Google Analyticator 4.0.1 was released earlier today. Unfortunately this update does not provide any new features, in fact, quite the opposite.

We recently added a new stat widget to our plugin. This widget will display how many users have visited a site the previous day. This widget was added with the introduction of Google Analytics’ new API. The widget’s background color, widget color, inner widget color, font color, and text displayed by the widget are all 100% customizable. Below are just a few examples of how a user can customize this widget.

            

This new plugin uses cURL to access the user’s Google Analytics data in order to display it in the widget. When Ron and I originally developed the widget, we assumed practically everyone would have cURL enabled on their servers. Unfortunately for us and our plugin users, we were wrong.

In a recent thread on our User-to-User Support Forums, we got several reports on the widget breaking and not working as intended. Upon review, we noticed the failure was occurring on line 48 of our plugin:

$curl = curl_init();

The logical explanation for this error is that cURL was not enabled on the server. We decided the best way to handle the situation was to add logic to the plugin to remove the functionality of the widget if cURL is not enabled. We realize this means that some users can not use the widget, but unfortunately that is where we are right now with the plugin. We hope to add additional functionality to the widget to one day allow everyone to enjoy its functionality.

On a final note, I have been wondering, how popular is this type of functionality and how much demand is there for it? Do you want to see more stats displayed or be given the option to view different stats? Would it be useful to add stats in the Dashboard for quick viewing? With the new Google Analytics’ API, the possibilities for using Google Analytics stats are practically endless! Give me your thoughts!