If you have a website, tracking or measuring the traffic the website receives is an obviously important step to consider. Not only does it give you an idea of what kind of traffic your site receives, but it also helps you plan the future of your site and keeps you motivated. There are a large number of different solutions our there — both self-hosted and SaaS — that let you track and analyse the traffic your website receives. One of the most popular solution is Google’s own Analytics. But I’ve had one major issue with Google Analytics, and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one in this boat, it’s that it is too complicated. Google Analytics throws all kinds of data at you in different forms and factors, so if you’re like me and are only looking for a quick overview of the traffic, Analytics is a little too overwhelming. That’s why I use GAget, Analytiks, and Ego to monitor the traffic Beautiful Pixels receives.
Thankfully, there are alternative solutions out there that are much more elegant, aesthetically pleasing and are spectacularly good at showing you only the relevant data in a clean interface. We have previous taken a look at Observer, but it seems the developer has since abandoned the project. There’s also Mint, but the fact that Shaun refused to add GMT +0530 time-zone in its settings after all these years is nothing short of ridiculous. And then there’s Gauges. And boy is it beautiful!
Gauges has been around for a while now and is a product from the highly talented geniuses at Ordered List. It has one of the most beautiful interfaces I have seen from a service and it presents the data in a very clean and elegant way. One of the most striking features of Gauges is its Live AirTraffic view that shows you the world map and places pins on the map as visitors land up on your website and browse through the pages. Watching this site’s traffic is absolutely fascinating.
Gauges offers a 7-day FREE trial and plans begin at $6 a month. You can track as many websites as you want in every plan as long as the total pageviews do not cross the threshold. While I’d like to start using the service for this site, spending $48/month when I already have a Mint license seems an overkill.
You are probably aware of the contents of the screenshot in the image above. That’s the vanilla desktop you get after a fresh OS X Lion installation. Why’s that up there? Because it has been recreated in HTML5 and CSS3 by Alessio Atzeni, a web designer and front-end developer from Rome, Italy.
The project, available here, begins with the OS X boot screen and then brings you to the login screen. Once you enter the password (which is ‘admin’) you are taken to the desktop. The desktop features draggable windows, menu items and even buttons. Unless absolutely necessary (like user icons and backgrounds), Alessio has not used images at all. Everything you see in the project has been created via CSS3 properties. Alessio explains the project in detail on his blog here.
Novelty side-projects created with CSS3 these days get a lot of criticism that they’re a waste of time, but it’s still remarkable what fantastic outcomes these projects have.
Head over to this link to check out the project yourself.
When I was first sent a link to this app, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I was told the app had something to do with cars, and me being more of a Streetfighter guy, that didn’t sound very interesting to me at first. But when I did land up on the app’s website and happened to see its promo video, the sheer brilliance of the app blew my mind. Let me just say right off the bat that Road Inc. is a phenomenally good app and that you should go ahead and buy it.
Road Inc. for iPad is a complete, thorough and beautiful anthology of legendary automobiles. Designed and developed by the creative geniuses at Pyrolia, Road Inc. is a absolute stunner of an interactive way to get to know about some of the most amazing cars — from the very beginning to the very recent. The app features a gorgeous 3D model of every car in the app, which you can rotate 360 degrees with your fingers. The app also boasts over 3000 archival documents including brochures, yearbooks, blurprints, adverts, plans, press articles, etc. for each of the cars. My favorite thing, though, is the inclusion of engine sounds. It’s just incredible to hear the engines roar like that.
The app features a TON of information and content about some of the legendary cars we’ve seen, presented in such a beautiful and aesthetic way that it is an absolute joy to consume on the iPad. Believe me when I say this, I have been spending hours in a row reading through the content that’s available in Road Inc. and I’ve found it to be more immersive than reading Steve’s biography.
Continue Reading…
No, it’s not a Dribbble week here on Beautiful Pixels. But we can’t really help it when the fine folks in the iOS developer community keep churning out one beautiful app after another, can we? In the previous post, we told you about Balllin’ app — a beautiful app for both iPhone and iPad to browse the different shots on Dribbble. This week, we bring you Pick’n'Roll.
Pick’n'Roll was released only a few days ago and comes from the Icon and UI design studio Ramotion. A quick gander at the portfolio on their website and you’ll know that all their icons have that extra “oomph” in them. And the icon for the app doesn’t disappoint either.
The app’s main screen is a stunning locker containing your basketball gear, each pointing to different sections of the site. It features a 2×2 grid when browsing the shots in landscape mode, but 1×2 when in portrait mode. Instead of swiping horizontally, you swipe and browse additional shorts vertically. Pick’n'Roll makes full use of the Dribbble API, so you’ve got comments, favorites, likes, etc in here.
Continue Reading…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably already know about Dribbble. It’s a lovely community of all of designers that share the work they’re either currently working on or have just released to the public. It’s a great place for designers to tease their work and get feedback from other designers and at the same time, generate curiosity towards the design. It is also one of our recommendations for sources to follow for design inspiration.
While the Dribbble website works great on the iPhone and iPad, a native experience is always preferred. Using their API, a lot of developers have introduced Dribble apps in the past — including some fantastic ones like Play by Play, Swish, Dribbblr and Nibbble. Balllin’ is the latest addition to that list.
Balllin’ (yes, that’s three ‘l’s in there) is a beautiful new app for iPhone and iPad that gives you a native experience while browsing Dribbble. The app looks amazing both on iPhone and iPad and features a beautiful use of gradients, UI elements and glyphs. You can browse through the popular shots, debuts, everyones and if you have an account, shots from people you’re following. Tapping on each shot pulls up the comments on that shot next to it along with the number of views, likes it has. Balllin’ will also pull up any rebounds that shot has and a list of ‘more shots by ‘.
Balllin is available on the App Store for just $0.99 and considering it is a universal app, is a great choice from the already fantastic list of Dribbble clients for iOS.
Analytiks is a surprisingly not-so-popular app for the iPhone that brings you your Google Analytics data in style. Designed and developed by a Greek developer trio, Analytiks is a wonderful way of looking at your stats on your iPhone.
Analytiks prides itself in showing you only the relevant data that you can quickly take look at and move on. Presented on a terribly scratched metal sheet, Analytiks will show you you site’s pageviews for Today along with the percentage rise compared to yesterday. It also shows you the pageviews for the current month and will neatly segregate traffic originating via Facebook, Twitter and Google. If you have multiple websites set up under a single account, Analytiks takes care of those as well. Analytiks also adds encouraging messages on top of the data table, but I personally find it of no use.
If you turn the device from portrait to landscape, the data is laid out on a beautiful graph. But Analytiks’s most beautiful feature only reveals itself when you double tap the screen (in portrait mode). Analytiks takes all the data and presents a stunning infographic for you to consume. Stats like demographics, top browsers, Desktop vs. mobile and PC vs. Mac are stunningly presented on the screen.
Available for just $0.99 on the App Store, Analytiks is a wonderful little app if you’re looking for a quick way to look at your stats without getting lost in the plethora of numbers Google Analytics throws at you. I personally use Analytiks on my iPhone and Gaget on my Mac — the only Dashboard client I have.
