In order to make sure I'm designing pages that look good on your browser, I use a free service provided by Statcounter.com to track visitors to this website. The information that Statcounter provides to me consists of the date and time of your visit, your computer's IP address, the type of browser you were using (e.g. Firefox 1.0.5), the operating system you're running (e.g. Windows XP), what screen resolution you use (e.g. 1024 by 768 pixels), the referring link - that is, how you got here, the URL of the page you're looking at and the title of that page. This is important to me, because it means I can concentrate on ensuring pages are compliant with the most commonly used browsers and screen resolutions.

Statcounter also creates a small cookie to determine whether or not you've been here before (i.e. whether you're a first-timer or a returning visitor). The cookie has no personally identifiable information, but it lets me know stuff like the fact that I've had over 4,000 unique visitors to the site in the last six months which I think is pretty nifty.

I also get to see a flag of the country that Statcounter thinks you're from (but unfortunately it's not always that accurate - for instance the Canary Isles appear to have relocated to the UK) and that's it. I will do nothing else with the information, and have no intention whatsoever of passing it on to anybody else. It just lets me see nice charts that show me how many people turn up every day and which pages they like visiting, so I can concentrate on making those pages even more interesting.

You can find out more information about how Statcounter works here (and of course you can sign up and use it on your own site, too!)

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