It all started with a Dribble shot. “What do you think of this?”, asked Preshit, though it obviously wasn’t a question. An instant nerdgasm followed. It was but a few pixels of the fantastic site statistics application, called Observer.
We’ve been using Mint stats for our sites, which is a fairly pretty app by itself. But never before have I seen stats so gorgeous, that numbers are the last thing you’re looking at. The following might be a little hard for you to swallow, since Observer is still in private beta. But if you can control your urges, this is not an app you’d want to miss out on.
I feel bad publishing this article; the screenshots just don’t do justice. Sidenote: Stats have been obscured.
Observer starts with a stunning dashboard of your daily stats. Hover over any part of the line chart, and it’ll bring up the specifics of that section, be it a month, day, or week view. Of course, you’re going to want to play around with the dates, since the calendar pop up is that beautiful cluster of pixels you see above. Everything about this app is so fluid, you forget you’re using a web app. Subtle animations guide the user interface, and little things like the custom scrollbar (which sadly makes the app unusable on iOS Safari), which fades out when not in use. None of it affects its speed, which is fast, even on the iPad.
Every view of the application is detailed but clean, and live. Hover over the map, and it’ll show you the percentage of users from each country. The countries themselves are tinted according to percentage of traffic, so you’re always looking at the most important ones.
I should also throw this in: Observer shows you real time stats. It was amusing as I visited my blog on the iPad only to see the count increase a second later. This might be an issue as the userbase grows, but as of right now it’s a treat to see those numbers trickle in.
Observer is not just beauty however. Click the Share button, and you can then select blocks of UI you want to share with people, and Observer will automatically create a page including shots those stats.
It’s not often you come across an app of such caliber, yet know that it’s still not out of its developmental phases (there are some incomplete sections). Kudos to designer and developer Ludwig Pettersson, who has outdone practically every web stats application out there. Pettersson has been accepting new users via invites, so I’d highly recommend you head over and leave your email address.
