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.

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It seems as though I have been neglecting this place a little too much. Two weeks without a blog entry is unacceptable, especially when you consider that I set a goal of two posts per week. That said, I have been busy with work and school, so I haven’t just been playing my FPS game of choice (America’s Army). I will attempt to make up for my absence by detailing the events that caused it.

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No, I’m not switching keyboard formats. Recently I’ve been doing a lot of research concerning typography and its uses when applied to the web. It is an interesting look at how type should be displayed and formatted in terms of web design. Unlike most web-oriented learning adventures I partake in (I am notorious for learning the basics of a coding language and then getting bored with), I am actually intrigued by typography and find myself wishing to learn more of the concepts behind it.
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When I switched web hosts a few months ago, I had my heart set on buying kevinzak.com as my domain name. However, someone was sitting on it. It was registered, but not pointing anywhere. Recently the domain became available again, and tonight I pounced on it. Starting as soon as possible, kevinzak.com will be the primary domain of this site. TechnicallyFoul.com will still be under my control and will forward all traffic to kevinzak.com, so you don’t have to worry about losing me. In the next few days you may have to change your feed URLs to the new domain.

On a side note, the theme I mentioned previously is going well and I have already begun coding it. I’m nearly half done with it, and when I get a few more things done, I may show you a preview.