I spent a few minutes today trying out some of the web stats products that people have recommended.
I started with Absolute Log Analyzer. Absolute is a stand-alone widows product, and it can analyze logs on the local machine, or by FTP connection. I have a decent-sized log file on our production server (400+ MB), so I decided to download it to my workstation before importing it. When I tried importing the file, it churned for a while, then silently stopped. A check of the parsing log revealed that the import had failed because it wasn't able to auto-detect the log file format. I have a sneaking suspicion that the line endings were at fault. The log file undoubtedly uses unix-style line breaks instead of the Windows-style ones the app is likely expecting. This is, to be blunt, a really stupid reason for the program to fail. I did poke around a bit more in this app, fiddled with some settings, and then decided to un-install the program. Having to fiddle with line breaks every time I want to analyze a log file isn't my idea of fun. [Update: Alexey from BitStrike wrote in and fixed the issue...Absolute Log Analyzer works as advertised now.]
Next, I tried out the ClickTracks demo, a stand-alone Windows app like Absolute. ClickTracks is a polished and easy-to-use program. They clearly put a decent amount of time into making the overall user experience a positive one. It handled my logfile with aplomb, then it displayed my site's homepage with statistics overlaid on each link. This is, I think, a very powerful way of visualizing this type of statistic. You can tell at a glance which links are being used and which ones aren't. I can definitely see how showing this type of data to non-technical users could be useful.
But, I can't really see plunking down $500 for the entry-level version of this software. And by entry-level, I mean, feature-limited. I might consider it, but I'd like to see what else is out there before buying this package. Had it been, say, $200, it would have been a no-brainer. Money is tight here in non-profit land!
As I used ClickTracks a bit more, I did notice that it often slows down as it crunches through the logfiles to produce the pretty reports. This may or may not turn out to be an issue with regular use.
Lastly, I tried to install a server-based product, NetTracker Lite, on our linux webserver. The install died because it couldn't find a shared library. A quick check of the NetTracker website didn't turn up anything, so that one gets pushed to the back of the list for now. [Update: George Smith correctly diagnosed the issue, and sent a link to the solution. Thanks, George!]
I'll keep reporting on my experiences, as I get the chance. Meanwhile, if you have ideas about a good product, let me know.
Posted by Karl
May 11, 2005 05:39 PM