Upgraded stats and changes to WP interface
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Musicdoc1, it was the first I heard that term, too. I did a search for it on the Forums and that’s where I found the screenshot. I’m sorry I used that picture as it wasn’t that clear.
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rachelsquirrel, there are good things about the “new” Stats page, like you just pointed out, however, the good doesn’t out weigh the not-so-good, so I never use it.
I wrote this when the “new” Stats page came out a month or so ago:
“Eliminating the Date and Time (located at the very top of both the older versions of the Stats pages) so we can compare our Stats within a 24 hour time period is one of the most bothersome parts of the New Stats page. It makes it unusable without the time.”
That’s the feature I especially like and need in viewing stats for my blog.
Will someone be letting us know when the “new” Stats page will be changed for the better? One of the staff persons said that the Time Stamp is one of the possible changes in the near future.
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… I have verified that clicking on the My Sites menu and exiting the customizer also brings me into the new dashboard …
If you click on My Sites at the top left on the home page of your site then there’s an option there to go to WP Admin. I see what you mean about going to the customizer via My Sites > Customize where exiting will take you to the new Dashboard rather than where you were before. I’ll ask about this and report back. If you go to the Customizer from WP Admin (Appearance > Customize) then existing out of this will take you back to WP Admin.
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That’s the feature I especially like and need in viewing stats for my blog.
I think you’re referring to this – https://cloudup.com/crNNIybgVQ7 – is that right? This time stamp refers to the time the stats were last fetched. There are plans to add it to the new stats but I don’t have an ETA for this, sorry.
Will someone be letting us know when the “new” Stats page will be changed for the better?
Obviously we’d love it if people would check out the new stats from time to time as they’re constantly evolving. One recent change is that there are now more stats on the bar graph and this was made in response to feedback we received. You could also keep an eye on http://en.blog.wordpress.com for announcements of the more significant new features.
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@rachelsquirrel
Thanks for your response:)
“The new stats will let you view information by year. For instance, if you go to https://wordpress.com/stats/year/lisahillschoolstuff.wordpress.com (other people in this thread will need to replace the URL at the end of the link with their own) you can click each year in the bar chart and see a break-down of the stats per year. So if you click on 2013 in the bar graph you can see all the posts and pages you created that year and all the views for those pages throughout the year. It’s not possible to see this information with the old stats: you can only see the current year or all time. “
That is indeed a nice feature, but it doesn’t make up for not being able to see the table, (https://wordpress.com/my-stats/?view=table) which I find useful for comparing monthly trends from year to year, and also to be able to hover over the bar graph to see instantly why there is a spike in stats. (For example, a book review of the Australian novel The Slap got a huge spike when the TV series was shown overseas).
Perhaps because my ANZ LitLovers site is a book review blog, I have many instances of reviews I blogged some years ago suddenly becoming very popular (e.g. when an author wins the Nobel, when a book is added to school reading lists etc) so I use stats from years ago maybe more than other bloggers do if their blogs focus more on the here and now. (I like to think that mine has longevity!!)
(BTW the LisaHillSchoolStuff that you referred me to is my professional blog which is a very low key affair whereas my book review blog has a huge Australian and international readership). -
Thanks, Rachel, yes, the Time Stamp with the time indicated is what I was referring to.
Yes, I subscribe to the WP blog and have been very disappointed in their moderation and approval of comments, especially if they do not favor the “new” changes. One comment I made was approved after 4 days! Long enough for most readers of the post to not see it.
The “new” Stats page announcement came out in December and it’s now February with complaints still coming into the Forums. So, are you saying that WP will announce again it’s “new” Stats page?
I remember when the Beep, Beep, Boop “new and too-blue-to-use” editor came out last year. Staff did make a sticky post in the Forums letting bloggers know of recent changes because it also came out as a downgrade for most bloggers. I have never used it because even with some changes its appearance was enough to make an unpleasant experience for me posting. Also the categories/tags was never fixed and I use that function every time I publish.
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That is indeed a nice feature, but it doesn’t make up for not being able to see the table …
Indeed. We’ve had lots of requests for the table view and there are plans to integrate it with the new system. I’m not sure when or how but it’s on the road map.
.. and also to be able to hover over the bar graph to see instantly why there is a spike in stats.
