Reported in The Register, a study by AptiQuant (pdf) has revealed that the higher your IQ the less likely you are to use Internet Explorer, while Opera wins out with being the browser most likely to be adopted as your IQ improves.
The Register is suitably disparaging, as you would expect, of IE users. But as web designers and website owners what should this study tell us?
The study shows statistically what many of us suspected anecdotally, that the majority of users are less than keen to update and keep themselves at the leading edge when it comes to technology. Unless your website targets those of a high IQ, it’s important that we continue to ensure support for Internet Explorer and not just the latest version. In fact it becomes even more important to make sure that the user experience is friendly on older versions as those using them are less likely to be able to cope with difficulties.
So take some time out to test your website on older browsers, services such as browser shots or IETester can help, and make sure you’re not keeping out those who want in!