Section 29. Add Hit Counters

29. Add Hit Counters

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

20 Explore GeoCities

21 Sign Up for Services

22 Use Yahoo! PageWizards to Create a Page

SEE ALSO

30 Add Stock Quotes

31 Add News Feeds and Weather Maps

32 Add a Search Function

Having a web page means you want people to be able to see what you are writing and thinking. When they visit your page, you want to know how many people have been there. GeoCities makes it easy to add a hit counter to your page.

Hit counters have a mixed reputation in the industry. To some, hit counters are the "Billions and Billions Served" sign that makes a site look like fast food. For others, they are indispensable . If you want to have one, they are easy to add, but if you do, you might want to make it pretty inconspicuous.

29. Add Hit Counters

TIP

Hit counters track the number of downloaded files, not actual visitors . As you've learned in this book, web pages are a mix of HTML files and graphic files. The hit count varies a lot based on website design. The final hit counter issue? Pages with continuing low hit counts look more pathetic than useful.

1.	Select Counter from the Add-ons Click on the Add-ons icon. In the Categories list, select Instant Info and select Counter from the Add-ons in the right pane.
2.	Set the Style of the Counter In the Counter Properties dialog box, select a style and then set the colors for the font and the background color . You can also change the size and the number of digits that show, so you can set the counter to six or seven places if you're ambitious and expect millions of visitors.
3.	Preview the Page When you click OK , a counter is placed in your page as an object that you can drag to the spot where you want to have it. Click on the Preview button on the toolbar to see how the counter looks on the live page.
4.	Edit the Counter Go back to the Editing View in PageBuilder and find the counter on your page. Double-click on the icon and, in the Counter Properties , change some of the properties and click OK .

TIP

There are two schools of thought on counters as we mentioned previouslythose who like them and those who think they look tacky. If you want a compromise between these two views, consider using colors for the counter that have low contrast with your background. That way, people who want to find it will, and those who don't won't see it at first glance.