Client wants a visitor counter

I have a client who wants a visitor counter. Please leave it to me to
persuade this client not to have it visible. But I am all ears on any
recommended methods.

--
dorayme

..oO(dorayme)

I have a client who wants a visitor counter.

Change the client. SCNR

Please leave it to me to
persuade this client not to have it visible. But I am all ears on any
recommended methods.

Maybe some server-side scripting to print a random number? That's as
accurate as a "hit counter".

Question is why he wants it. If it's just to show other visitors how
popular his site is, then use the random number method. But if he really
wants to know about the traffic on the site, get or install a logfile
analyzer like AWStats. This is the best you can get from the raw server
logfiles. And this would be information that really matters - a stupid
hit counter means absolutely nothing and just wastes time and bandwidth.

HTH
Micha

In article <doraymeRidThis-174E99.08541626032008@news-
vip.optusnet.com.au>, doraymeRidThis (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au says...

I have a client who wants a visitor counter. Please leave it to me to
persuade this client not to have it visible. But I am all ears on any
recommended methods.

Just give the client what he wants - he's signing the check. Hide it in
the corner at the bottom. If you don't do it, somebody else will.

In article <Xns9A6CA1049B028neredbojiasnano (AT) 85 (DOT) 214.90.236>,
Neredbojias <example (AT) example (DOT) com> wrote:

On 25 Mar 2008, dorayme <doraymeRidThis (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au> wrote:

I have a client who wants a visitor counter. Please leave it to me to
persuade this client not to have it visible. But I am all ears on any
recommended methods.

I made a hit counter in php using sessions that seemed to tally unique
visits to a site fairly well. It was relatively simple though there
were a few drawbacks. Would something like that interest you?

I guess? I don't much know anything about these things. I have set the
client up already this morning with an invisible one I found,
statCounter. I removed some bit of their code that caused invalidity on
my doc type and we shall see if it suits. Have not heard back from
client yet. It looks impressive enough. There are probably some trrible
downsides that I don't know about. I will treat it as an experience to
be learnt from.

--
dorayme

..oO(dorayme)

I guess? I don't much know anything about these things. I have set the
client up already this morning with an invisible one I found,
statCounter. I removed some bit of their code that caused invalidity on
my doc type and we shall see if it suits. Have not heard back from
client yet. It looks impressive enough. There are probably some trrible
downsides that I don't know about. I will treat it as an experience to
be learnt from.

IMHO the biggest downsides of external counter services are

1) it might slow down the page rendering if the browser has to wait for
a response from the counter server

2) you give away page view statistics for free to an external company

Micha

..oO(SAZ)

In article <doraymeRidThis-174E99.08541626032008@news-
vip.optusnet.com.au>, doraymeRidThis (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au says...
I have a client who wants a visitor counter. Please leave it to me to
persuade this client not to have it visible. But I am all ears on any
recommended methods.

Just give the client what he wants - he's signing the check.

And? The client is not always king. There are rules which even the
client has to accept.

Micha

In article <MPG.22535473bdc8c03b989701 (AT) newsgroups (DOT) comcast.net>,
SAZ <saz1958 (AT) nospamexcite (DOT) com> wrote:

In article <doraymeRidThis-174E99.08541626032008@news-
vip.optusnet.com.au>, doraymeRidThis (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au says...
I have a client who wants a visitor counter. Please leave it to me to
persuade this client not to have it visible. But I am all ears on any
recommended methods.



Just give the client what he wants - he's signing the check. Hide it in
the corner at the bottom. If you don't do it, somebody else will.

It's ok, I have not been pressed either way on this yet but I suspect
what is mostly wanted is the stats not the visibility.

--
dorayme

On 26 Mar, 00:39, Michael Fesser <neti... (AT) gmx (DOT) de> wrote:

Just give the client what he wants - he's signing the check.

And? The client is not always king. There are rules which even the
client has to accept.

There are rules that apply to the client - doesn't mean they'll ever
accept them though.


Go for log analysis and some client education as to "visits" vs. "page
refreshes" and the problems of simple embedded <img> counters.

On Mar 25, 5:54 pm, dorayme <doraymeRidT... (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au> wrote:

I have a client who wants a visitor counter.

We all know the "right" answer, just talk them out of it.

In article <Xns9A6D594CD75B2neredbojiasnano (AT) 85 (DOT) 214.90.236>,
Neredbojias <ex (AT) example (DOT) com> wrote:

On 25 Mar 2008, dorayme <doraymeRidThis (AT) optusnet (DOT) com.au> wrote:

I have a client who wants a visitor counter. Please leave it to me
to
persuade this client not to have it visible. But I am all ears on
any
recommended methods.

I made a hit counter in php using sessions that seemed to tally unique
visits to a site fairly well. It was relatively simple though there
were a few drawbacks. Would something like that interest you?
....


That's basically it. As I said, it's bare-bones and could certainly be
improved, but it works. One drawback is the flatfile; a busy site might
not be able to "keep up" with updating it. Another is using sessions
themselves. -Not conducive to speediness. Statcounter may be the better
option in your circumstances.

Thanks for going to the trouble Boji. I will experiment with yours soon.
I settled the matter with my client yesterday and put on an invisible
statCounter and that was the end of the matter, sort of*. The site gets
invisible and the client gets to see the stats he wants to see by
logging in to statCounter.

Micha raised the issue of privacy. There are two issues here. Obviously
many companies are not going to be keen on a public exhibition of the
stats. But, I take it that he meant, the statCounter folk have access to
it and this is a security hole. I have no knowledge of the danger in
this, I doubt it would be significant for most companies. What is the
idea of the risk? That folk can break the usernames and passwords at
statCounter and get to see the stats? That the statCounter folk will be
tempted by the devil?



--------------------------
* OK... the client did send some apes who came when Jake was out on a
mission and I got roughed up a bit. But I did not give in! I kept
screaming at them "NO!" And they kept whispering back "Do as saz said!"
between their clenched teeth as they used their knuckle dusters to
penetrate my .04 thou inch skin. But I knew they were pulling their
punches. The poor dumb things had been instructed not to actually finish
me off. And I knew why. The client needed me alive to keep his site up.
I had a scotch and fingered a cigarette but resisted. I wanted a leggy
dame with a missing husband on her mind to walk in and be rich enough to
afford me to find him or something... I was bruised and tired. I was
getting too old for this job.

--
dorayme