Here is a quick reference page on this blog, for anyone interested in how I use it. I use different software to post, view and analyse the blog. Items in red are those that I have continued to use beyond the initial period of novelty fascination.

Blog software: DotClear (the Gandiblog version, which is in very limited release)

Statistics: Sitemeter, Google Analytics, DotClear, StatCounter, Histats, Performancing

Editor and XML-RPC front end: Performancing, Deepest Sender

Browser: Firefox 2

RSS feeds: Firefox 2 (via Live Bookmarks) and Thunderbird (via RSS Accounts)

Networking: Technorati, Del.icio.us, and practically every other such service under the sun. Boring, boring, boring. Too much trouble to look after, nothing much in the way of additional traffic. Not interested in using any of these any more.

Milestones

17 July 2006: first post
27 July 2006: first comment
16 August 2006: plugged the blog on Alzheimer's Association Caregiver's Forum
22 August 2006: plugged the blog on Alzheimer's Association Caregiver's Forum
8 November 2006: 5,000th page viewed ("Telephone tag" by Gail Rae Hudson at 18:49)
20 November 2006: plugged the blog on Dementianet.com.au
21 January 2007: 10,000th page viewed
19 February 2007 (today): 13,422nd page viewed

Explanations of my software selections:

Dotclear: came free with the 'fadingfrommemory.info' domain, required no downloading of software, looked a little different, worked fine from the beginning, has introduced nice new features every few weeks. Developed by a good bunch of French guys.

Sitemeter: simple and straightforward, real time, sends out email reports, loads quickly, allows browser and IP address blocking. Seems unable to display a counter in some browsers.

Google Analytics: by far the most comprehensive and profession of the free statistics services I've come across. Nice graphics, long logs, huge range of options, agrees with Sitemeter, but not quite real-time. Requires Flash.

StatCounter: very similar to Sitemeter except that the graphics are a little more sophisticated. Differences: shows return visitors and can display a counter on all my browsers. No longer consulted; Google Analytics is making StatCounter redundant. Left a suspicious cookies on my machine.

Histats: beautiful graphics from Italy, does not allow blocking, requires Flash, does not email results. On-site counters also require Flash.

Performancing - for stats: no need to download a page to see stats, but they are limited and inaccurate. So inaccurate as to be useless, in fact. I have removed Performancing for stats, but see next.

Performancing - for editing: a great little front end to any number of blogs, cannot yet set tags remotely but wil allow selection of categories, accepts most formatting, allows remote deleting and replacement of posts, and local storage of drafts.

Deepest Sender: never worked very well with DotClear as it is not fully compatible with Movable Type blog software.

Firefox 2: seems to be always ahead of Internet Explorer, does not have as many security holes, and doesn't attempt to take over your computer. Using RSS feeds is a piece of cake - and saves a lot of time when looking for updated blogs. Has many useful add-ons (one of which is Performancing. I use others for VoIP, a British dictionary, translations, constant update of Google AdSense data and advertisement blocking.)

Thunderbird: stores email files in transportable, human-readable formats. Seems to be ahead of Outlook in filtering, junk mail controls, RSS feeds (which automatically download comments from my blog).

Comments on my statistics:

I do not count my own visits or page views. I think if a visit extends beyond 30 minutes it counts as two. Counters are oddly inaccurate. StatCounter and Sitemeter, for example, only approximately agree. All statistics are therefore only approximate, though reasonably close to the truth. My blog site also gives statistics based on server logs, which show about twice as many visits as the counters - including Google Analytics - that are based on small scripts.