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Mozilla releases interactive Firefox heat map illustrating just how often we hit the back button
The Mozilla Metrics blog has some background info on the project and some basic analysis of the figures. I'm going to try and dig a bit deeper, however. Let's start with Windows versus Mac OS X (with a soupçon of Linux).
- Mac and Linux users seem to be more voracious surfers -- with 550 uses of the Location Bar throughout the 5-day test period, Mac and Linux users seem to visit a lot more sites than Windows users (only 395 Location Bar uses). Alternatively, Windows users might just have other things to do -- like playing video games.
- Windows users seem to really love those scroll bars -- and no, I'm not sure why. Windows (and Linux!) users seem to use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars a lot more than Mac users. This could be due to Macs having larger monitors -- but leave a comment if you have another theory!
- Everyone uses their Back button a lot -- 95% of all Firefox users clicked the Back button in the 5-day test period, and it's the second most-used button on the entire UI (behind the Location Bar). I thought more people had back buttons on their mouse; obviously not! Backspace on the keyboard works most of the time too...
This heat map was produced using Mozilla's Test Pilot program -- and so that you can help with the fine-tuning of Firefox 4.0's interface, go and install the Test Pilot add-on!
Comments
21
Subscribe to commentsRaymondJul 2nd 2010 9:16AM
Mac users have multi-touch touchpad and mouse.
No need to use the scrollbar.
Sebastian AnthonyJul 2nd 2010 4:46PM
I see a lot of Mac multi-touch comments -- I just want to point out that my Windows-based laptop has a 'scroll region' on the right side of the trackpad.
Every laptop that I've used in the past 10 years has had a 'scroll region' on the right, and sometimes another one at the bottom for horizontal scroll!
JayJul 4th 2010 8:59PM
I've always found two-finger scrolling on Macs to be a lot more natural than scrolling on the edge of the trackpad on Windows computers.
robotrockJul 2nd 2010 9:20AM
scrollbars are useless on a mac when you can just use a two finger gesture....same goes for back button with a three finger gesture.
I almost never use any of the buttons up top opting for keyboard shortcuts when using Windows and the trackpad on my macs.
216Jul 2nd 2010 9:33AM
"I thought more people had back buttons on their mouse; obviously not!"
In my experience, people rarely use any other button than the left click. Then overtime, people discover right-click, and that right click can do all kinds of things (but they never really grasp that RC changes functions based on what program you're using it with). Then they move onto the "scroll wheel". Rarely do I find someone that knows how to use the back/forward buttons, and even then, I find that they still prefer to use the back buttons instead.
Also baffling to me, I find that most people have no idea that the Scroll Wheel also is used as a middle click button
Android underlingJul 2nd 2010 12:06PM
I dont use the back and forward buttons on my mouse. Maybe its just habit, but I prefer clicking the button.
Sebastian AnthonyJul 2nd 2010 4:47PM
Yar, don't worry, I'm well aware of such things. After 5 years, I finally got my grandmother to use right click. It revolutionized her old age!
I also don't know if generic mice have back buttons -- I guess not.
Still, backspace! Anything to prevent moving your hand from keyboard to mouse.
Bryan PriceJul 2nd 2010 11:28AM
My cats use the back button more often than I do. Seriously. They love to roam my desk while I'm on the computer (and it's not usually for attention).
And while my trackball has forward/back buttons, I really don't use them. I'd set them for other things, but I haven't figured out what, and as soon as I would, I'd probably lose the trackball and be forced to go with a mouse.
TomJul 2nd 2010 11:36AM
I have buttons on my mouse that I used to have programmed to go back and forward but I never used them so now I've disabled them. For some reason I find it easier to just click the back button than clicking the button on my mouse. Yes, I know I'm weird ;)
Ben HarrisJul 2nd 2010 12:24PM
"There's a startlingly low occurrence of copying and pasting -- but that could be because Ctrl-C and Ctrl-P aren't being captured by the test program!"
Last time I checked, it's Ctrl-V to paste, and Ctrl-P prints. Granted, you do talk about printing earlier in the article, but I don't think you meant to be talking about printing here.
"...but leave a comment if you have another theory!"
Simple. Netbooks and old people. Most people have Linux and/or Windows XP on their netbooks with the tiny screens and tinier scroll area on the touch pad, so using the scroll bar on the side is easier. Also, elderly computer users usually use a Windows machine, and also use the side bar to navigate around because (a) they don't have a scroll wheel or (b) don't know how to use it.
Sebastian AnthonyJul 2nd 2010 12:31PM
Ah! Netbooks is a pretty good explanation (though I still think they represent a small number of those on the Internet). Also, these are figures from Test Pilot users -- I don't think there were many old people in the sample set! (But there might have been more netbooks than usual, true...)
Good catch, re: Ctrl-P. It actually read Ctrl-V first, but I must've gone back and edited... with the printing thing on my mind... doh!
DanielJul 2nd 2010 12:39PM
Btw, I agree with you about the netbooks. It took me a bit over 10 minutes to type my reply, and you beat me to it. Another contributing factor along with those netbooks is that Windows XP/Vista don't have good multitouch support at all, and many people turn off the too-wide side scroll bars.
DanielJul 2nd 2010 12:34PM
First of all, this is a really cool study!
Now, the scroll bars I'm pretty sure is related to the popularity of Linux on Netbook computers which often lack multi-touch support, and are too small to efficiently have a side-scroll feature. Apple has only one netbook, which is relatively unpopular, and still supports the two-finger scroll. There also are probably some differences in use from the interface itself, such as how OSX computers handle windows, and how the three operating systems handle DPI. Also, there is the consideration of how the systems handle clicks. For example, whether one click or two are required to highlight the address bar.
Either way, good information. It reminds me how important it is when building a website to make your own links more intuitive than "back... back... back..."
Sebastian AnthonyJul 2nd 2010 4:49PM
Indeed! Back when I designed websites, one of the first things I did after finishing a draft design was to show it to an old and/or Internet neophyte.
Those low-contrast designs with tiny-size text links just don't work :)
PonTelonJul 2nd 2010 1:52PM
Really? I only use my back button like once a month...Do people not just open links in new tabs?
SilverWaveJul 2nd 2010 5:32PM
On my right click menu I have:
Close Tab
Back
Forward
Reload
Stop
Undo close
tbh I still do sometimes use the button... no idea why.
SilverWaveJul 2nd 2010 5:33PM
^ Menu Editor
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/710/
RonadoJul 2nd 2010 6:46PM
Mac users don't use the scroll bars because they don't read the content, they just look at the design of the page then go to another site.
Sebastian AnthonyJul 2nd 2010 6:49PM
I laughed... hard.
jeremiah89Jul 2nd 2010 6:47PM
So, does Test Pilot monitor the keyboard as well? The copying and pasting is one thing, but I'm also wondering if there'd be a big change with the new tab button as well. On both firefox and chrome, I rarely use a button to open a new tab. Ctrl + T is so much easier, IMO.