The NEW & IMPROVED SiteMeter: ummmm.....

Well, I migrated my SiteMeter accounts first thing this morning. And was immediately told I couldn't access them anymore.

Let's see if we can find the flaw in this plan:

1 – Click on the “Login” tab at the top right of SiteMeter’s homepage (http://www.sitemeter.com/).
2 – Use the bottom half of the Login area to activate your account (Migrated Account Activation) –
A - Enter your Codename
B - Enter your password

3 – Press Submit

Your account is now active.

Note – our activation process will check to see if any additional accounts in our system use the same email address as your accounts. If others are found you can activate those by providing the correct codename. Successfully activated accounts will appear under the same Master Account.

4 - Your SiteMeter account(s) is now active on the new system. You should be able to go directly to your new Master Account area.

NOTE – The next time you want to access your SiteMeter account use the Standard Login in the upper half of the Login area by entering your email address and password.

Take a close look at the word in red: password. Notice the part where a new password is created that is now linked to your e-mail address instead of the individual SiteMeter accounts, each of which had its own password? (I have, I think, six accounts.) Oh, you don't see that part? Neither do I.

UPDATE: Because they had it hidden on another page, the "Help" page. Maybe it wasn't even there at the time I encountered the problem:

Note – The next time you want to access your SiteMeter account use the Standard Login in the upper half of the Login area by entering your email address and password. Passwords are now case sensitive. Please enter your current password in uppercase to log into your account.

(They made it red, but I made it bold.)

So I submitted a request to SiteMeter for a new password. Still waiting. I understand, they're probably getting bombarded with requests right now.

As for the new look for SiteMeter - feh. It looks like it was designed by a programmer, not an end user. Compare this snapshot of the information for my 100,000th visitor...

...to the new, exciting, control-room style of SiteMeter today:


Nothing simple, nothing elegant, nothing intuitive. But it sure is flashy and all technical looking! Tiny, dark, chunky fonts on a dark background? Brilliant! I can't even figure out how to get the basic information I used to use all the time.

Maybe, if they're smart, SiteMeter will have a tutorial tucked away somewhere that explains how to access things like referral stats and out-clicks and locations that used to give me a daily picture of what was bringing visitors here, and whether they were clicking on any of my links, and where they were coming from. Maybe those are all Premium services now. Maybe it's time I start looking at other statistics tracking packages.


Update: And what are other bloggers saying about the "new and improved" SiteMeter? Here is an unedited reproduction of the first page of Google Blog search results for "sitemeter":

SiteMeter gets a facelift - and a few other nips and tucks too
3 hours ago by Brad Linder Web analytics company SiteMeter has rolled out a major update to its free and premium web stats tracking service. The new version of SiteMeter is full of new charts and graphs that let you see how a web site is performing at a glance. ...Download Squad - http://www.downloadsquad.com - References[ More results from Download Squad ]

New SiteMeter is much less usable than the old one
6 hours ago by Lumo SiteMeter.com, a server responsible for the counter at the very bottom of this page, has switched to new servers with new software. The statistics suddenly is shown in Flash applets. Because of the following and other reasons, ...The Reference Frame - http://motls.blogspot.com/ - References

Bye-bye SiteMeter
4 hours ago My wife loves looking through the SiteMeter stats on her blog (Linda's Thoughts). Today she was frustrated to find she can no longer access those stats. SiteMeter redid their user interface for free accounts, so that it is very ...JackLewis.net - http://jacklewis.net/weblog/ - References

I Hate The New Sitemeter
4 hours ago by Shawn Powers I used to love the simple, useful, real-time information SiteMeter offered for web traffic. This weekend, they changed over to their new system, which resembles a much less friendly, and much less useful version of Google Analytics. ...The Brain of Shawn - http://www.brainofshawn.com - References

SiteMeter Stinks
3 hours ago by nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) SiteMeter's service was atrocious enough to use before (it was slow, and barely worked via BlackBerry), but now they've gone and redesigned everything—and I don't know how they did it, but it's even more horrible than before. ...Snapped Shot - http://www.snappedshot.com/ - References

Sitemeter has changed
4 hours ago by Neil Aside from migrating successfully to their new servers over the weekend, Sitemeter have also rolled out their new look. Yes, I’m old, but I really was more comfortable with the old one! There’s one new bit thought, whatever it may mean. ...Floating Life - http://ninglundecember.wordpress.com - References

I hate hate hate hate the new SiteMeter.
4 hours ago by Ann Althouse What is the point of SiteMeter now? Everything I loved about SiteMeter -- and you can click on the SiteMeter tag to read how I've adored it -- is gone. Ugh! I'm throwing away my most-click-on bookmark. blog advertising blog advertising.Althouse - http://althouse.blogspot.com/ - References

They've ruined SiteMeter
7 hours ago by Robert Stacy McCain Just got my first look at the new format for SiteMeter statistics. It sucks, big-time. Like Windows Vista, is how bad it sucks. The old Site Meter was simple and elegant. The new Site Meter is clumsy and awkward. ...The Other McCain - http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/ - References

Sitemeter Strikes Again, and Other News
1 hour ago by Tenured Radical you sneer) I have spent a substantial amount of time migrating to the New Sitemeter. And after a prolonged effort, during which I considered options from sending out an SOS to my blogpal ahistoricality (who has occasionally offered ...Tenured Radical - http://tenured-radical.blogspot.com/

new sitemeter sux
48 minutes ago by upyernoz the new sitemeter rolled out today and my first impression is: i hate it. the annoying thing is that the old sitemeter let you easily display a list of the recent referring sites, even with a free account. now referral info is buried, ...rubber hose - http://upyernoz.blogspot.com/


Update from Sitemeter:

SiteMeter Rollback

September 14, 2008 · Comments Off

Good Afternoon,

We have received and heard your feedback concerning the latest changes to the website. We will implementing a rollback to the website immediately. We will also be responding to each of your support requests as soon as possible. If you have any questions please let us know.

Sincerely,

SiteMeter Support Team

Later, revised, edited, redacted, expanded version of same:

Our Apologies -

September 14, 2008 · Comments Off

Dear Valued SiteMeter Customers,

As you’re no doubt aware by now, we’ve chosen to roll back our website to the previous “classic” version.

Based on some performance issues we were experiencing along with feedback from the community it appears we have pushed our new site live prematurely.

Our intention is and has always been to offer you, our customer’s better tools and more accurate data. Obviously we fell short of this. The first thing we need to do, moving forward, is to roll out new product releases in parallel to our current platform. This will give everyone a chance to try out, evaluate, and comment on our new concepts.

We would also like to take this opportunity to ask those of you who had issues or concerns with the new site to participate in future beta testing. We had originally asked for Beta Tester in two of our newsletters sent earlier this year so we’re eager to build our beta group even larger. If you’re interested in participating please send us an email using our support ticketing system with BETA TESTER in the subject line of your email.

In the near term we’ll be evaluating the performance issues and feedback from our community. If you have additional input that would help us build you a better product we’d like to hear from you.

We apologize for the botched rollout and will do our best to make sure the next time we do this it has your full support and blessing.

Sincerely,

The SiteMeter Team


It is sad that now, whenever anyone mentions the "SiteMeter Fiasco", you need to ask "Which one?"

I think the folks at SiteMeter who thought this new design was a good idea need to take the time to read Edward Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information." Oh, hell, everybody should read that book. It's fan-frickin'-tastic!