over. They would know that you prefer beer instead of wine, so they would hand over you the beer list opened and the wine list closed on the table, just in case you changed your mind. the chef would know you want your stake medium rare, that you never eats any mushrooms so he replaces those with some asparagus that he knows you like, and then he would put on some extra red wine sauce. A clothing store that knows you, would suggest only black or dark colored clothes as long as you don't say you want something different, they would walk you past the fancy suits section and show you directly to the hood shirts. The rest of the shop is still there of course, but if you only want to look at the things that really interest you, then this make your life easier.

CRM was here long before computers and the Internet, but it's more effective now. Done right, it's a win-win situation for both the customer/visitor and the supplier.


Of course I know that some people are more paranoid than others, and I guess this is the reason of the browser Chromium that is the same browser as Chrome, but *without* Google's branding, auto-update mechanism, click-through licensing terms, usage-tracking, the built-in PDF viewer and Adobe Flash Player. And please note that this browser uses exactly the same user agent identification string (it identifies itself as being Chrome (because essentially it is)), so this browser is included in the statistics above. If you didn't know about this and want to read about it, go here, or here.

Personally, I still prefer Chrome though, because I don't feel its spying on me but *aiding* me based on my preferences, making my Web Browsing a bit easier and better.

I find Facebook being a far much bigger threat to my integrity, but I use that as well...

[takemehomegrandma]

Don't really care, but Chrome does run my html 5 a bit faster than FF.

Have to admit that I kinda like IE 9, it seems to do the same things now, that Chrome and Firefox do.

IE9 still lacks important CSS3 rules, as you'll learn the hard way sooner or later if you develop websites. Just the other week I was going to use the text-shadow CSS rule. Worked fine in all major browsers, but of course not in IE9.

And it's slower than slow.