Timer

[Dr. Jason Gastrich]

Hi,

I need a way to time visitors that come and log in to my site. If the timer
could keep track of the amounts of time that logged in visitors spend, then
that would be great.

Any ideas? Any freeware out there that could do this?

Jason

 

[brucie]

in post: <

I need a way to time visitors that come and log in to my site.

not possible

 

[Nicolai P. Zwar]

in post: <


not possible

Not in HTML, true, but if his visitors actually have to log in, as the
original poster implied, it is not only possible but (probably) easily
done. Depends on how they log-in and out, though, and it's of course not
really an HTML question.


--
Nicolai Zwar -- http://www.nicolaizwar.com

"I don't post off-topic digests. I consistently ask the antagonists
what their postings have to do with classical music, which happens to be
the topic of this newsgroup."
(Dr. David J. Tholen, Astronomer, in his "Antagonists Digest, Volume
2452972, posted in rec.music.classical)

 

[brucie]

in post: <

Not in HTML, true, but if his visitors actually have to log in, as the
original poster implied, it is not only possible

it is not

but (probably) easily done.

it is not

Depends on how they log-in and out, though,

it does not

 

[Jay]

Hi,

I need a way to time visitors that come and log in to my site. If the timer
could keep track of the amounts of time that logged in visitors spend, then
that would be great.

Any ideas? Any freeware out there that could do this?

As an alternative you could purchase web log analyzing software and see the
activity level by length of visit and activity level by the hour.

(what does free.christians have to do with this?)

- J

 

[Ariaan]

As an alternative you could purchase web log analyzing software and
see the activity level by length of visit and activity level by the
hour.

(what does free.christians have to do with this?)

- J

He's in it. He posts from there.

And your solution is probably better than the other one, since this would
avoid the problem of people logging in but not logging out.

Ariaan

 

[brucie]

in post: <

As an alternative you could purchase web log analyzing software and see the
activity level by length of visit and activity level by the hour.

You can't tell the identity of your readers.
You can't tell how many visitors you've had.
You can't tell how many visits you've had.
Cookies don't solve these problems.
You can't follow a person's path through your site.
You often can't tell where they entered your site, or where they found
out about you from.
You can't tell how they left your site, or where they went next.
You can't tell how long people spent reading each page.
You can't tell how long people spent on your site.
http://www.analog.cx/docs/webworks.html

Why web usage statistics are (worse than) meaningless
http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/webstats/

 

[Dr. Jason Gastrich]

As an alternative you could purchase web log analyzing software and
see the activity level by length of visit and activity level by the
hour.

(what does free.christians have to do with this?)

- J

Thanks for your input. My CPanel has awstats, so I could track time by IP
address, but this is a last resort.

I created the free.christians newsgroup and simply cross-posted to the group
where I frequent.

JG

 

[Dr. Jason Gastrich]

Not in HTML, true, but if his visitors actually have to log in, as the
original poster implied, it is not only possible but (probably) easily
done. Depends on how they log-in and out, though, and it's of course
not really an HTML question.

Thanks, Nicolai.

Is this a java question? Can you point me in the right direction?

JG

 

[Duende]

While sitting in a puddle Dr. Jason Gastrich scribbled in the mud:

I created the free.christians newsgroup and simply cross-posted to the
group where I frequent.

Why?

 

[Roger K]

Thanks for your input. My CPanel has awstats, so I could track time by IP
address, but this is a last resort.

The Java option from SiteMeter http://www.sitemeter.com/ claims to provide
the stats - it's free and easy to put on your site.

Roger

 

[Andy Hassall]

I need a way to time visitors that come and log in to my site. If the timer
could keep track of the amounts of time that logged in visitors spend, then
that would be great.

Any ideas? Any freeware out there that could do this?

You can't tell when someone leaves; the closest you can get, under ideal
conditions (i.e. some sort of foolproof login system), is the time between when
they first accessed a page, and when they next accessed a page. They could have
done anything they like in between accesses, so correctly assessing how much
time they spent 'on' your site isn't possible.

