Google Analytics New Version

For a smooth transition, They've listed some helpful resources and
notes below. Also, you will still be able to access your old
reporting interface for at least a month by clicking "Previous
Interface" below the "View Reports" link for any profile in your
account. Other than a few improvements detailed in the version
notes below, your data and configuration settings remain
unaffected by your choice of interface and your data continues to
be tracked in the same way as it was prior to this redesign.

*What is new?* In the new version, your reports have been
redesigned for clarity, greater visibility of important metrics,
and ease of use. Here are just a few of the features you'll
notice:

- Email and export reports: Schedule or send ad-hoc
personalized report emails and export reports in PDF format.

- Custom Dashboard: No more digging through reports. Put all
the information you need on a custom dashboard that you can
email to others.

- Trend and Over-time Graph: Compare time periods and select
date ranges without losing sight of long term trends.

- Contextual help tips: Context sensitive Help and Conversion
University tips are available from every report.

The new interface has everything the previous interface had and
more. In addition, links within reports make it easier to navigate
related information and explore your data.

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Google's New Navigational Links: An Illustrated Guide

After months of testing, Google is rolling out new ways to navigate within its search results and between different Google properties. Here's an illustrated guide to the old and new.

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Free tool offers 'easy' coding

A free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed.

Primarily aimed at children, Scratch does not require prior knowledge of complex computer languages.

Instead, it uses a simple graphical interface that allows programs to be assembled like building blocks.

The digital toolkit, developed in the US at MIT's Media Lab, allows people to blend images, sound and video.

"Computer programming has been traditionally seen as something that is beyond most people - it's only for a special group with technical expertise and experience," said Professor Mitchel Resnick, one of the researchers at the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT.

"We have developed Scratch as a new type of programming language, which is much more accessible."

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Web 2.0 'neglecting good design'

Hype about Web 2.0 is making web firms neglect the basics of good design, web usability guru Jakob Nielsen has said.

He warned that the rush to make webpages more dynamic often meant users were badly served.

He said sites peppered with personalisation tools were in danger of resembling the "glossy but useless" sites at the height of the dotcom boom.

Research into website use shows that sites were better off getting the basics right, said Mr Nielsen.

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Usability Makes the Web Click

"In an interview, Nielsen offered Fast Company some easy-to-implement ideas for improving Web design."
...from the interview...

What's wrong with Web design?

Too many Web designers substitute a marketing agenda for a focus on what customers want. Users want speed, utility, and credibility - not portals, banners, or even community. And speed is the overriding criterion: Minimalist design rules.

One phrase sums up the dominant mentality of the Web user: "I'm driving." People don't spend lots of time on any one page, because in order to feel that they're accomplishing something, they have to keep moving. The best kind of site shows users what each page is about and then quickly gets them to the next page.

Why don't more sites work that way?

Most developers fail to treat the Web as a new medium with new rules. The dominant metaphor is TV - think "channel," "show," and "eyeballs." But the Web is an interactive, one-to-one medium in which everyone can be a producer or a publisher.

It isn't like newspapers or magazines either. At IBM and at Sun, we studied how people read on the Web. What we discovered is - they don't! They scan. Only 16% of Web users actually read word by word. So, on any given topic, people should write about half as many words for the Web as they would for the printed page.

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