Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except the things in the world that just don't add up. - James Magary

that was how it started. it just doesn't add up.

i was searching google for information about urchin but i keep getting directed to google web analytics. my frustration was so palpable i can taste it. ok so analytics is the new urchin but i really need urchin 3 information. unfortunately, that is what we're still using. we haven't even upgraded to urchin 4 or 5. very old school...i know, i know.

i was so pissed. going home at 2 am in the morning would do that to you. especially if you've been combing the net for hours and haven't found anything relevant, just websites trying to sell you their services to launch your website at the top of every search engine in the kingdom. rawr. i am so not looking for that.

so as soon as i arrived at the office and after 5 computer restarts (pesteng computer) i was seriously considering sending the computer overboard (read: outta the porthole errr the 32nd floor's window). i thought i was going to get the blue screen of death but finally it started to respond on the fifth restart and so my evil thoughts receded. amazing (sarcasm, sarcasm).

out of desperation i even emailed our senior quality engineer, but i only did that because i was sooo desperate and i hate being desperate. and honestly he scares me, i would have rather have myself burned at the pits and die but since even that is more painful than asking for his help so i sent the email. duh. the fact that i'm still breathing today can attest to the wisdom of that desperate act; but that is neither here nor there.

now my problem with urchin is how can you have more visitors than pageviews? my understanding was shouldn't every visit count as a pageview? since you'll be pulling up the site and pulling it up means you'll be pulling up a page from his site so that is a pageview, right? so i thought there must at least be one pageview per visit.

my searches last night were futile. but i got lucky today. it pays to play thestone. my searches finally directed me to a website that has a link to urchin info. not exactly urchin 3 (it looks like google have wiped out all documentaion regarding urchin 3 because i couldn't find any specific documentation regarding that version). but i found a documentation that compares the 3 versions - urchin 3, 4 and 5 and it does contain an answer as to why pageviews may not equal/exceed your number of visitors. it's right here:

Urchin 3
* Visitor tracking is done by incoming IP address only. There is no distinction between a visitor and a session.
* All MIME types except images (gif/jpg/png) are treated as pageviews.
* Pageview hits with a HEAD request type are logged as treated as actual pageviews.
* Pageviews are not required to count a visitor, so a request for a single image file could be counted as a new visitor. (-> ano daw? labo! but not necessarily a pageview? but it's a hit?)
*Hits with error codes of 404 or 5xx are considered legitimate visits and could increment the visitor count. (-> would it count as a pageview even if it's a 404 or 5xx?)
*Traffic->Hourly report and Tracking reports (e.g. Top Entrances, Top Exits) data is stored on a monthly basis, therefore the only report granularity is for a single month date range.


That was still too vague for me. But this website gave me the cincher:

Page View - The opportunity for a page to appear in a browser window as a direct result of a visitor's interaction with a website. The term "page" is used to represent the visitor's view of a website through the browser window. A page request does not guarantee that a visitor actually viewed the requested page. It only measures the opportunity for that page to have been delivered to the visitor. A page request will be valid even if the resource or information requested does not load to completion or otherwise become fully available to the requesting visitor. Pages may contain text, images, media objects or other online elements. However, only one page is counted per request. A request that is followed by an interstitial page (a page that appears in a separate browser window while a web page is loading), will only count as one page request. Cached pages (pages held in processor memory) are not counted in page-hit calculations, so as to have a system of measurement that replicates web log file data.


So now you know. Spread it around.


Ain't life grand when you get an answer for what you need. - I say so.




Only exceptionally rational men can afford to be absurd. - Allan Goldfein