Website Download Speed and Browser Usage

The second feature that is useful for any and every website is the Web Design Parameters report. These reports have been significantly expanded. The new underlying technology to Google Analytics has been upgraded so they are able to report on very specific browser and platform standards that were not possible using the old technical approach.

Newfangled specializes in partnering with advertising agencies and design firms. As a result, we often field questions that significantly affect website design such as browser support, screen resolutions, platforms, and download speeds. We've usually answered these questions with our observations of general trends. Google Analytics provides specific user stats for browser platform combinations, screen resolutions, and even download speeds. We can now look at a report and provide an exact percentage of how many visitors were using dial up. We can also determine the exact screen resolutions all visitors were using. The Newfangled.com site has almost 12% of its visitors that still use what we consider to be a minimum 800 x 600 screen resolution. Additionally, we can review which versions of JavaScript are being used and which versions of Flash our visitors have installed. All of these metrics have significant influence on how we design and what browsers we support. Such decisions can be critical... especially browser support and download speed.