Minor browsers complain about visibility in Windows browser choice

Twelve different browsers are lined up side by side, each one with exactly the same amount of room and an 'Install' button underneath.  The first five are always the same, but the next seven are only visible when you scoll over to the right.  But according to the developers behind six of the seven second-tier browsers, this arrangement for Microsoft's new ballot screen isn't clear enough.


The screen in question always starts with the same five browsers, but they come in a different order each time: there's Microsoft's own Internet Explorer, Firefox, which has been in second place for a long time, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera.  To see the seven other browsers (FlashPeak, Maxthon, Flock, GreenBrowser, Avant Browser, Sleipnir and K-Meleon), you need to use the horizontal scroll bar and move over.

And that's what's got six of the seven developers angry: they've already written to the European Commission to ask for them to intervene.  They'd like the window redesigned so its title clearly indicates there are twelve choices, as well as an explanation in the text, and either an arrow pointing right or a coloured element indicating the 'second window' (which is actually just a continuation of the same list.)  They hope that will be better at showing off options outside of the big five.  According to them, 'if none of the simple changes proposed herein are taken, rest assured that the vast majority of users receiving the Choice Screen will remain unaware that there are more than 5 choices.'

As to why they're only mentioning this now, and not while the Commission was consulting about how the ballot screen should work, the developers have a simple answer: 'our feedback in 2009 through several open comment periods was focused on being included in the program.'

Why the big five?

The five main choices all have something in common though: the least popular, Opera, was used by 2.35% of users worldwide in Febuary 2010 according to Market Share.  Even combined, the other seven don't make 1%.

Another shared feature of the top five is their use of in-house rendering engines: IE8, Firefox and Opera each have their own system, with Microsoft using the Trident engine, Mozilla relying on Gecko and Opera using Presto.  Safari and Chrome both use the Webkit engine, developed independently and not tied to any particular browser interface.

On the other hand, Maxthon, SlimBrower, Avant Browser and Green Browser all use Trident, Flock uses Gecko and Sleipnir leaves the choice between Trident and Gecko.  To put it another way, they're all alternative interfaces for a rendering engine produced by somebody else.

That alone can justify the choice of the top five browsers, and it seems the six developers don't contest that, as they're not asking for a random choice overall, just a little more visibility for themselves.

Scroll bar

That leaves the question of how to design the browser ballot screen interface: is including a horizontal scroll bar enough of an incitement to move over and look at the other choices?  It seems the angry developers don't think so.

But in reality, experienced users will notice the scrol lbar running along the bottom of the window straight away.  Anybody who doesn't is probably part of the user base that would find the idea of choosing a browser in the first place relatively complicated.  We can't imagine how these people would actually make a choice: IE8 because it includes the Windows logo, Chrome because it says Google or maybe Firefox because they've heard of it?  Is it really with making ordinary users' lives more complicated with a choice from twelve different options?


A week after the arrival of this ballot screen first began appearing for users, has there been any change in the share of different browsers?  We certainly haven't noticed …

Amongst our readers, Firefox 3.6 is gaining ground on Firefox 3.5, and IE8 is losing market share to Chrome and Opera, to name just two tendencies that have been going on for months.  If the browser choice screen really is having an effect, it'll take a while before it becomes noticeable …

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