Since I have seen some discussions about viewing and design of websites, I thought I would share the following breakdown of one month of hits on my website. I used these statistics to design and scale my site for optimal viewing on the majority of visitors computers. Since my visitors are likely to be the same cross-section as other train sites, you may find the information useful for your own site administration. For August 2000, I received 1,963 hits on my site. Below are the percentages of visitor configurations reported to me by Hit-o-meter. Browser used: MSIE 5.x 56% Netscape 4.x 29% MSIE 4.x 10% Others 5% Operating Platform: Win98 54% Win95 23% WinNT 15% Others 5% Mac 3% Screen Resolution: 800x600 51% 1024x768 24% 640x480 8% 1280x1024 2% other 15% Display Color: 16 bit 51% 32 bit 20% 24 bit 12% 8 bit 7% unreported 10% Based on this, I would conclude that the majority of visitors use MSIE 5.x, Windows 98, with a screen resolution of 800x600 set at 16 bit color. If I design my site to be viewed best at these settings, I know that over half of my site visitors are getting the most out of my site. Closer research says I will make even more people happy if I address any issues with Windows 95 and Netscape 4.x. If this post hasn't put you to sleep yet, feel free to add any further suggestions/comments. Just one person's humble opinion. ------------------ Kevin Stevens www.trainweb.org/KernJunction [This message has been edited by Kevin Stevens (edited 18 September 2000).]
Kevin, I have recently added this type of tracker to my Andersley Western site, and find the same sort of statistics you state. I was very surprised to see how many are still using 800 x 600. Must still be a lot of folks with small monitors, as 800 x 600 looks awful on my 17" monitor. In view of the findings, I did make a few changes to some of my sites, so the type of in-depth information provided by these trackers can be very helpful ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
Statistics can tell us many things... I have 2.3 children and 2.1 cars in my family. They also say that Sydney wanted the olympics(thats why 10's of thousands of people left the Sydney!), and that trains run on time = GARBAGE! At home and work, and anywhere I go, I personally use 1024x768 max colours. Any site I do is designed for 1024. BUT REMEMBER TO STATE BEST VIERED USING *x* and * colours ON YOUR SITE! You also have to remember that its your site, design it as you want it viewed - YOU CANT PLEASE EVERYONE! I agree ... 800x600 looks like poo on anything over a 15 in monitor. ------------------ RR: K, C, & Bird Butt Railroad - SP, NS, and ROCK admirer. Its a coal mining region of a place far far away, that runs, SP, NS, and some CSX.. Also some Custom RARE Bird RR sd40-2's coming! Era: Time stands still round these parts, and we have everything from Steam, to Diesels of today.
<center> </center> Hehehe - just kidding. Actually, that is interesting. I am a Netscape man with a lot smaller resolution than mentioned. It's like looking in on Windows 98 from space. ------------------ Ship It On The FRISCO! | IAMOKA.com
Kevin, what / who are you using to get these results? is it a website like "SiteMeter.com" or software?... I am on webtv... I get pretty good stats from sitemeter, also my domain host provides great stats, but I have never seen the resolution stat before. BTW I only wish I could get 1900+ hits a month..LOL, but I have figured out with what I do get, that more people are interested in my model rr pages, and my live steam pages than they are my prototype pages, Im sure when I have a chance to add new material, it will change. ------------------ espee2 Home: www.tunnel13.com layout: SP's Newberg Branch in N scale
To Espee: I am using Hit-o-meter www.hitometer.com . I found that it had the right amount of information without being confusing to set up. As for the 1900 hits, there are a couple of reasons for that high total (my busiest month ever). I had two newsworthy updates in August (UP Oil Cans detour and UP 3985 over Cajon Pass). Each of these updates gave me 200+ hits on the day they were posted. My daily hits average usually hovers around 40. I guess it also helps to have a universally known subject like Tehachapi . ------------------ Kevin Stevens www.trainweb.org/KernJunction
Well kevin, I tried the place you discribed, I had to realy tweak the fragment to get it to work... they had the <img> tag between <noscript> tags, you can't see the image that way, and a few other things. oh well. I like my meter from "SiteMeter.com" it has all the same stats except resolution of visitor. If someone wants to see... you can go to my main pages, click the tiny rainbow colored button at the very bottom of my pages to see my stats, it's fun to play with... I have nothing to hide, my stats are always public, if you want one too just sign up... (hint, I used the fragment for webtv, not because I am on webtv, but it is the easiest to use and only has one button not two to click)
I use extreme tracking on a couple of my sites, which give an amazing amount of information! http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/ I was surprised at what info. you are giving, just by visiting a site! BTW, I have found that more of my visitors are using 1024 x 768 lately ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery [This message has been edited by Alan (edited 27 September 2000).]
Thanks Alan, for turning me on to that tracker place. it works like a charm. ------------------ espee2 Home: www.tunnel13.com layout: SP's Newberg Branch in N scale
Ok...trying to make up my mind I like the screen resolution stat that you get from the two mentioned counters, and I have fun with the graphs, but they can only be placed on one page... SiteMeter.com has all the same stats except screen resolution and color, but it can be put on multiple pages, and gives a page entry/exit stat. I love this, I have one counter on my main index pages (home, prototype, model, railroad park etc.) and I can see how many places they go from my home page to other areas of my site. also the javascript is serverside, so you only have to add a simple script tag, (the "guts" of the tag are back at sitemeters servers, you basically are only adding an anchor tag and img tag) I like them all though, are there any others out there? ------------------ espee2 Home: www.tunnel13.com layout: SP's Newberg Branch in N scale
