We’ve Got Stats! (again)
I used to use AWStats to analyze my web server logs. Since migrating to this new server, I hadn’t gotten around to installing a log analyzer. I was going to finally re-install AWStats the other night, but figured that while I was starting over I’d make the switch to Analog (supplemented by Report Magic) instead. The results can be found at the new “stats” page. Cool, no? Well, cool for me. I never had the stats in a publicly accessible part of the site before, since it’s unlikely anyone else would be interested, but you never know. There’s not much there yet, since I didn’t bring over the logs from the old server, and I only enabled logging on the new server just last night, but the general idea comes through. I’ll be tweaking it for a while (getting rid of referer spam, doing DNS lookups, et cetera). And yes, it should be “referrer” spam, but somehow a typo got codified into the HTTP standard. Slackers.
Speaking of typos, Arnon mentioned that the comment form asks you for a URI (as opposed to a URL) when you post a comment. Note that this is NOT a typo. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and is certainly a far more widely used term. But a URI (as the acronym tag on that text points out) is a Universal Resource Identifier, and some might argue that it’s the more appropriate term to use. More information can be had at the W3C page on Naming and Addressing, as well as the infamous “URI Clarification” document of September 2001 (I’m sure we all remember THAT one with a chuckle). The short version (from RFC 2396) is:
A URI can be further classified as a locator, a name, or both. The term “Uniform Resource Locator” (URL) refers to the subset of URI that identify resources via a representation of their primary access mechanism (e.g., their network “location”), rather than identifying the resource by name or by some other attribute(s) of that resource. The term “Uniform Resource Name” (URN) refers to the subset of URI that are required to remain globally unique and persistent even when the resource ceases to exist or becomes unavailable.
Now has everyone got that whole URI vs. URL vs. URN distinction all clear in their minds? Groovy. Let’s move on. 
I’ve also got a cool little hack I found for the online photo gallery, but it’s late and Em’s already gone to bed. I’ll turn that loose (and post about it) tomorrow.
Oh, and the image of the pen at the top of the home page has to go, and will go eventually. It simply came with the style sheet that I ripped off, and I didn’t want a broken image link, and I was too lazy to take it out, and… I’ll get around to it.