| AJAX...It's Not Just for Cleaning |
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| Web Analytics | |
| Written by Lyris HQ Staff Writer | |
| Thursday, 20 March 2008 | |
 We know what you're asking, "Why is Lyris HQ Web analytics writing an article about cleaning supplies?" Actually, we aren't. We are, however, going to give you the scoop on AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and what it has to do with Web analytics.
To Refresh or Not to Refresh: That is the Question
Sounds pretty cool right? Well, it is. But before you all go out and buy an AJAX development book, there are some things you'll want to take into consideration. If you need accurate web analytics - and believe us, you do - you'll need to keep a few things in mind before developing your AJAX application. Log Files or JavaScript: Which is Better for AJAX?
On the other hand, log file based systems note both page requests *and* AJAX server requests. To better understand, let's take a look at a specific example: index.html → user clicks on the products link → XML Server Object is accessed and data is passed to server → XML data containing product info is sent back from server → data is presented on index.html In this example, if you used a conventional JavaScript tracking solution, only the request to index.html would be logged. However, in a log file based tracking system, both the request to index.html and the XML server object request would be logged. As a result, it would be possible to track which actions occurred, which links were clicked, etc. It's important to weigh all the options when selecting an analytics solution. Both JavaScript and log file based tracking systems have their pros and cons, but if AJAX is your thing, having in place a log file based analytics solution should be a priority.   Comments (2)
Director of Technology written by Karl Persson, August 14, 2008
This article is completely incorrect, or at least incomplete to the point that it conveys the completely wrong message.
The writer assumes that any included JavaScript tag is only executed when the page first loads. However, instead by actually utilizing the AJAX functionality itself to add JS page tags for AJAX events, it is possible to track these events using JS. Fact of the matter is that log-based analysis is NOT the answer for most AJAX applications, UNLESS every AJAX call requests a specific and different URL. This is not the case in most instances. Instead, your log-based analysis is going to have many requests for the same URLs with no way to differentiate the user actions. On the other hand, by implementing specific JavaScript tags for certain AJAX actions you are able to, with fine granularity, track user behavior (including where they navigate on the page, buttons pressed, AJAX requests etc. etc.) which in many cases would not be discernible from log-file analysis. report abuse
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The log-based side of the answer depends on the specific AJAX implementation, and I believe the author was simplifying to make this an introductory conversation. The page URL typically is the same with AJAX processing, but URL parameters can be appended to indicate what specific action is being taken. With ClickTracks log file analysis, we can easily parse those parameters to show specific activity.
Another very important factor to consider regardless of data collection method is interpretation of the data. Since AJAX actions are reported like page views, a site with a lot of AJAX being tracked will report large numbers of very short page views. So Average Time on Site will still be a good metric, but Pageviews Per Visitor and Average Time on Page will need to be taken with a grain of salt.