Ever since GetFirefox.com has met the minimum requirements to be monitored by Nielsen//NetRatings, which occurred in June of last year, the browser’s site experienced a 237% spike of unique visitors.
According to a study conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings, during last month (March 2005) GetFirefox.com received more than 2.6 million unique visitors to either download or educate themselves about Mozilla’s browser. Of this 2.6 million, N//N reports 71% (1.9 million) were male.
Ken Cassar, director of strategic analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings had these thoughts, “The search for an alternative browser has grown in recent years, as the Internet’s early adopters have begun to think of the browser as something other than a commodity. FireFox gives Web surfers a simple tool that blocks unsolicited windows, is less susceptible to virus attacks and offers a unique means of navigating multiple sites within a single browser.”
Cassar also warns site owners to be mindful of the Firefox browser explosion and to make their sites compatible. Because Firefox is known to strictly follow HTML validation rules, sites can and will appear differently than the Webmaster intended.
“It was looking as though Microsoft Explorer was in the process of establishing itself as the standard browser, which was great news for site developers. With Firefox on the rise, they have to grudgingly accept that they don’t live in a one browser world,” adds Cassar.
However, because Firefox is strict with appearances and as its adoption continues to increase, perhaps it can help do away with sloppy design and incorrect HTML tag usage.
Read the Nielsen//NetRatings pdf.
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest search news.
