Burningbird

As of this first week in January, 2009, the web statistics at my five main sites read as follows (only values greater than or equal to two percent are listed):

Burningbird (main page)

Browser stats

Browser and version (if provided)	Percentage
MSIE 5.5	4.3%
MSIE 6.0	6.8%
MSIE 7.0	14.6%
Firefox 3.0.5	16%
NetWireNews	8.3%
Safari	6.4%
NewsGator	5.3%
Mozilla	2.7%

Operating System

Operating System and version	Percentage
Windows XP	28.7%
Windows Vista	9.8%
Windows 2000	4.9%
GNU Linux	2.2%
Mac OS X	22.2%

Burningbird RealTech (this site)

Browser stats

Browser and version (if provided)	Percentage
MSIE 5.5	3.8%
MSIE 6.0	13.8%
MSIE 7.0	8.2%
MSIE 8.0	2.2%
Firefox 2.0	2.0%
Firefox 3.0.5	25.3%
Firefox 3.1	6.4%
Safari	9.5%
Opera	5.9%
Mozilla	3.8%

Operating System

Operating system and version	Percentage
Windows XP	39.8%
Windows Vista	9.2%
Windows 2000	5.5%
Linux Ubuntu	3.8%
GNU Linux	2.2%
Mac OS X	25.6%

MissouriGreen

Browser stats

Browser and version (if provided)	Percentage
MSIE 6.0	8.8%
MSIE 7.0	29%
MSIE 8.0	2.1%
Firefox 2.0	2.0%
Firefox 3.0.5	14.3%
Firefox 3.1	8.7%
Safari	11.2%

Operating System

Operating system and version	Percentage
Windows XP	42.7%
Windows Vista	6.7%
Windows 2003	3.9%
Mac OS X	24.3%

Secret of Signals

Browser stats

Browser and version (if provided)	Percentage
MSIE 6.0	8.3%
MSIE 7.0	12.6%
MSIE 8.0	2.2%
Firefox 3.0.5	19.9%
Firefox 3.1	20.5%
Safari	10.8%
Opera	5.5%
*Mozilla	2.0%

Operating System

Operating system and version	Percentage
Windows XP	39.9%
Windows Vista	10.2%
Windows 2000	5.5%
Mac OS X	32.8%

Just Shelley

Browser stats

Browser and version (if provided)	Percentage
MSIE 6.0	12.1%
MSIE 7.0	29.3%
Firefox 2.0	2.0%
Firefox 3.0.5	24.5%
NetWireNews	16.8%
Safari	6.4%

Operating System

Operating system and version	Percentage
Windows XP	38.3%
Windows Vista	13%
Windows 2003	4.4%
Mac OS X	27.6%

Analysis:

I'm not surprised to see the Windows 2000 users, and am assuming the MSIE 6 users among my stats are primarily based in the Windows 2000 operating system. This state may continue into the new year because of Microsoft's decision to provide MSIE7 to Windows XP users and up, without providing an official upgrade path for those people still using Windows 2000. Not every Windows 2000 machine can easily upgrade to Windows XP. However, if people can't upgrade their OS, they can upgrade their browser to Firefox 3.x or Opera 9.x, and possibly other, supported, browsers.

As for MSIE 5.5, good golly folks, it's time to move on. And no, these are not Mac Classic users, as the Mac Classic OS percentage is typically less than 1%, if it shows at all in my site stats. No, I would imagine that most of these people bought a Windows 95 or 98 machine that came installed with 5.5, and the thing is now too infested with viruses for them to use, much less upgrade the software.

Speaking of upgrading, Firefox 2.x users, as of December, Mozilla is no longer supporting your browser. Firefox 3.1 is just around the corner, and is very sexy. Time for you to move, too.

There are few other browser percentage surprises. My primarily tech sites, RealTech and Secret of Signals, feature a larger percentage of Firefox users than my two non-tech sites, MissouriGreen and Just Shelley. What was pleasantly surprising, though, is that Firefox is becoming the dominant browser at the sites. Just Shelley is about the only one still heavily dominated by MSIE.

Safari's use is increasing, which isn't surprising because it really is the best Mac OS X general browser, as well as now being available in Windows. Safari/Webkit's graphics rendering engine is the best, a topic on which I'll have more to talk about, directly, in a writing I'm doing on SVG.

I would have expected, though, some increase in Opera use. I started last year with Opera at about 5%, and it's still about 5%. Actually, the lack of change is a little spooky—who ever heard of a straight line in a chart related to the web?

