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First of all, why do you want a counter? *grin* It takes up space on your document and, if your counter is hosted by another website, it also adds seconds to the download time of your pages. Simply said, basic counters are just a cute way of showing you and your site's visitors how many folks visited that specific page. Some of them take so long to connect and download so that they often miscount the number of visitors to a website. Okay, okay...simpler said....counters really suck!!! *LOL* The better route is to use "trackers", which are also called counters but have more functions than just keeping a count. Some trackers are not a whole lot better than counters. Here's a few things for you to keep in mind when looking for a counter/tracker: 1. Decide what you would like from your counter and why you want it, even knowing it takes up space. Some counters have cool graphics while others opt for simple and fast. 2. If you are a webmaster who intends to make money from your site, you will need statistics. Different counter programs offer different services like tracking the number of visitors from a referring url, type of browser the visitor used, etc. 3. How much money are you willing to spend on your counter? Lots are free but ones that will guarantee a fuller, more detailed report will charge a bit for their services. 4. Most counter program websites include a test drive, take one! You will be able to estimate how long it will take your own visitors to view your own pages with the counter installed. 5. Some counter programs offer their products in exchange for free banner and/or advertisement space. Again, test drive! Learn BEFOREhand if you are willing to host their banners and what types of advertisement will be seen on your website. 6. If you have a free website, check on counters at your host. Most of the time, they will have their own, although most of the ones that I have seen are very generic looking, takes a bit of coding on your own to make it look better, show no other statistics except number of hits to your homepage, and have a frustrating way of being down lots of the time. 7. When test driving the counter, note its speed. Although the counter is on your own site, it has to connect to the host site to count your visitors. Download time becomes more important if you use tables on your website. Tables will not load in a user's browser until all of the content in them are downloaded. Here are a few counters/trackers for you to look over: Better Counter - Free - combines the feature to count several pages, the usability and clarity of a Java Applet and a complete analysis tool within a freely customizable page structure. The Counter is the blue tracker I use on the Home page of the Labyrinth. FXWeb's WebTracker - is another button tracker. Extreme Tracker IP Stat - I use it on the WebMastery??? page. Click on the purple button on the bottom of the page there to see how it works. FastCounter by Link Exchange NedStat USA free for non-commercial sites. I use it on the Gifts of the Heart page. Click on the green icon at the bottom of the page to see how it works. HAPPY BUILDING! Webmastery??? pages: Webmastery??? | Starting??? | Free Webhosts??? | HTML Editors??? | Navigating??? | Counters??? | Addons??? | Submit to Whom??? *g* | Pet Peeves Site Menu: Home | Shopping | Gifts of the Heart | WebMastery??? | WebSurfing Online Shopping: *Books | *Movies | *Music | *Software | Computers | Toys | Gift Items