(Without lots of intrusive plugins and attatching sensors to their eyeballs
tracking which window they're looking at, anyway)

Measuring total time across several consecutive accesses, with some sort of
timeout period between long accesses, is probably close enough though.

 

[Routerider]

Hi,

I need a way to time visitors that come and log in to my site. If the timer
could keep track of the amounts of time that logged in visitors spend, then
that would be great.

Any ideas? Any freeware out there that could do this?

Jason

Yes you can track how much time visitors spend on your site...but this kind
of software is generally not freeware.

 

[Dr. Jason Gastrich]

You can't tell when someone leaves; the closest you can get, under
ideal conditions (i.e. some sort of foolproof login system), is the
time between when they first accessed a page, and when they next
accessed a page. They could have done anything they like in between
accesses, so correctly assessing how much time they spent 'on' your
site isn't possible.

(Without lots of intrusive plugins and attatching sensors to their
eyeballs tracking which window they're looking at, anyway)

Measuring total time across several consecutive accesses, with some
sort of timeout period between long accesses, is probably close
enough though.

This is a very good point. The timer is to make sure a person spends 20
hours (or whatever the hour requirement is in their state) for a certain
professional task. There is no way to tell if they are watching TV or
actually studying the material.

I'm making this site for a friend, so I'll run this by him and see what he
wants.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[brucie]

in post: <
just as accurate as making wild guesses. GIGO

This is a very good point. The timer is to make sure a person spends 20
hours (or whatever the hour requirement is in their state) for a certain
professional task.

you're wasting your time, it is not possible

There is no way to tell if they are watching TV or actually studying
the material.

that makes sense considering you cant even tell something as simple as
determining if they're on your site at all.

 

[Nicolai P. Zwar]

in post: <


it is not

If that were so, how do you explain the fact that my bank or my
cell-phone provider have log stats as to my log-ins and log-outs?

it is not




it does not

How come my bank or my cell-phone provider know when and for how long
I've been logged into my account if it is not possible?


--
Nicolai Zwar -- http://www.nicolaizwar.com

"I don't post off-topic digests. I consistently ask the antagonists
what their postings have to do with classical music, which happens to be
the topic of this newsgroup."
(Dr. David J. Tholen, Astronomer, in his "Antagonists Digest, Volume
2452972, posted in rec.music.classical)

 

[brucie]

in post: <

If that were so, how do you explain the fact that my bank or my
cell-phone provider have log stats as to my log-ins and log-outs?

you're a little light on details but for a phone when the call ends
you're obviously not still logged in. for your bank over http/s they
wouldn't have a clue.

 

[Steve Pugh]

If that were so, how do you explain the fact that my bank or my
cell-phone provider have log stats as to my log-ins and log-outs?

They guess.

They assume that if you do nothing for X minutes then you have shut
the browser, or switched off the computer, or simple forgotten about
it. At that point they decide to log you out automatically and record
that time.

For a banking site logging users out after five minutes of inactivity
is acceptable. For an distance learning course or a network monitoring
service such an action would not be acceptable.

How come my bank or my cell-phone provider know when and for how long
I've been logged into my account if it is not possible?

Recording the time someone logs in is easy. If they actually log out
then that is also easy to record. But if they don't log out, if they
leave the site open, or leave the site without logging out, then any
time is a pure guess.

Steve

 

[brucie]

in post: <

For a banking site logging users out after five minutes of inactivity
is acceptable. For an distance learning course or a network monitoring
service such an action would not be acceptable.

when my bank first stated the internet banking thingy if you didn't log
out you stayed logged in until midnight which was a real pain in the bum
if you tried to login again. it wouldn't allow it. now it times out
after 10 minutes.

another bank i use allows you to fill out details for a bank cheque and
have it mailed off somewhere. if you're really really fast you can fill
out the form and hit submit before you're logged out but it usually
takes at least 3 attempts.

 

[Whitecrest]

when my bank....
another bank...

They have banks there?