But where's Chrome? That's what I thought when looking at the stats, and finally spotted it at under 1% for this site, only. What did the pundits say last year? Chrome was going to be a threat to Firefox? Well, I don't think we need to dump our Firefox t-shirts just yet.

Based on the trends from last year to now, when I compare this year's stats against next year's stats, I predict they will show the following:

• The number of users of the new Windows 7 operating system will be inversely proportional to the number of Windows Vista users
• More Chrome users, but Firefox and Safari should still see incremental growth.
• Fewer MSIE users, with most switching to Chrome or Firefox.
• After MSIE8 releases, we'll quickly be able to see who are the MSIE personal users, versus MSIE corporate users, because of the MSIE8 upgrade blocker.
• We'll see a significant reduction in MSIE corporate users, as many will get laid off.
• Mac OS X use will continue incremental growth, and everyone will still be questioning Steve Jobs' health
• Opera will continue with 5% of the browser market. Spooky.

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The mall closest to where I live is the Crestwood Mall, a rather sad, indoor mall that has lost much of its business in the last few years. Last year it was purchased and the new owners will be converting it into an outdoor, village like setting, which I think is a great idea. However, they have to wait until the long-term leases expire, which means that we're stuck with the sad, indoor mall for another 3-5 years.

Enter a little creative thinking.

The owners of the mall contacted several art groups with a question: if we convert the large, vacant department store into an artist area, could you use the space? Not only were the artists interested, the owners received more applications than they could grant.

The area that used to be the large Dillard's Department store is now the new ArtSpace: a theater, dance studio, and artist gallery, where the artists get the space for nominal rent, as long as they pay the utilities and fix the area up. The mall owners fill the dead space, and attract new visitors. The artists get a communal area that is guaranteed to attract people from far and wide, because nothing like this has ever been done before. From the Post Dispatch Story:

Those that have started to move in include Laumeier Sculpture Park, DaySpring School of the Arts, Jeane Vogel Fine Art, Marble Stage Theatre, the Hangar and the bookstore I Don't Want to Kiss a Llama.

In exchange for the space, the arts groups agree to decorate the shop windows, a convenient way to call attention to their work. They have to pay for utilities, but the rent "is just north of nothing," said Son, in some cases as low as $50 a month [...] Each space will be arranged to suit its group's needs. For example, Son expects several dance companies to share one of the big spaces. One painter — who enjoys talking to visitors while he works — plans to turn his space into a studio; another group of artists plans to work elsewhere, but show and sell their paintings in a collective gallery. A fabric artist, a jewelry designer and an organization that recycles industrial materials for school art projects will be ArtSpace neighbors, too.

Absolutely brilliant idea. This ensures that not only will the mall attendance dramatically pick up, which will be healthy for the existing stores and restaurants, but the art groups get an excellent chance for exposure to a wider audience.

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A List Apart has a new article out on the Semantics in HTML5. John Allsopp writes

We’ll start by posing the question: “why are we inventing these new elements?” A reasonable answer would be: “because HTML lacks semantic richness, and by adding these elements, we increase the semantic richness of HTML—that can’t be bad, can it?”

By adding these elements, we are addressing the need for greater semantic capability in HTML, but only within a narrow scope. No matter how many elements we bolt on, we will always think of more semantic goodness to add to HTML. And so, having added as many new elements as we like, we still won’t have solved the problem. We don’t need to add specific terms to the vocabulary of HTML, we need to add a mechanism that allows semantic richness to be added to a document as required. In technical terms, we need to make HTML extensible. HTML 5 proposes no mechanism for extensibility.

On reading of which, I hurt my head by banging it, suddenly and with force, against my desk.

Several times.

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A favorite game with Roku owners is to guess which service will be added to the box, first. The game is now over, because evidently, Amazon's Video On Demand is going to be the next video entry for the Roku boxes.

This puts the box on par with AppleTV in offerings. Well, actually a little beyond AppleTV, with Netflix streaming. Add Hulu and Roku is a video killer.

I spent a quiet New Years Eve at home—typical for me, but also necessary as I became the joke and literally tripped on a crack in the sidewalk a few days ago. I fell face forward, and managed to land on my good knee, which I think was a good thing. Nothing broken, but plenty bruised, including my dignity, as one of the maintenance people had to help me to my feet because of my hurt knee. I managed to land partially in the mud, too, and can't for the life of me understand why pigs like it.

I have no resolutions for this year, other than to find work, write more, write better, and get myself in shape enough that perhaps I can manage not to fall when I trip on every damn crack I somehow miraculously discover.

In the meantime, it is a treat to see my friend, Jonathon Delacour return to the web.

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