SEO Tycoon

**Comaco** · 02-20-2007, 09:27 AM

Hi,

I would like to mention a new software (entirely free as a firefox extension) to graph all sort of numeric values and see how that evolutes in the time.
It might be an interesting tool for webmasters to monitor ranking in various lists like search engines, or the size of DB tables.
Some extraction configurations are already available and you can easily create (and share) your own configurations.
Check http://www.chartlet.net for more information.

**astrojith** · 02-20-2007, 04:36 PM

Hmm... don't have time for a review now. Its 2 am in the morning and I'm staying up late. So, I'll review tomorrow. I think its not much "targeted" for webmasters.

**Comaco** · 02-22-2007, 05:58 PM

thanks for having a look.

you're right the product itself is not dedicated to webmasters, but as they are concerned with site rankings and ratings, many could be interested. several chartlets are dedicated to webmasters, many more just have to be setup and shared.

**vangogh** · 02:09 PM

Comaco I just took a look and the extension is definitely interesting. I wasn't entirely sure what information I could collect from a website, but if it works like I think it does i can see some good possibilities for collecting tracking rankings and things like that.

Is the extension available on the mozilla site? I tend not to install extensions that aren't through mozilla.

If I were to create a new chartlet does that make it available to anyone who wants to use it or can I keep them private?

Looks like an interesting extension.

**travelagent** · 02-23-2007, 01:35 PM

I'm with vangogh on this one -- FF doesn't recognize it yet as a valid extension, so I won't mess with it at this time.

**Senny** · 02-23-2007, 06:37 PM

What does it exactly?

**Comaco** · 02-24-2007, 06:01 AM

Vangogh,

The extension has been submitted to addons.mozilla.org a couple of weeks ago but they are now stuck with a new version of their server and have blocked the approvals. as a result, there are more than 300 addons waiting the approval queue. It may take a month before the extension is released at mozilla.
But the extension page is there: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/4529

I understand your concerns about not installing an extension outside the scope of Mozilla. I can just argue that i am the developer of a very popular Firefox extension (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3006) installed by almost half a million people and i could not take the risk to associate my name to an extension that would do nasty things.

Concerning the privacy of the chartlets, when you create a chartlet, it is private. It becomes shared only when you decide to publish it and you can not do so accidentally.

travelagent,

If you have Firefox 1.5 to 2.0, it should be recognized, but what may happen is that you must enable popups from the site www.chartlet.net (the firefox addons dialog is implemented as a popup). By default, when a popup tries to open on a not-allowed site, a bar appears at the top of the window, but you may have changed that setting.

Senny,

The idea behind this extension is to capture the evolution during the time of all sorts of numeric values and displays the history through nice charts.
For instance, i am the developer of several free applications. I am interested in seeing whether i get more or less downloads of my programs, their popularity based on ranking in lists, the notes set by the users. I can also display in the same charts the values from 'competitors' applications and i know when to increase the efforts to stay at the top

This extension is very useful to me (it was my first motivation when i started this project) and i believe webmasters would have the same needs.
There are much more explanations and screenshots from the site http://www.chartlet.net

Thanks to all.

**BruceWayne** · 02-24-2007, 07:31 AM

Good tools for designer like me, now i don't have to download the header to get the exact width of that image enclosed with table. thanks for sharing dude!

**travelagent** · 02-24-2007, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comaco

travelagent,

If you have Firefox 1.5 to 2.0, it should be recognized, but what may happen is that you must enable popups from the site www.chartlet.net (the firefox addons dialog is implemented as a popup). By default, when a popup tries to open on a not-allowed site, a bar appears at the top of the window, but you may have changed that setting.

Comaco - that's the problem; most surfers are fed-up with pop-ups; pop-unders; etc ... that's why we have it turned off -- not to mention, your program states it's not available for Windows, so what good is it based on those 2 specific items?

FF still doesn't recognize it when you do a search in their extensions database

**Comaco** · 02-24-2007, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelagent

Comaco - that's the problem; most surfers are fed-up with pop-ups; pop-unders; etc ... that's why we have it turned off -- not to mention, your program states it's not available for Windows, so what good is it based on those 2 specific items?

FF still doesn't recognize it when you do a search in their extensions database

Travelagent, i would never give the advice to anyone to remove the popup removal protection on their browser. By default, Firefox disable popups but informs the user that a popup is trying to show up. That's why a simple way to install the extension is to take this opportunity to allow popups from the site then install the extension. If you want you can disable again the popup for the site. Please note that the site is not making use of popups (there is no ads anyway) and that this popup trick is not related to my extension but is a Firefox limitation/feature.

Another way to install the extension is to save the .xpi file on your local disk, then open the file from Firefox 'File' menu. You won't get this popup issue.

Where did you read that it was not available for Windows ? If my words are interpreted that way, i must fix that immediately. The Chartlet extension works on Window, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD (and certainly a few others).

You didn't find the extension from the addons.mozilla.org search system because the first version is still in the approval queue. You can access the page where the extension will be downloadable - in a few weeks though

- from https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/4529

**vangogh** · 02-24-2007, 01:46 PM

travelagent the popup thing Comaco is talking about is normal. I actually have installed extensions from sites other than the official mozilla site and you have to enable the popup each time to allow the extension to install. Or you can download the .xpi file and install it that way.

Thanks for the info Comaco. I hadn't realized there was such a waiting list at mozilla.

I'll have to check out the extension to really understand all the benefits. I think I understand what it does, but I need to see it in action to see how useful I'll find it. But from what I saw on your site I think it looks pretty good and I do want to check it out.

