Goaccess: HTML - explanation for avgts, cumts, maxts, mthd, proto?

[gwideman]

On the HTML report, the labels "avgts", "cumts", "maxts", "mthd", "proto" show up in the headings of many of the panels. What do they mean? Thanks.

[allinurl]

Good question, see below:

avgts = "Average Time Served"    => "Average time it took to serve the request"
cumts = "Cumulative Time Served" => "Cumulative count of time it took to serve the request"
maxts = "Maxium Time Served"     => "Maximum time it took to serve the request"
mthd  = "HTTP Method"
proto = "HTTP Protocol"

[gwideman]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up! But...

Why would a panel like Requested Files (URLs), with columns [Hits, Visitors, Bandwidth, Method, Protocol, Data] be sorted by [Hits, AvgTS, CumTS, MaxTS, Mthd, Proto]? Wouldn't it make more sense to sort by the list of columns actually shown, in order of those cols? (Or if the user selects to sort by some col other than the first, then sort by that col then the remaining cols.)

I realize that usually the first sort-by column takes precedence, but where there are multi rows with the same value in that column, then second sort col is significant, and so on.

[allinurl]

I think this may be a labeling issue. Each panel contains a sub header giving a brief description of it and how it can be sorted. That doesn't mean that it's currently being sorted by those columns (even in cases where some columns are present). e.g., TOP REQUESTS SORTED BY HITS [, AVGTS, CUMTS, MAXTS, MTHD, PROTO].

I can change this labeling to reflect the current sorting. Let me know if that answers your question.

[gwideman]

I would indeed read those subheader labels as indicating how the panel can be sorted. However, the list of columns shown in that label doesn't match the list of columns actually in the panel. For example, the Requested Files panel has columns Hits, Visitors, Bandwidth, Method, Protocol, Data (where Data means file URL), whereas the subheader label shows Hits [AvgTS, CumTS, MaxTS, Mthd, Proto]. Those don't seem to match, unless it's in some obtuse way that I don't understand. As for making the subheader show the actual live sort order, that would be even clearer, though probably not worth too much effort.

[allinurl]

Currently the labels are hard-coded regardless the table columns are being displayed or not. Please keep this issue open, I'll look into it. Thanks!

[gwideman]

Thanks @allinurl for looking at this. While you are pondering this issue, may I also suggest a little attention to how the word "hit" is used on the page. In the panel "Unique visitor per day" I think you use the "hits" axis and column to count requests for any _file_. But then in "Requested _Files_" panel, there's a "Hits" column, but I think this only counts requested _pages_.
In short, in the "Unique Visitors" panel, I suggest change "Hits" --> "Files".
In the "Requested Files" panel, change "Files" --> "Pages", and "Hits" --> "Pages". (Maybe the term should be something more general than "Pages", but as I understand this panel, it does not include all Files.)

[allinurl]

You raise a good point. However, shouldn't the Visitors panel keep Hits as it's pretty much counting every request that goes through? As far as the Request panel, I agree, "Pages" makes more sense, I can certainly rename it to Pages instead of Hits. Thoughts on the Static Requests and Not Found panels?

[gwideman]

After further mulling, I guess the idea of the "Hits" columns and plots is that, for each panel, these are "requests of the type filtered for this panel". So:
Unique visitors panel: Hits = All requests (not filtered)
Requested files panel: Hits = requested pages (URLs)
Static requests panel: Hits = requested static files
Not found URLs: Hits = requests not found. (Which are not hits, they're misses :-) )

I guess part of the confusion is that the current wording doesn't make it clear that the first panel encompasses "All requests", and the other three are a breakdown of those, which are mutually exclusive, and also add up to the first panel.

So perhaps panel titles that tie to this total-and-breakdown theme would help:

1. "All Requests, and unique visitors per day"
2. "Requests for pages (URLs)"
3. "Requests for static files"
4. "Requests for files/URLs, not found (404 response)"
   Then in each panel call the Hits column "Requests". By repeating the word "Request" in the panel titles and the column heads, I think it becomes clear that each panel deals with a particular subset of the total requests. What do you think?