Kevin Zak

I am the type of person who is interested in the statistics of my website. I find tracking my referrals and outgoing links can be a fascinating look at human mentality on the web. I have been in search of a superior alternative to the free solutions provided by most web hosts, AWStats and Webalyzer, for quite some time now. While both services provide intricate data, they also present appalling designs with very little intuitive usability. Customization is a no-go for both of them; neither offer plugins and both have very limited settings.

As such, I set out on a quest. My grail? A customizable website statistics system with an appealing design. I began research about five months ago. I consulted with friends, professionals, and the owners of some popular websites. I learned that many were in the same boat as I — they had not yet found a suitable replacement. I read articles on the subject, user-posted messages on forums, and compared reviews. With all my research and new-found knowledge, I still had not been fruitful.

Then, by a stroke of coincidental luck, a friend of mine started using a new statistics manager. Not only was he using it, but he was obsessed with it — to a near comical degree. I knew that Kyle, a user interface designer, would not be so involved with something that had a sloppy design, so I was quite excited. He provided me with screenshots and links to information, both of which I was thoroughly impressed with. However, it looked too good to be true, and even when disproving that by playing with the demo, I put off paying for a license. I recently purchased one, though, and after a week of use, I feel I understand the ins and outs of it.

Have a Mint

Mint, as defined by Shaun Inman (Mint’s creator) is an extensible, self-hosted web site analytics program. With a single-domain license only setting you back $30.00, it’s fairly inexpensive. It offers an incredible design and a plethora of options, as well as a number of plugins. Its design is a tribute to simplicity, yet it maintains a strong visual appeal. Mint’s graphs are well-constructed and its statistics are displayed meticulously.

Mint 2.0 - Index

Courtesy of Have a Mint (click image for full size)

Mint also offers a darker theme, titled “Chocolate Mint”, for users with sensitive eyes or who dislike brighter designs.

Mm, Needs Pepper

Aside from its marvelous design, Mint also offers a wide selection of plugins which add further functionality. The plugin repository is referred to as the Peppermill, and individual plugins are known as Peppers. An example of a Pepper would be the User Agents section (below).

Mint 2.0 - ‘User Agents’ Pepper

Courtesy of Have a Mint

Criticism

Although Mint does a very nice job of representing data, it would be nice to have a little more control over it. Aside from switching between different periods of time, there isn’t much customization over how you see the data it gathers. For instance, it is not currently possible to see an hourly textual representation of a specific day (other than the current day). You can, however, view a graph of this data. This is a minor problem, though, because Mint makes the ease of understanding its statistics a top priority. Information is displayed coherently and this makes up for a lack of customization.

Nice Flavor

All in all, Mint is far superior to any other analytical program I’ve ever used. Its design is spectacular and the level of support offered (via the FAQs, the Forum, or the Contact form) is impressive. I love the ability to add plugins, and quite a few of them are pretty useful. $30.00 is a paltry sum to anyone who wishes to be able to adapt their site to the people visiting it. If you’re still unsure about whether or not Mint is for you, have a look at the screencasts and play around with the demo.

Now what are you waiting for? Have a mint!