Yes, I quite like the hover feature too however the new stats offer something better in my view. If you go to the monthly views for your site here – https://wordpress.com/stats/month/anzlitlovers.wordpress.com (hopefully got the right blog this time!) – You can click on a month in the bar graph and see all the views to each post in that month and also the posts that were published in that month (these appear with an orange strip to the left of the title). There’s no equivalent view in the old stats. It’s handy because at the end of the year there might be one month which generated a lot of traffic and it’s very easy to select that month in the new stats and see exactly which posts were popular during the month and also which posts were published that month. You can also see where the traffic came from by country and also the referrers.
For instance, if you had a particularly busy month in July 2014 and want to go back and have a look to see which posts were popular and where the traffic came from, you can click on the month of July in the bar graph and it will take you to this page:
https://wordpress.com/stats/month/anzlitlovers.wordpress.com?startDate=2014-07-01
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So, are you saying that WP will announce again it’s “new” Stats page?
Not exactly. I meant more that big announcements are made there. The smaller changes don’t usually get a separate announcement. For instance the addition of extra days to the days view of the new stats wasn’t announced on en.blog.
Regarding moderation of comments, we do need to manually approve comments because it’s such a busy blog and I think it’s important to ensure a certain level of civility in the discussion. Having said that, most people are very polite which is great. All I can say is sorry it took so long for the comment to appear! We’re not trying to silence anyone. We really appreciate the feedback and WordPress.com takes a hard line against censorship:
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/striking-back-against-censorship/Also the categories/tags was never fixed and I use that function every time I publish.
Tags and categories in the new editor should work in the same way as they do in WP Admin. If there’s something not working as it should with the new editor then please let us know. If you have time, feel free to start a new topic about the issue so that we can help troubleshoot. Thanks!
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Now it appears to me that they have removed some functionality from the Old Stats page, presumably to make it less appealing so we will go to the new page.
We like to look at the number of visitors more than the number of page views. I really like the graph at the top that showed the Views in a light color, and then the visitors in a darker color. Seems gone as of today. I can’t find the number of visitors at all on the old stats page.
Amazing that they would take away functionality from the old to force people to the new. I might get to like the new if they just used more of the screen so that I can see multiple pieces of information at a time. Nothing about how we view stats is one multidimensional, yet they think their new, very long one dimensional page is somehow better.
I wonder if anyone who actually USES the stats to understand their website was or is on the design team for the new stats page.
They just seem like they are trying to send us to a wordpress.org hoster.
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I really like the graph at the top that showed the Views in a light color, and then the visitors in a darker color. Seems gone as of today.
Yes, I quite like the views and visitors on the one graph too and it’s still there if you go to this page https://wordpress.com/my-stats
It this has suddenly disappeared for you then try clearing your browser cache. We’ve got some instructions here:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-your-browser-cacheLet me know how you go. Thanks!
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Thanks for your response, @rachelsquirrel. There’s a link back to the homepage that appears when you hover over My Sites as well, which is reasonably handy. I’m still not sure why leaving the customizer should bring you to either dashboard; the preferred behavior is to return to the newly edited page. This was the norm until recently, and remians the norm on WP.org (there will be hell to pay if these changes migrate over there, given that many self-hosted themes are heavily reliant on the cusomizer).
In fact, there’s an ever greater disparity between WP.com and WP.org which is not, in my view, a benefit. Nor is this a request to see the new UI changes imposed on those of us who have opted to self-host.
There are a few benefits to the new stats, but the most glaring defect, in my view, is the single-column design coupled with the loss of the ability to customize the dashboard. The latter feature allows us to prioritize the information we wish to view, while the former lets us view virtually the entirety of that information. I can see more information by viewing the classic stats or dashboard on a 13″ screen than I cab by viewing the new UI on a 27″ screen, which is telling.
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Then the next time you go to this page with the same browser – http://wordpress.com/post – it will ask whether you want to restore the local draft. No-one wants to lose a draft they’ve spent time creating so this is a very useful feature and I know from personal experience that many users have found lost drafts there.
That is indeed handy. However, the old editor easily allowed users to save drafts as well. I do the bulk of my writing in a word processor from which I then import the text. While I will revise work in the editor, losing material was never an issue for me.
I have periodically had an issue with the new editor stripping the formatting away from a previously edited post, so I’ve stuck with the classic editor.
