Questions tagged [browser]

A browser is software to present content on a web site.

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56 votes
4 answers
11k views

How many users use browser's text search within a page?

Do any significant number of users Ctrl + f windows or ⌘ + f macOS to activate browsers' text search? I'm trying to find some usage numbers, but I can't find anything. Background I'm working on a ...
Ashley Coolman's user avatar
48 votes
23 answers
5k views

Is there ever a good reason to force opening a new browser window?

As a power web user, I know how to use my browser and it drives me nuts when web sites force me to open a new page. My mother, by contrast, just gets confused when this happens. At the end of a web ...
user avatar
118 votes
11 answers
21k views

How to "force" users to upgrade their browser?

I couldn't think of a better title for this question, but please don't jump to conclusions - I don't really want to point a gun at my users heads! I have a site that works well with the modern ...
Flot2011's user avatar
  • 1,441
68 votes
5 answers
28k views

Why does the space bar do page down in browsers

Why is the space bar doing a page down in some viewer apps, especially browsers and PDF readers? For me this seems to be a bit counter-intuitive, and also this behaviour affects games and other ...
SztupY's user avatar
  • 965
12 votes
7 answers
2k views

Why do the popular browsers copy each other's user interfaces?

Why do all the popular browsers blatantly copy each other's user interface? See these screenshots to understand what I mean: Mozilla Firefox (see Australis is landing in Firefox Nightly and ...
Toothbrush's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
3k views

Should opening a modal box change the browser history?

I am displaying images which can be clicked to be opened in a modal box (like this plugin does) and zoomed when pinched on touch devices (like this demo). The actual modalbox is as follows: It ...
Alvaro's user avatar
  • 16.8k
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Loading Times / Breaking points

We all know that a user is not going to wait forever for a website to load. Given there are certain factors and circumstances that can apply to this, is there a breakdown of users stages/breaking ...
Kyle Mirro's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
201 views

Hardware permissions in browsers

We're building an app that allows people to upload or record their voice or video using HTML5 (not flash). We've run into a problem where users can't seem to find the button to allow the app to use a ...
Kevin Velasco's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

Industry Standards for Browser Support?

Am wondering if somewhere there is a list of industry "minimums" for browser support. My company release two "portals" over the past 6 months and did very little to support IE8 users, who at this time,...
tony noriega's user avatar
95 votes
5 answers
48k views

Why does backspace go back a page? This behavior is so frustrating!

When using a browser, like Firefox, I appreciate that I can easily navigate my tab history with Alt+← (for back) and Alt+→ (for forward.) That makes perfectly good sense to me, and I've used that ...
Aaron Hall's user avatar
  • 4,003
18 votes
3 answers
8k views

Statistics or research on browser window size based on the display screen size

There are many sources and references for reports on screen resolution and display sizes for desktop (and mobile), and there are less information about browser window sizes. I think both pieces of ...
Michael Lai's user avatar
  • 27k
18 votes
5 answers
17k views

Is there a logical alternative for the Escape key?

I have a game that can be played in your browser. It's a retro game (multiplayer snake) and the menus and your snake can only be controlled using your keyboard. Mouse input is ignored. I was using ...
Blaise's user avatar
  • 283
12 votes
2 answers
5k views

Are there any stats on browser widths as opposed to monitor size?

Our analytics across several sites are all showing a marked increase in 1440px+ monitor size, but has anyone seen any stats about what browser size people with large screen tend to use? Do people ...
Kat's user avatar
  • 121
12 votes
4 answers
2k views

Should scrolling in a textbox overflow to scrolling a page?

When entering long sections of text into a textbox in a browser (such as when using gmail or a site like this) we can scroll within that textbox, which is as it should be. However, the behaviour of ...
JohnGB's user avatar
  • 68.4k
11 votes
4 answers
3k views

Can you characterize a user by their choice of Internet browser?

I would like to know if usability is different across different Internet browsers and if this is caused by varying demographics. Below, are some interrelated questions addressing this issue: Does age,...
JoJo's user avatar
  • 10.9k
7 votes
4 answers
1k views

Back breaking sites

What's the reason that so many site these days "break" my back button experience? Even stack does this: I read a question expand the comments, scroll to the first answer, follow a link, decide I'm ...
Pieter B's user avatar
  • 595
4 votes
2 answers
3k views

How to tell to the user that a web app is optimized for a specific browser?

My web app is voluntary optimized for Chrome. It works on IE and Firefox but the user can find some design issues with old browsers like IE 8. It's a professional app' on an intranet and a some users ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 3,094
4 votes
2 answers
354 views

Allow list box to expand to browser height?

I'm designing a web app that includes a list builder. I've proposed that the height of the list box containing the available items should grow depending upon the available browser height. However, I ...
smallclub's user avatar
  • 186
3 votes
3 answers
4k views

What is the best way to tell users to scroll down in browsers?

what is the best way to tell users to scroll down in browsers? Tests showed, that users do not scroll to the original message (which they need to answer questions):
Stef's user avatar
  • 33