NOTES and TRICKS for Free Counters
Restrictions
- Free counters get wiped out on the 1st of every month.
- Reports can only be done via links on your web page.
- My old program used to have other reports. I might add those features if I had enough interest (and registered users).
Tricks
Correct the baseline of your gif
Result Guest # <img src='•••/counter?font=Helvetica'>Guest # Guest # <img style='position:relative; top:5px;' src='•••/counter?font=Helvetica'>Guest #
Obscure the 'report requests'
OK, so it might not be the best way, but without having access to an admin console, you can still hide your web page's 'report links'.Two suggestions:
- Obscure your stats links
Build very tiny links that a normal visitor would probably not click on:
<style>.obscure:hover { cursor:default; text-decoration:none; } </style>
<div style='position:fixed; top:1px; left:1px; z-index:99999;'>
<a target='_blank' class='obscure' href='http://itry.ca/counter?extra'>.</a>
<a target='_blank' class='obscure' href='http://itry.ca/counter?refer'>.</a>
<a target='_blank' class='obscure' href='http://itry.ca/counter?20r'>.</a>
</div>You'll know where to find them, but a normal visitor probably won't, and it won't deface your web page.
- Build a separate 'stats' page
A single iTry counter works over all of the web sites within the same directory. So, just build another web page under your main directory, and don't have any of your other web pages link to it.That is, you have a few inter-linked pages: www.blah.com/mainpage.htm www.blah.com/about.htm www.blah.com/survey.htmJust build another page, www.blah.com/stats.htm that you never link to:
<html>
<body>
<h1>My Reports:
<ol>
<li><a target='_blank' href='http://itry.ca/counter?daily'>Daily Histogram </a>
<li><a target='_blank' href='http://itry.ca/counter?extra'>Extra Log </a>
<li><a target='_blank' href='http://itry.ca/counter?refer'>Links to my site </a>
<li><a target='_blank' href='http://itry.ca/counter?20r'>Last 20 accesses </a>
<li><a target='_blank' href='http://itry.ca/counter?99999'>All visitors </a>
</ol>
</body>
</html>
AWESOME 'stats-page' EXAMPLE
As above, try building a private/separate web page. Using frames allows you to keep 'inside' your web site (recall that you can only pull stats from the service if you are within your web subdirectory - no registration required.)<html>
<head>
<title>iTry Counter Stats</title>
</head>
<body style='background-color:black;'>
<div style='position:fixed; top:10px; left:20px; width:200px; height:900px; background-color:white; padding:10px;'>
<h3>iTry Counter Reports:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a target='counterFrame' href='http://itry.ca/counter?daily'>Daily Histogram</a>
<li><a target='counterFrame' href='http://itry.ca/counter?extra'>Extra Log</a>
<li><a target='counterFrame' href='http://itry.ca/counter?refer'>Links to my site</a>
<li><a target='counterFrame' href='http://itry.ca/counter?20r'>Last 20 accesses</a>
<li><a target='counterFrame' href='http://itry.ca/counter?all'>All visitors</a>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href='./'>return home</a>
<iframe name='counterFrame' frameborder="0"
style='position:fixed; border:none; background-color:white;
width:1400px; height:900px; top:10px; left:250px; padding:10px;' >
</iframe>Result: Click here to see what a stats page looks like: http://itry.ca/Geo-counter/stats.html