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Tags and categories in the new editor should work in the same way as they do in WP Admin.
But they don’t. On the classic editor there is a list of categories to choose from, including a “Most Used” list, which I use every time I post.
Tags on the classic editor show a list after you’ve typed in a few letters.
It’s an efficiency issue. The BBP-too-blue-to-use editor is inefficient.
About the announcements on the WP blog, you answered my question/concern stating that there will not be another blog post on the “new” Stats page, so why direct me and others there?
What I asked was for a sticky post on the Forums with the latest changes on the “new” Stats page similar to what staff did for the BBP editor last year.
About the WP Blog comment moderation: it is controlled by whomever approves the comments and when comments are delayed by days, that is controlling the mood of the post. This happened to many other bloggers, not only for my comment. And on several different WP blog posts. There is a pattern of comment moderation allowing only positive comments when the post first is published.
Thanks again for trying to help us out. You’ve been very responsive to our concerns.
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But they don’t. On the classic editor there is a list of categories to choose from, including a “Most Used” list, which I use every time I post.
Tags on the classic editor show a list after you’ve typed in a few letters.In the new editor the list of categories and tags will appear when you click in the box. However you’re right that there isn’t a “most used” list.
About the announcements on the WP blog, you answered my question/concern stating that there will not be another blog post on the “new” Stats page, so why direct me and others there?
Big changes are usually announced on en.blog. Small changes are not usually announced on en.blog.
What I asked was for a sticky post on the Forums with the latest changes on the “new” Stats page similar to what staff did for the BBP editor last year.
Good idea! I’ll suggest it to the team.
Thanks again for trying to help us out. You’ve been very responsive to our concerns.
Great! I’m glad this has been helpful.
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You’re right, there is no need to refresh stats for previous days since these are not going to change. Indeed if you swipe down from the centre of the screen it will refresh the stats for the current day and take you to the view for the current day so this is an alternative way to see those stats if the bar chart isn’t responding properly to taps.
This is *not* what happens, and this is one of the problems I was trying to explain to @jeremeylduvall. If you swipe down from the centre of the screen on the Android app, the “spinning button” descends. But if you swipe far enough down to make the button stay on the screen – which you have to do to make the refresh run – more times than not you hit the bar in the bar graph that is directly below that spot. That bar represents a previous day’s stats. And the orange overlay shifts to that bar, and the stats refresh for that past day.
Is it not possible to set the refresh function on the app so that it only refreshes stats for the current day? There is no reason to have the capability to refresh stats from the past.
And with regards to the problem of not being able to tap from one bar to another without tapping all the bars in between – I don’t have this problem with any other app on my phone. I think the bars in the bar chart on the WP app are either not responsive enough or are too close together. It is difficult to tap on one bar without hitting the bars on either side of it. And I have long narrow fingers so this shouldn’t be a problem for me.
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@rachelsquirrel
Thanks, I see what you mean about being able to unpack the data in more detail, and yes, that is nice too.
I do want ‘hovering’ back, I don’t always want to explore the data that fully, often I just need reminding, ‘oh yes, that’s when the GST on books was in the media and I had a surge in visitors’.
You see,*chuckle* I want it all, I want the good old stuff AND the good new stuff.
So I’m just wondering: is there a reason why certain features are removed? Is it because somehow they are technologically incompatible with the new, or does it cost WP money/server space to store all that data? -
If you swipe down from the centre of the screen on the Android app, the “spinning button” descends. But if you swipe far enough down to make the button stay on the screen – which you have to do to make the refresh run – more times than not you hit the bar in the bar graph that is directly below that spot.
When you swipe down, start from beneath the bar chart so you don’t select one of the bars. You don’t need to swipe from the very top. This should refresh the current day’s stats. Let me know if doesn’t work.
And with regards to the problem of not being able to tap from one bar to another without tapping all the bars in between …
This is very strange and I’m not able to reproduce it with my Android device. I can select bars from either end or a few bars apart. What type of device have you got? I’ll let my team know to see whether anyone else can reproduce this.
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I do want ‘hovering’ back …
I’ve just added a feature request for this to be included with new stats. I’ll keep you posted!
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I’m still not sure why leaving the customizer should bring you to either dashboard; the preferred behavior is to return to the newly edited page.
Yes, I agree. There’s a bug report in our system for this already and I’ll keep you updated via this thread.
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