1. Open up the template file /app/design/frontend/default/YOURTEMPLATENAME/template/checkout/onepage.phtml in a text editor or WYSIWYG web editor such as Dreamweaver.

2. Paste the following code to the very bottom of the onepage.phtml file (You may have to replace the quotes in plaintext for it to work, fyi):

<script type=”text/javascript”>
Checkout.prototype.gotoSection = function(section) {
try {
pageTracker._trackPageview(’<?php echo $this->getUrl(’checkout/onepage’) ?>’ + section + ‘/’);
} catch(err) { }

section = $(’opc-’+section);
section.addClassName(’allow’);
this.accordion.openSection(section);
};
</script>

3. Save and upload the template file and you are done with the hard part and you will now be able to track the views of each of the six steps!

4. Now if you want to set up the Google Analytics conversion tracking and funnel to determine where the users are dropping off, you can do so by creating a new Goal in Google Analytics and by using the following settings:

Goal Type: URL Destination
Match Type: Head Match
Goal URL: /checkout/onepage/success/

Funnel Steps:

Step 1: /checkout/onepage/
Step 2: /checkout/onepage/billing/
Step 3: /checkout/onepage/shipping/
Step 4: /checkout/onepage/shipping_method/
Step 5: /checkout/onepage/payment/
Step 6: /checkout/onepage/review/

And that’s it!

Now that you have removed the Alexa Toolbar, now your best bet is to never install it again! Apparently some other software programs include it as part of their package so make sure to uncheck the Alexa option during the initial installation.

Alexa
Methodology: Captures traffic data from users who download and use the Alexa Toolbar in their web browser. They also claim to use other “diverse traffic data sources”, which is very vague.

Sample Size: There is no known number of current Alexa Toolbar users, but it is said to be in the “millions.” I would bet that size continues to decline as more and more spyware programs flag the Alexa Toolbar as spyware/adware and either uninstall or completely block installation of the toolbar in the first place.

Problems: Well, there are a few:

1. Easily skewed - Since the Alexa Ranking is determined by users who have the Alexa toolbar installed, it is often in the interests of a website owner to install the Alexa toolbar themselves to increase their own Alexa ranking. And that is precisely the case. That is why you will see most webmaster forums and SEO blogs have high Alexa rankings, even if they don’t get much traffic overall.

2. Easily manipulated - Even though Alexa claims they have since added measures to prevent intentional manipulation of their rankings, it is still possibly to increase your own Alexa ranking by installing the toolbar and visiting your own site. Try it out for 7 days straight and I guarantee your Alexa ranking will increase significantly.

3. Catch 22 - Most webmasters nowadays are aware that the Alexa ranking is often inaccurate and thus say “oh the Alexa ranking doesn’t mean anything.” But in reality, most of them do care about it because many advertisers use Alexa ranking data to determine which websites they want to advertise on. And people looking to buy a domain name or website will often do the same in determining the value of a site. So it’s a Catch 22 - the webmaster knows the data is inaccurate and shouldn’t care about it, but they do care about it because advertisers care about it. And that will continue to be the case until more accurate data is available.

Compete
Methodology: Captures traffic data from “diverse sources” such as the Compete Toolbar and ISP logs.

Sample Size: Approximately 2,000,000 U.S. users, or 1% of total market

Problems: While not as easily skewed or manipulable as Alexa, the sample size is so small that the data is often wildly inaccurate.

Quantcast
Methodology: Quantcast measures websites that have installed their tracking code directly in the HTML of the website

Sample Size: They claim to have 80,000 “Quantified Publishers” who have installed the tracking code across 10 million websites.

Problems: Again, the sample size. The majority of websites do not have the QuantCast tag installed on their site so it is impossible to compare the traffic of a website that is able to be directly tracked with their tracking code and ones that are not.

ComScore, Nielsen, HitWise (I am lumping these three together for the time being)
Methodology : Most of these get their data from willing participants. Their users agree to install survey software on their computers to track their usage. These companies also get data from ISPs.

Sample Size: 2 million to 10 million in the US

Problems : Sample size, sample size, sample size!

(I will continue this post later, I just had to get something written since I’ve been meaning to for quite some time!)

So, I got the crazy idea to look into getting one of those sit down exercise bikes that have the computer monitors in front of them, like you find at the gym. That would be ideal because I would be sitting back in a comfortable position in which I could easily do hours worth of work while burning calories at the same time. The ones I found online were crazy expensive, but I saw some related products, such as the portable “bike” from Brookstone that you put under your desk, which looks like a piece of junk. Not to mention it requires a comfortable chair to use since I don’t find myself using my actual desk chair when I’m pedaling furiously. There are also exercise bike desks that have the regular stand up bike but I can’t imagine that would be too comfortable for a long period of time.

So, then I came across treadmill desks or “walking desks.” I didn’t realize how many people have had the same idea and there’s actually kind of a big market for these things. Some of them are thousands of dollars, which I’m not really looking for since I already own a treadmill, which I do use on a regular basis, just not when I’m actually working on the computer. I also came across several homemade treadmill desks that look intriguing so I may have to try those out. I just think I would only use it for an hour or so a day, mostly because I would be tired from standing up that long, haha. So we’ll see, I think I do need to do something though…

So, does anybody have any experience with treadmill desks or exercise bike desks? Or any other kind of office exercise tips to help keep me from gaining 20 pounds of disgusting flab?

So my PHP contact form script will be very lightweight and thus very fast. It will be simple to set up and customize. It will also have a nice design feature so it doesn’t look like a boring old form or just look plain ugly. It will automatically include some PHP code on the script processing side to filter out spam on the backend along with maybe some JavaScript and clever CSS code to prevent spam on the frontend. Oh, and there definitely will not be any kind of CAPTCHA or other “are you a human?” related question, that’s for sure! I cannot stand those!

Anyways, stay tuned as I work on building the “perfect” PHP Contact From Script Generator, which will probably take months before I forget about it altogether.

“It also implements an interesting provision called “imminent infringement”, which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched “torrent daft punk”). This is among the first official “thought crime” provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government.”

Essentially, if you ever do a search for music or movies on Google with the keyword “torrent” as part of your query, you can be found liable of a civil offense, even if you don’t actually download any pirated material. Yeah, yeah, why would anybody search for “torrent daft punk” if they did not have the intention of downloading it illegally. Who knows, but that is not the point. The point is that no crime was ever actually committed. Period.

The fact that you can be charged with a crime for simply thinking of doing something, in other words a “thought crime” a la George Orwell’s book 1984 and the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report, is downright scary. We are certainly on the edge of a slippery slope if this provision goes into effect.

Yeardley Love

UVa Lacrosse Bio Page - http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=1133694

UVA Interview with Yeardley Love (March 18, 2009) - http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=1133694

George Huguely

Washington Post article from April 1, 2006 about the Duke Lacrosse rape scandal. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/31/AR2006033101879.html

Here is an interesting quote from George Huguely:

“Some expressed surprise at how quickly the players have been judged.

“I sympathize for the team,” Huguely said. “They’ve been scrutinized so hard and no one knows what has happened yet. In this country, you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. I think that’s the way it should be.”

and a quote from his father:

“Huguely’s father, George, Sr. said yesterday that he’s had discussions with his son, who will play at University of Virginia next season, about staying out of situations that could be costly.

“Regardless of what winds up happening, you have to learn from this experience and take what you can from it,” George Huguely Sr. said. “You always have to remember and can’t let yourself be in a situation where something like this could happen.” “