More ways to play with the data in Google Analytics means the detail-obsessive types have access to multi-point data graphing. The feature provides webmasters with a way to compare a couple of metrics and see where they stand.

"For example, you might want to see how your AdWords traffic compares with your site average or how one conversion goal compares to another over time," Alden DeSoto wrote at the Google Analytics blog.

There’s also a new page tag in down, as Google wipes away the final remnant of the old Urchin name. Ga.js allows for more readable tracking of e-commerce transactions.

The new ga.js doesn’t play nicely with the old urchin.js tags, so websites can’t use both on the same page. It’s ‘either or’ and the enhanced e-commerce features of ga.js probably make it the more desirable one to use.

As a sidenote, Google added six more languages to those they support for Analytics. Thai, Filipino, Indonesian, Czech, Hungarian, and Portuguese (Portugal) now have a home among the 25 languages in the product.

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Facebook Bubble Cult Pushes Value To $100 Billion

Well, Jason Calacanis calls it "full-blown madness," but I like the drama of cultish mass delirium better – it brings up imagery of frothy mouths, rolled back eyes, and bacon-frying twitchiness.

Reporting from the Graphing Social Patterns conference, for developers and marketers looking to better utilize the Facebook open platform, Calacanis says a panel of fans and investors valued Facebook at $100 billion and predicted the annihilation of Google and MySpace at the hands of Mark Zuckerberg.

And some of us thought $8 billion and $15 billion were steep valuations. Under the same math, Calacanis says that makes Google worth about $14 trillion. Is there even that much money in the world?

There were other claims made, but these are enough to make you dizzy, or go mad. "[T]his is the kind of madness that got us in trouble the last time around (i.e. 1999)," says Calacanis.

If you believe all that, I’ve got a novel I haven’t finished writing yet that’s guaranteed to sell 3 billion copies – yes, half the world will read it and I’ll never have to work again.

If Facebook, with half the traffic and a third of the pageviews of rival MySpace, has reached such heights by opening up its platform to developers, what happens when MySpace does the same?

Or maybe, if Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer was erroneous in his "faddish" assessment of Facebook, then Rupert Murdoch must be stupid? News flash: Murdoch has proved, whether you like him or not, that he is the best at playing this game.

And as for the annihilation of Google…well, we’ve heard that before from more than a few much larger and more successful online properties than Facebook.

For charts and graphs and more madness, check out Calacanis’s lengthy post.

However with the tools available today it is possible for almost anyone to add graphs and charts to web pages. With just a little bit of HTML, dynamically enerated graphs and charts can be added to web pages and/or applications.

Why use Graphs and Charts

The web is about making information available. Today’s users tend to be in a hurry and require that information is presented to them clearly and quickly. If your web site has a message to convey, which is currently being presented as a table of figures, then it is highly likely that you will benefit from using graphing and charting functionality. With a table of figures most people find it hard to see the meaning immediately, however if those figures are presented as a picture (i.e. a graph) then almost all will instantly get the point. What’s more presenting your information graphically is both colorful and adds a touch of professionalism. People tend to have more confidence in information when it is presented in both a pleasing, clear and professional manner.

The Easy way to create a graph

There are now many graphing and charting packages on the market which make it very quick and easy for you to build in professional quality graph images. The time saved in using an ‘out of the box’ solution is so great that even the most seasoned professionals are using these packages. In addition most graphing packages are very reasonably priced. Before choosing a package there are a couple of things to consider. For instance do you simply want to present the graph image to your visitor or would you like some level of interaction. e.g. making certain areas of the graph clickable or pop-up data displays when the mouse passes over certain area’s. Another consideration is the source of your data. Is it held in a database, file or somewhere else. Ideally you would want a graphing package that is capable of fetching the data directly from the source itself.

Which Graphing packages are available

At the time of writing there are many graphing solutions on the market which fall into the following technology categories:-

- Java Applet Graphing Solutions

This type of software, in addition to the standard graphical capabilities, also provides interactive features like clickable link area’s and mouse-over popup displays. These solutions can be installed on any web server without any server side configuration or set-up.

- Java Servlet Graphing Solutions

These solutions are powerful server side functionality. Although probably not for the beginner they are very beneficial to the ‘web application’ developer.

- Flash Graphing Solutions

The Flash environment provides some very sophisticated graphics capabilities which has lead to some of the best looking graphing solutions. Unfortunately the technology can only work when the user has flash installed on their browser. Although becoming more widespread there is still a very large proportion of browsers which cannot view flash content.

- PHP Graphing Solutions

These are probably the easiest solutions to use and implement. With these solutions it’s possible for a complete novice to add graphing functionality to their web page and applications. But make no mistake they are also very powerful offering very good graphic results. Most web servers today can run this software without any further configuration.

- ASP.NET Graphing Solutions

Again these solutions offer some very good graphical results. At the time of writing the number of web servers capable of running these packages is far less than those of other categories.

Creating a Graph

With the right software package the process of adding a graph to web page involves little more than the following:-

1) Inserting a small piece of HTML into your web page. (usually the code is provided and all you have to do is ‘copy and paste’)

2) Setting some values in a configuration file (e.g.. setting things like graph colors and titles etc.)

3) Setting some values telling the graph where to acquire the data from

Although this is fairly straight forward sometimes a problem may be encountered. A big advantage of using a good professional package is that help is at hand. If you get stuck at any stage then simply ask for help from the software provider, a good one will always be happy to help. Contrary to popular belief good software companies answer requests for technical help in both a timely and helpful manner.

Patrick OBrien is the founder and creator of Jpowered.com, a site providing powerful software solutions to web designers. http://www.jpowered.com

PHP Graphs http://www.jpowered.com/php-scripts/adv-graph-chart/index.htm

Java Graphs http://www.jpowered.com/graph_chart_collection/index.htm

A: While QuickBooks can do a lot of wonderful things in terms of reports and graphs, but I am not aware of it having the ability to create graphs or other reports based on a quantity of items sold. However, if QuickBooks can’t do it, you can always use the “Export to Microsoft Excel” feature that is available in the Pro and Premier versions of QuickBooks to move any graph or report out to Excel for further reporting and analysis. This functionality works seamlessly in the newer versions of QuickBooks (2001 and newer), and can truly enhance the reports you create about your business.

Scott Gregory, CPA, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Microsoft Certified Professional is the president of Bond Technology. Bond Tech provides a full suite of QuickBooks and technology consulting services to small businesses. Services range from helping clients save money on their initial or upgrade purchases of QuickBooks to installation and training, as well as computer installation and networking. Contact Scott at SGregory@BondTechLtd.com, or by visiting their web site at http://www.bondtechltd.com/.

Scott Gregory Answers Quick Book Questions: Click Here For Free Answers