5 ms·

The internet died when the desktop became an afterthought. :P

by Tommy430 3y ago

dehrmann 3y ago
We're at the point where mobile has been the dominant computing platform longer than desktop.
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  Not quite, though there's some argument that smartphone use seems to now dominate desktop worldwide. The pedants might argue that desktop computing traces back over 50 years to the Mother of All Demos, and was in reasonably widespread business use at some point in the 1980s. But it's probably reasonable to trace widespread general-public adoption to Windows 95, which actually did release that year. The iPhone released in 2007, though I'd push back widespread adoption by another three years. Search Engine Watch puts the date at which mobile devices exceeded desktop to 2014: <https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2014/07/08/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began/?amp=1 https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2014/07/08/mobile-now-exce...> That gives us about 10 years of smartphone dominance as contrasted to nearly two decades to desktop. In terms of traffic originating from mobile vs. desktop/laptop systems, parity (50% from each) seems to have been hit in 2016: <https://research.com/software/mobile-vs-desktop-usage https://research.com/software/mobile-vs-desktop-usage> More recent data are ... blurry, though I'm finding claims that 60% of global Web traffic is mobile, but ~50--65% of US Web traffic is desktop. Time-online by device (broken out by country) in 2023 tends to show rough parity, though several countries show much higher mobile use (Indonesia, Thailand, Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, etc.). For others, desktop is notably higher than mobile (US, Israel, Canada, Poland, Russia, etc.). See: <https://www.zippia.com/advice/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-statistics/ https://www.zippia.com/advice/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-statis...> <https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet-usage-statistics https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet...> It's interesting to note that conversion rates (follow-through for online purchases) is much higher on desktop than mobile.
- Tommy430 3y ago
  > We're at the point where mobile has been the dominant computing platform longer than desktop. I do see your point. What I mean is that we have oversized UIs and hamburger menus on the desktop which makes me feel like for a while now, the desktop has been an afterthought when it comes to web design.

The internet died when the desktop became an afterthought. :P

dehrmann 3y ago

We're at the point where mobile has been the dominant computing platform longer than desktop.

dredmorbius 3y ago
Not quite, though there's some argument that smartphone use seems to now dominate desktop worldwide. The pedants might argue that desktop computing traces back over 50 years to the Mother of All Demos, and was in reasonably widespread business use at some point in the 1980s. But it's probably reasonable to trace widespread general-public adoption to Windows 95, which actually did release that year. The iPhone released in 2007, though I'd push back widespread adoption by another three years. Search Engine Watch puts the date at which mobile devices exceeded desktop to 2014: <https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2014/07/08/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began/?amp=1 https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2014/07/08/mobile-now-exce...> That gives us about 10 years of smartphone dominance as contrasted to nearly two decades to desktop. In terms of traffic originating from mobile vs. desktop/laptop systems, parity (50% from each) seems to have been hit in 2016: <https://research.com/software/mobile-vs-desktop-usage https://research.com/software/mobile-vs-desktop-usage> More recent data are ... blurry, though I'm finding claims that 60% of global Web traffic is mobile, but ~50--65% of US Web traffic is desktop. Time-online by device (broken out by country) in 2023 tends to show rough parity, though several countries show much higher mobile use (Indonesia, Thailand, Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, etc.). For others, desktop is notably higher than mobile (US, Israel, Canada, Poland, Russia, etc.). See: <https://www.zippia.com/advice/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-statistics/ https://www.zippia.com/advice/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-statis...> <https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet-usage-statistics https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet...> It's interesting to note that conversion rates (follow-through for online purchases) is much higher on desktop than mobile.
Tommy430 3y ago
> We're at the point where mobile has been the dominant computing platform longer than desktop. I do see your point. What I mean is that we have oversized UIs and hamburger menus on the desktop which makes me feel like for a while now, the desktop has been an afterthought when it comes to web design.