Online doc pages should have analytics

[szhorvat]

The online doc pages at https://r.igraph.org/ should have Google Analytics, and hooked up to the igraph Google Analytics account.

@maelle, is this reasonably easy to do? Do we generate docs for offline distribution through the same system, and if yes, is it easy to exclude the offline version from the analytics?

Reason: Page view stats are relevant for grant applications.

[maelle]

@szhorvat yes it is reasonably easy!

you'd need to edit https://github.com/igraph/rigraph/blob/main/_pkgdown.yml as shown in https://pkgdown.r-lib.org/reference/build_site.html#analytics

Now, don't ask me how GDPR-compliant this is. 🤔

ICYMI there are privacy-friendlier alternatives to Google Analytics (Plausible, Matomo), but one needs to pay for them (or self-host 😰).

[schochastics]

Google Analytics is not GDPR compliant. Should we go for an alternative or configure it in a way that it might become compliant https://gdprlocal.com/google-analytics-gdpr-compliance/

[maelle]

I fear that making Google Analytics GPDR compliant is going to be a cat-and-mouse thing, with new hidden settings all the time. If we need analytics, could we pay for it and go for Plausible or Matomo?

[schochastics]

I wonder if it is worth it. @szhorvat is there still a usecase for this?

[szhorvat]

The point is that view counts might be useful for grant applications. Maybe there are other ways to get these, or maybe it's just too complicated.

At the airport now, can't respond in more detail

[schochastics]

https://umami.is/pricing has a free tier. Given that we basically only want page views, we can go for something really rudimentary

[krlmlr]

I remember using plausible.io somewhere. @christophsax: Does that ring a bell?

No strong opinion, we can go with Umami -- I like the flavor too.

[maelle]

@szhorvat would you be happy with Umami?

[szhorvat]

I have no input on this. I would rely on your judgement :-)

[maelle]

From what I hear, with AI traffic, analytics are getting less and less useful anyway. 😅