When I first started creating and managing websites, I discovered the immediate need to track the number of visitors. But I needed more than just a simple counter. I wanted to know their browser settings to properly design a cross-browser friendly website and where in the world visitors are from. I’ve tried half a dozen sites and found StatCounter.com as the best free service.
StatCounter.com’s service is entirely hosted on their homepage, so there is no program installation which makes setting up as simple as pasting a script on each page requiring tracking. They offer much the same as similar sites, but take it a step further. My favorite aspect is the option of an invisible tracker. As a trade-off on other stat tracking sites, the tracking script automatically places a small button linking back to their site. I find this often does not flow well with design and/or page load time. Below are some of the many options available as a free account.
- Summary
- Popular Pages
- Entry Pages
- Exit Pages
- Came From
- Keyword Analysis
- Recent Keyword Activity
- Recent Came From
- Search Engine Wars
- Visitor Paths
- Visit Length
- Returning Visits
- Recent Pageload Activity
- Recent Visitor Activity
- Recent Visitor Map
- Country/State/City/ISP
- Browser
- System Stats
- Lookup IP Address
- Download Logs
As with all free services, there are limitations which can be eliminated via the paid service. For StatCounter.com, the limitation (at the time of this article) is the log will only hold up to 500 pageloads before knocking off the oldest hits. The Log determines the comprehensiveness of each of the above services. Please visit StatCounter for paid fees.
Because there are limitations, this free service is ideal for webmasters managing small sites with low to medium traffic. Visit Statcounter.com for a free demo before you sign up for a free account!
The Web Developer designed for Firefox, Flock and Seamonkey is a free extension that adds a menu and a toolbar. It will run on any platform that these browsers support including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Just to list a few features:
- Disable Javascript
- Disable Referrer
- Disable Cookies
- Add Cookies
- View Cookie Information
- Disable Styles
- Edit Styles (on the fly)
- Display Form Details
- Show Passwords
- Make Form Fields Editable
- Disable Images
- Edit HTML (on the fly)
- Resize Window
- Various Validation
- View Generated Source
- Many other features…
Most of the features are useful for testing various browser compatibilities. Not all users will enable cookies, referrers, images, or javascript on their browser. The Web Developer plugin allows an easy way to test how your site will handle various situations. Most useful if Edit CSS and Edit HTML will bring up windows that allow changes and saves that will update on the fly. This plugin displays as a FireFox toolbar and (like most Firefox plugins) has no problems during the uninstall process.
Overall, Web Developer is a great tool for developing sites in HTML and CSS. It is also a useful tool when developing AJAX enabled sites, as you can view the generated source. To try Web Developer, visit the developer’s site directly at http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/ or from Firefox Extensions at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60.
MySQL, a free database engine, is a popular choice among webmasters. Despite its popularity, it is still difficult to visualize the database, table, fields, and data. Though there are many great php web interface solutions available, there are not many software based solutions. My favorite solution is Toad. It is powerful freeware for MySQL and available for download. If you have ever used Microsoft’s SQL Server software, the Toad user interface is will feel similar.
You are given a visual representation of your databases. Select a database and drill down to view the tables. From the tables, you can view either the existing data or view the columns. In addition to viewing the existing tables, you can create new tables, columns, and insert new data.
All in all, Toad is a great free option for MySQL users. If you have never given it a try, I highly recommend you give it a test drive. Included in the functionality is Version Control, Integration, Macro Record and Playback, Database Browser, Security Manager, Knowledge Xpert, Project Manager, SQL Recall, Code Formatter, Import/Export, Analyze Table, Check Table, Compare and Sync, Create/Drop Database, Kill Session, Change Database Variables, Customizing toolbars. Toad has been developed by Quest and can be found at http://www.quest.com/toad-for-mysql/