AccessWatch -- AccessWatch is a new stats program based on Perl that, like Statbot, doesn't require the use of CGI scripting/accessing. However, Perl 5 is needed in order to run the script; as well, you'll need access to your web server's logs in order to obtain web statistics for AccessWatch. AccessWatch offers several advantages over Statbot and similar competitors, including the ability to separate accesses into categories based on domain type (i.e. by country or site type within U.S. -- com, net, or edu). AccessWatch also lists stats for individual pages based in order from the page with the greatest number of hits to the least -- there is even a graphical bar representing the overall percentage of hits each page has accounted for. Other cool features include the ability to project expected hits per day based on the current number of hits and an option for reporting the percentage of use your web site accounts for on its server. Many users will find their web stat needs filled in full by AccessWatch. Unfortunately, there are several disadvantages in the current version that keep AccessWatch from being more competitive. First, stats automatically reset whenever the web server log does, which can be as often as a daily process. This is opposed to Statbot's incorporation of a database of hits in order to keep track of stats even after a web log has been reset a number of times. The result of constantly resetting stats is that cumulative web statistics cannot be accounted for over an extended period of time. Second, AccessWatch can currently only work with one web log; i.e. if your web hits are recorded in multiple logs, you can only track the hits of one log at a time (again, as opposed to Statbot which offers the capability of working with up to seventeen different logs). Third, users of AccessWatch will likely suffer from many of the same installation problems as users of Statbot; neither program comes close to the ease of use experienced with clients like Web-Counter and Internet Audit Bureau. Finally, the page created by AccessWatch suffers from a lack of customizable features; there are few ways to modify the appearance of the page other than by changing the perl script. For a sample Access Watch report, check out The AccessWatch Page. Pros: Cool web stats delivered on demand, offers several features not found in the competition Cons: Lacks the ease of use found in Web-Counter and IAB, lacks some of Statbot's best features New: Hourly bar graph, favorite hosts table, optimized performance, more Version Reviewed: 1.33 Date of Review: 6/6/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud apps conference Main Menu