B2B Websites: Advances in Common Html Usage
In the observation we did on a group of B2B Websites over the course of more than year we looked at how the usage of Html changed. We expected the B2B Websites to be more traditional than for example so-called Web 2.0 Websites and business blogs.
The data set below shows median values of occurrences of common Html tags.
| Common Tags (median) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observed Element | B2B June 2009 | B2B May 2010 | B2B August 2010 | General |
| button | 1.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.4 |
| div | 21.0 | 4.0 | 38.0 | 53.1 |
| form | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
| img | 51.0 | 49.0 | 42.0 | 41.0 |
| p | 6.0 | 1.0 | 52.0 | 31.0 |
| table | 42.0 | 4.0 | 82.0 | 37.1 |
| span | 8.0 | 13.0 | 70.0 | 25.9 |
| a | 63.0 | 138.0 | 49.0 | 132.9 |
The next data set below shows ninety percentile of occurrences of common Html tags.
| Common Tags (90 percentile) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observed Element | B2B June 2009 | B2B May 2010 | B2B August 2010 | General |
| button | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| div | 70.0 | 94.6 | 91.0 | 138.0 |
| form | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.7 |
| img | 70.3 | 64.0 | 63.0 | 79.9 |
| p | 42.6 | 43.0 | 43.6 | 77.3 |
| table | 34.0 | 32.6 | 29.0 | 34.5 |
| span | 50.3 | 46.0 | 49.4 | 72.5 |
| a | 135.0 | 158.0 | 152.7 | 264.2 |
The next data set below shows tenth percentile of occurrences of common Html tags. It can be said that 80% of observed Websites have occurrences somewhere between the tenth and ninety percentile.
| Common Tags (10 percentile) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observed Element | B2B June 2009 | B2B May 2010 | B2B August 2010 | General |
| button | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| div | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 12.4 |
| form | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| img | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 5.8 |
| p | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.8 |
| table | 2.0 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 1.4 |
| span | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.4 |
| a | 14.0 | 14.0 | 13.0 | 41.1 |
The last data set shows average values of common Html tags
| Common Tags (average values) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observed Element | B2B June 2009 | B2B May 2010 | B2B August 2010 | General |
| button | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| div | 29.3 | 36.6 | 35.5 | 63.9 |
| form | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| img | 31.8 | 29.4 | 28.6 | 37.3 |
| p | 18.3 | 18.4 | 18.0 | 35.8 |
| table | 14.5 | 13.5 | 13.2 | 13.4 |
| span | 23.3 | 20.1 | 21.3 | 30.1 |
| a | 63.7 | 71.5 | 71.5 | 136.8 |
The above table and bar chart shows that, by looking at common Html tags, the B2B Websites observed are more likely to use traditional Html for layouts than Websites do in general. The DIV tag, that is always used when setting up layouts without the TABLE tag, is less used than on Websites of general type, but it is also very clear that B2B Websites are moving away from using the TABLE tag for layout towards using DIV.
Slowly, and if they survive, B2B Websites are adjusting to modern use of Html even though they trail well behind what we call general Websites.
Related links:
- Common Mistakes on B2B Websites
- 10 Common Website Mistakes and How to Fix Them
- B2B vs B2C Website Design Usability
Related video:
Business Tips - 6 Key Web Pages for ECommerce Websites
