What is this?

Dashalytics is a free Dashboard Widget for your Apple Mac that offers quick access to Google Analytics statistics.

From version 0.6, Dashalytics will work for all accounts no matter what your default language is. At writing Google Analytics supports the following languages: US English, UK English, Français, Italiano, Deutsch, Español, Nederlands, 日本語, 한국어, 中文 (简体), 中文 (繁體), Português (Brasil), Dansk, suomi, Norsk, Svenska, Русский.

Inspired by Widsense and powered by the same technology as TanTan’s Google Analytics plugin for Wordpress you too can have stats on your Dashboard.

Requirements

How do I use it?

Install the Widget
Download and extract the archive to end up with Dashalytics.wdgt. Double click and it will install onto your Dashboard.

Configure the Widget
On the preferences (back) side of the widget, type you’re Google Analytics username and password and press the “Get Sites” button. The drop down will populate (depending on how fast your internet connection is) with the list of site you have on Google Analytics. Choose the relevant one and click done.

Wait for an Update
The first time you enter your details and flip back to the front, your the Dashalytics Widget will update the statistics. Everytime you show the Dashboard (F12) the Dashalytics Widget will update.

More than Just One
If you have multiple sites that you wish to track just add more Dashalytics Widgets to your Dashboard. Just choose the site you wish to track and you’re away.

Watch and Learn
You can check out this short movie if you would like to see it working.

Why do my details get cleared when I upgrade?

It has to do with being able to have multiple Dashalytics widgets on the Dashboard and each Widget having a unique identifier. When you update, you’re removing the old one and the preferences that go along with it. It can be painful for those who are running multiple widgets to monitor multiple sites (myself included).

To see this in action, try doing this with a Widget that keep settings between updates. Add a 2nd to your Dashboard. You should find that whatever setting you have for the original, are now loaded.

I'm behind an authenticating proxy, will it work?

No. Unfortunately the way Dashalytics is written, it cannot login to the proxy to gain external access to the Internet. Future versions may fix this, but it’s unlikely…

V3.0: Where did the old summary Sparklines go?

With the new reporting that Google provides and the removal of the old reporting interface, the data available has completely changed. Version 3 is completely different because of that.

I’ve been looking to try and get something similar to Version 2 into this version, but it’s going to be extremely difficult. This is release 1 with the new data. Please have some patience. There are more features planned. Stay tuned.

Here is how Dashalytics has changed over time:

  • Dashalytics screenshot
  • Dashalytics 0.2 Screenshot

V3.0: Can't retrieve site list

When trying to retrieve the list of sites you have access to, nothing the spinner spins and nothing returns there may be several reasons:

  • You’ve changed the default installation of PHP, although it’s still perplexing as to why this may be the case.
  • Your password has a special character in it such as $ or *.
  • You’re behind an authenticating proxy (see the other FAQ artcile about this).