We are deploying a web application and I am considering replacing some of the JPEG graphics with PNG.
Has the use of PNG-aware browsers passed 95%?
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3That really depends on your population. Examine your server logs and see what kind of browsers 95% of your users are accessing your site with. Then check the PNG support of those versions specifically.– Kevin KuphalJul 1, 2009 at 13:54
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I'm looking for "general population" adaptation. It's a new site so there are no logs, yet.– Robert CartainoJul 1, 2009 at 13:59
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Great suggestion, Kevin!– squillmanJul 1, 2009 at 14:00
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The primary question you state is quite a bit different than your title. You might want to clarify between the two so as to get the most appropriate responses.– squillmanJul 1, 2009 at 14:10
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All of the sites I work on now use PNGs almost exclusively, to get away from awful JPEGs dithers. No complaints from our (mostly Windows-based) users. Use tweakpng or similar if layering with CSS background colours, especially for IE6/7.– devstuffJul 1, 2009 at 14:15
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3 Answers
IE has had PNG support since at least IE4, the Mozilla suite had it back before Firefox came around. Opera, minority player that it is, has had it for about as long. Netscape 4.7 I think does not. So I'm pretty sure we're over 97% right now. At least, on my web-sites.
I don't know anything about mobile/phone browsers, though.
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I think my blackberry supports pngs but NOT one of the more widely used formats (can't remember jpeg or gif). Of course that could have been user error on my part too.– oneodd1Jul 1, 2009 at 14:08
Yes; IE has been PNG-aware for as long as I can reasonably remember (I was certainly using PNGs on an intranet site back in 2001) - the only issue it had back then was with PNGs was with transparency. If you're replacing JPGs, I don't think that's going to be an issue.
All the newer versions (and older versions of many) of the major players support it. Something you'll want to look for is full Alpha and transparency support. There are hacks you have to perform to get even major browsers to recognize these, some times it's just not possible.
Check here for a listing of png support status in browsers, major and minor.
With regards to the use of PNG, it's gaining popularity but I don't have any numbers of how big of a "marketshare" it has. I personally make my decision based on browser support.
