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Answer 1

+3 A:

The approach used by such tools as Google Analytics is that visit time is measured as the time the user hit the first page to the time they hit the last page within a single "visit". A single visit is defined as a series of page views by one user (cookie) where each visit is sufficiently close to the previous in time. I don't know what that limit is however.

In my experience, these kinds of tricks with unload events and so forth are bordering on being intrusive and users don't appreciate them. As such they add little to no value over a more passive approach like constructing a visit from cookies plus page view data.

cletus 2009-08-24 16:29:30

Answer 2

A:

Why not take a look at Google Analytics the standard tracking will capture these stats for you.

http://www.google.com/analytics/

pjp 2009-08-24 16:30:31

Answer 3

A:

It depends on how much error you would allow. If the error is in the order of tens of minutes, you only need a visit log, and set the session timeout interval for the last page. If you allow only hundreds of milliseconds, you will need to ping. If the error is anywhere in between, you still need to ping, albeit at a lower rate; or accept the fact that for a user who shut down the browser will not fire the onunload event.

Zed 2009-08-24 16:32:50

Answer 4

+1 A:

I suggest almost any web analytic package depending on some of your business goals.

Google Analytics: (free)
Yahoo Analytics: (free)(beta)
Woopra: (free)(beta)
Omniture: ( expensive )(most feature rich, difficult learning curve )

[ there are others, some more tailored to Ad Network Reporting...]

BigBlondeViking 2009-08-24 16:39:43

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How to measure visiting time of a user

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