Sometimes it might be nice to be able to determine how long a page is actually viewed by each visitor. There are several ways to do this based upon calculation of times between page visits. The most common of these use system log files to calculate time intervals between page requests by a particular visitor. However, these sorts of approaches fail to address several situations - namely: time spent on the last page of a visitor's path cannot, typically, be calculated (unless you can record time information about actual link clicks instead of page access requests - most available tools do not - and cannot - count actual link clicks) existing tools cannot really recognize that a visitor has gone back (or forward) using the browser's BACK button or history list. Both forms of this little demo illustrate how one might use a little (invisible) java applet to gather information about how long a visitor actually views a particular page ... well - how long the page is opened in a browser window anyway. Both overcome the deficiencies listed above. Version 1: - not my preference In the first form of the demo, the applet makes calls, every so often, to a little cgi that actually maintains the records of how long a particular page is viewed by a particular visitor. On each call from the applet, the cgi increments a viewing time by some (applet specified) delta. This version is a bit onerous from the server's point of view. Version 2: - my preferred version In the newer form of this demo, individual thread executions simply increment a local counter. Only when the applet stops (due to the visitor having left the page) is the server cgi called to update info on the visitor's viewing time. N.B. - This demo uses some of my previous stuff to establish unique identifiers for each visitor. If you're interested in the supporting stuff, drop by the Stats Demos page for more on the supporting stuff.