The Google team have surpassed themselves once more with the launch of the new Analytics interface. The dashboard and all views are redesigned for readability, accessibility and speed. Some notable new features emerge as well. Relevant information can be reached in fewer clicks and furthermore, views can be organized to suit your own interest: the dashboard is configurable (drag and drop style) so that you can compile which data to show, to your own personal preference. They step deeper into Web 2.0 territory.
One improvement I really like is the new date range selection. Instead of choosing dates from two popups – the classic way, still available – you now have a visual selection tool – the timeline – that lets you slide over the range pretty much like an audio / video / animation editor lets you choose frames:
The way information is displayed when viewing a graph has also substantially improved, from the tiny numbers with no apparent affiliation to good looking tooltips containing just what you wanted to see:
When logging in, you are greeted by a dashboard that displays some common traffic information at the top of it, and is followed by two columns of different views. The twist is that you can reorder the views on the dashboard to your whim via drag and drop, remove them or add new ones. Basically, you can customize your “analytics homepage” to show what’s relevant to you, instead of having to navigate through the interface to get to the actual reports.
Another nifty new feature is the ability to export reports to PDF, in addition to the already existing TSV, CSV and XML formats. This means that you can get a cool looking PDF file ready to be sent out or displayed to your audience of choice.
Anther one of their flagship new features is the ability to email reports, be it to yourself or collaborators, thus increasing interactivity. You may also schedule a date range for sending emails with your chosen reports, or even merge several reports in one e-mail.
The map overview now allows one to zoom down to country level, with graphic detail on cities, instead of having to hover closely packed bubbles as in the previous version:
I’m sure there’s more to discover and if you’re feeling lost, the old interface will still be available for about a month or so, although I’d suggest you browse around the new one, because you’ll certainly find everything is right there.
For further reading, you might want to go through their FAQ, the visual presentation of the new interface, and the blog post announcing it.