6 Logging Usage

Usage data can be generated in a number of ways, and COUNTER does not prescribe which approach should be taken. The two most common approaches are:

• Log file analysis, which reads the log files containing the web server records of all its transactions

• Page tagging, which uses JavaScript on each page to notify a third-party server when a page is rendered by a web browser.

Each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages, summarised below.

• 6.1 Log File Analysis
• 6.2 Page Tagging
• 6.3 Distributed Usage Logging