I use Google Analytics but don't like the fact that I'm missing out on non-Javascript users. I'm looking for a PHP solution where I can add an include to all my pages and it will log everything into a database. I found this: www.tracewatch.com But the code is obfuscated... I don't like that and the paranoid side of me feels that there could be a backdoor in there to give the owner access to anyone's logs if he was so inclined to see them. Does anyone know of a PHP logging system similar to Tracewatch? Thanks.
There are tons of stats scripts written in PHP. You may check them out @ hostscripts. Most of them charge something around $100 or so and you get the source code. The one that use 1 pixel images and / or javascript will be able to work on all sort of browsers. IMO, more than 99% of the users will have js turned on. Now a days you can not login to any major site if you dont have js on. With ajax being used for all email sites and major portals, there wont be any real users who turned of it permanantly. Justa few who turned it off temporarily and forgot. May not make any real differnce to your stats. You can also checkout the log analysers that come with your control panel.
Having worked on tracking systems in the past, I tend to agree with Alemcherry. First, almost all users have javascript enabled. Second, the proportion of users having javascript enabled remains almost constant over time. Third, it is the trend that is important. If you accept the these premises, then it is sufficient to know that any particular measurement is trending up or down. The javascript enabled users act as an analogue for your user population as a whole. They are actually more reliable as it avoids the image hits from robots and scrapers which will artificially inflate your view of your real human traffic. I have never known of a robot actually laying down a credit card to buy anything ps. These observations are drawn from using the tracking system every day. ymmv.