I just briefly left here and installed chartlet directly from your site, though I haven't restarted FF yet. I'll play around with it this weekend and let you know what I think or if I have any questions.

Thanks again for the info.

**travelagent** · 02-24-2007, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comaco

Travelagent, i would never give the advice to anyone to remove the popup removal protection on their browser. By default, Firefox disable popups but informs the user that a popup is trying to show up. That's why a simple way to install the extension is to take this opportunity to allow popups from the site then install the extension. If you want you can disable again the popup for the site. Please note that the site is not making use of popups (there is no ads anyway) and that this popup trick is not related to my extension but is a Firefox limitation/feature.

Another way to install the extension is to save the .xpi file on your local disk, then open the file from Firefox 'File' menu. You won't get this popup issue.

Where did you read that it was not available for Windows ? If my words are interpreted that way, i must fix that immediately. The Chartlet extension works on Window, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD (and certainly a few others).

You didn't find the extension from the addons.mozilla.org search system because the first version is still in the approval queue. You can access the page where the extension will be downloadable - in a few weeks though

- from https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/4529

Okay; guess I wasn't following your train of thought about pop-ups -- happens when you reach my age...

Towards the bottom of your site -- https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/4529 -- it clearly states that it's not available for "windoze", unless I didn't read that correctly.

**travelagent** · 02-24-2007, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

travelagent the popup thing Comaco is talking about is normal. I actually have installed extensions from sites other than the official mozilla site and you have to enable the popup each time to allow the extension to install. Or you can download the .xpi file and install it that way.

Thanks for the info Comaco. I hadn't realized there was such a waiting list at mozilla.

I'll have to check out the extension to really understand all the benefits. I think I understand what it does, but I need to see it in action to see how useful I'll find it. But from what I saw on your site I think it looks pretty good and I do want to check it out.

I just briefly left here and installed chartlet directly from your site, though I haven't restarted FF yet. I'll play around with it this weekend and let you know what I think or if I have any questions.

Thanks again for the info.

Thanks Bro -- yeah; Mozilla does have a massive waiting list from developers ... will be interested to see how you grade the program.

**vangogh** · 02-24-2007, 10:49 PM

I did install it earlier, but I've never closed FF all day so it'll be tomorrow when I look at it I think. I looked through the documentation on Comaco's site and the extension did look interesting. Hopefully it can do some of the things I think it can.

I guess I also need to use it over a time before I really know how it works since it does chart things over time. I'll definitely let everyone know what I think once I get to use it more.

**swiftmed** · 02-25-2007, 04:50 AM

Looks good. I am sure it might prove useful in many cases. I still have to take a good look at it.

**Comaco** · 02-25-2007, 05:48 AM

Thanks for your interest in that tool.

Albeit fully functional, the extension is in its first version. There are certainly improvements you would like to see. Your suggestions will be welcome.

**travelagent** · 02-25-2007, 12:42 PM

Comaco -- wanted to let you know I did the d/l but it didn't put anything in my FF browser ... is this set-up just for WinXP only?

**Comaco** · 02-25-2007, 06:14 PM

travelagent,

i'm not quite what is the problem there. here is a process that should work whatever operating you are running:

1 - visit http://www.chartlet.net/install.php
2 - right click on item 'this link'
3 - choose 'Save link as ...'
4 - save file 'chartlet-1.0.xpi' anywhere you can find it
5 - menu 'File/Open file'
6 - open the file 'chartlet-1.0.xpi'
7 - a dialog window show up titled 'Software installation'
8 - choose 'install now'
9 - restart firefox
10 - you should see a chart icon in the toolbar -> you're done
11 - if it's not there, go to menu 'Tools/add-ons'
12 - check from the window that just opened that Chartlet extension is up and running

Let me know what point you see problem with.

**travelagent** · 02-25-2007, 06:35 PM

Comaco -- finally got it to d/l into FF, but after looking it over a good 15 minutes, I dropped it like a bad habit and here's why...

1. I'm sure you understand it since you're the developer; but for the layman, it's extremely unclear as to it's purpose and how it's supposed to "help" you.

2. There's no real help file(s), even when you click on the question mark -- had to dig thru all of that to FINALLY get to the "charts".

3. Looked at the Stocks chart and sat here scratching my head, saying out loud ... "Okay; what the hell am I supposed to do with this, and what benefit is it for me or anyone else???"

Sorry Charlie -- maybe others can figure out it's usefulness, but for me, I found it absolutely useless and boring as hell ... please don't take that personally; but I also find it's a very weird way of getting a FF add-on -- guess I'm spoiled to how easy FF makes the extensions downloadable without going thru so many steps.

**Comaco** · 02-25-2007, 07:33 PM

Travelagent, thanks for trying anyway.

This application does not pretend to be of great interest for everyone.
Speaking for myself, i like to see how things evolutes, specially when it is about my business. And that's why charts have been invented for. Honestly, asking whether charts can be any useful sounds strange to me.

About the particular stock quotes application, you understand that this example was not worth developing the extension as the chart for this is so helpful that it can be obtained easily from many places on the net. So if you question "what am i supposed to do with a stock chart", the response is certainly "nothing, but don't play with stocks or you're gonna loose a lot"

Concerning the documentation, this extension is certainly in the top few percents most documented. Maybe too much, it looks like you got confused with the embedded help, that considers you already have the knowledge of the basics of the program. Certainly the starting point should be http://www.chartlet.net/manual-basic.php that provides a tutorial to lead you to create your charts within a few minutes. Maybe the embedded help should advise to start with this tutorial. As i said above, this is the first version and improvements can be done, including in user guidance.