I have log files with specific time/date of each hit, etc... and before I spend Saturday evening writing code to automate the processing of this data to make graphs for a financial website, I need to know the pros and cons of having hit counters to do the work instead.

I more interested in the cons, surely nothing is free is this world and data is being collected by these so called "Free hit counters" website.

I'd avoid the 'hit counters' as I always think they look a bit naff.

Most ISPs provide you with some sort of log processing tool that allows you to process the raw logs to a sensible output. I'd check in to what your ISP offers in terms of log processing.

Joe

Originally posted by John
I have log files with specific time/date of each hit, etc... and before I spend Saturday evening writing code to automate the processing of this data to make graphs for a financial website, I need to know the pros and cons of having hit counters to do the work instead.

I more interested in the cons, surely nothing is free is this world and data is being collected by these so called "Free hit counters" website.


CON - Reliant on other servers being available 24/7!
CON - Possible data retention


Do a search of hotscripts.com for log files/log analysis etc., there're loads of free log analysers on there, in a variety of formats (Java, PHP, ASP etc) that'll free up your Saturday;).......





Somewhere;)

I use statcounter.com for my stats. It allows you to have a hidden counter.

The service is free, they rely on you clicking on adverts on their web site to generate revenue.

Originally posted by alchresearch
I use statcounter.com for my stats. It allows you to have a hidden counter.

But their statistics wouldn't be all that useful as they only keep the last 100 visits on record... the only date that they keep full info of for you to see is the number of visitors, sessions etc...

not good if you wanted to say the average of users on a particular OS or browser... or where most of your refferals are from...

personally I use statcounter.com and the one thats built into my web-server which is webalizer :) between them I get all the info I need :)

Originally posted by xafier
the one thats built into my web-server which is webalizer :) between them I get all the info I need :)


Webalizer is garbage (though we too use this as it integrates with Plesk). AWstats is much better though;).

Originally posted by alchresearch
I use statcounter.com for my stats. It allows you to have a hidden counter.

The service is free, they rely on you clicking on adverts on their web site to generate revenue.

Me too...It gives me all the stats i need :wink:

not good if you wanted to say the average of users on a particular OS or browser... or where most of your refferals are from...

It does both those and much more xafier :)

i run a php stat thingy ma bob on my site, but dont make it look obvious.

it runs in the background :)

hit counters on sites in general look naff.