blog
Review: Google Analytics BETA
14 April 2011
Interface
Thanks Google for finnally rethinking your entire user interface. One of the first things I noticed in using the new Google Analytics was the tabbed Accounts Landing Page. Off to a good start.
It was nice to see all my accounts load, instead of a partial list (on the old version, some would load in the page, while the entire list would load in a dropdown). Under each account you have imediate access to each profile under the account. You had me at one click (instead of two)... but there's more!
You'll notice a familar layout upon entering the profile page, but start to use it and you'll notice a few small things that go a long way:
- They've slicked up the interface, making it cleaner, more responsive, and easier to read.
- Hello AJAX! Forget loading another page, this feels more like an app then a web page.
- The placement of widget/filter items is more logical. It wasn't quite intuitive as to where to locate things in the old version (i.e. advance segments, custom reports, etc).
Account Administration
It has it's own section! Again, makes sense. Each account page contains a tabbed view of administrative tasks and functions that are easy to navigate and change.
Custom Reports
It has it's own section too. One thing to note is that your custom reports from the old site do not appear. You need to "migrate" them over when ready, but only do so if you plan on sticking with the new version, because you won't be able to get them back in the old version.
Help Center
I actually thought the help center was pretty inutive and helpful, but they've found ways to improve this as well:
- organized the help center into five topics, each addressing a key usage need,
- improved the organization of all topics, and
- reduced content duplication.
Those are my first impressions and I'm sure I'll find some more fun stuff as I explore. If you want to find out more, you can get it directly from the horse's mouth.