Visitor Movies for WordPress
Did you ever want to know what exactly your visitors are doing on your site? Watch them!
A client of mine wanted a plugin to log what users type into forms. I kind of didn’t see the point at first. But a few days later I was a little annoyed that there was apparently no free alternative to websites like clixpy, clicktale and similar services.
It occured to me that recording movies of visits isn’t really hard to do. And so i started a new plugin, loosely based on the unpublished form input tracking plugin.
I am very pleased with the results so far. Of course it’s no match for the professional services mentioned above. But it is good enough to gain a few insights into what can be improved on your website.
The recording script is pretty lightweight but has a rather hefty dependeny: jQuery. It also loads json2.js. I’m sure the logging could be rewritten without the jQuery dependency but that really wasn’t a priority for the first public release.
This plugin probably needs WordPress 2.8 and PHP 5. I didn’t bother to test older versions and won’t support them in the future.
Here is a sample movie of what a recorded session can look like. As you can see mouse movements, clicks, form input, select boxes, checkboxes and radio buttons are recorded.
Important: For the playback you should always use the same browser as the visitor. If you don’t, the mouse position will probably be very wrong. The plugin also doesn’t save a page’s state at the time of recording. This means if comments are added or the content changes, you will see the old movements on a new website.
Downloads at WordPress.org.
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This entry was written by nicolas, posted on 21. May 2010, filed under Content Management and tagged clicktracking, jQuery, marketing, usability, WordPress, WordPress plugin. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
I am Nicolas Kuttler, a web developer, system administrator and IT consultant from France, currently living in Germany. 
nicolas: Interesting. I’m not sure I tried with sound yet. Thanks for the input!
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What a great plugin. I Can not use it for few websites because I also use jquery for other tasks.
I do marketing for people so this new tool is great to understand behavior.
Do you know what to do if the plugins conflict?
Hi Anders,
the plugin shouldn’t really conflict with others. Maybe you use a plugin that doesn’t use the wp_enqueue_script() function to load jQuery. Then jQuery could be loaded twice.
You could install firebug and activate the script console. It will show an error message that you can paste here. A link to the site would also help.
Hi I would like to ask if it and how to clear log.Sorry my englis
Thank you
Hm, no I didn’t build log deletion into the plugin. You’ll have to delete old logs with an ftp client.
Oh, right, an earlier version changed the permissions of the files, but I removed that feature. Your ftp client should allow you to change permissions on files (recursive 777 will do if you intend to delete them). I hope that helps.
Hello There,
I’ve installed the plugin and setted it to work on all pages. My site (http://www.portaltibia.com.br) have more then 10k unique visitors a day and I couldn’t see any log files stored on the folder. Is there any need to change permissions so files can actually store those informations?
Hello Felippe,
it looks to me like your theme is incomplete, please see http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/visitor-movies/faq/ (wp_footer). Or maybe you did only install the plugin but didn’t enable it?
Hi, can I use this fireworks on the wordpress.com? ( or org only)> I downloaded the plug in, it’s on my computer. How do I get it to my wordpress blog? BTW, you look like Andre Rieu in this little thumbnail photo.
Hello Elizabeth, no, unfortunately you can’t use the plugin on wordpress.com. You’ll need to have a self-hosted blog.
ok, thanks
Is there any way this could be used on a simple php page, not a wordpress blog.
Absolutely, the code is modular and could run on a different website. It could use a different WordPress install to record the movies or a new server-side recording script could be implemented. Feel free to use the contact form on this site for professional support.
I tried putting the folder outside the web root but it won’t let me save the new location, it seems to insist that it be in httpdocs
Hm, the webserver needs permissions to write to that directory. You should probably check your error log.
It just keeps saying:
"Settings saved."
"/var/www/vhosts/mysite.com/httpdocs/wp-content/visitor-movies-logs/ does not exist or the plugin can’t write to it. Please create it or make sure the webserver can write to it. "
But the location I specify is /var/www/vhosts/mysite.com/visitor-movies-logs/
I tried lots of different User:Group settings, psaserv, pasacln, root, and of course it’s 777 permissions, but it just seems to keep insisting that it has to be /var/www/vhosts/mysite.com/httpdocs/wp-content/visitor-movies-logs/
Well as I said check the server’s error.log. PHP seems to think it can’t write to that location.
I’m so excited to find this plugin! Its exactly what I have been looking for, for ages.
I have installed it, however I can’t see any recorded videos either in WordPress or in my FTP.
Any ideas?
From what I can tell the footer is being called, I have 100% as my % and I have accessed the website from a couple of computers to test, but still can’t see anything…
Thanks again!
Is the JavaScript included on the frontend? Can you post a link to your site?
Hi,
Sorry it is http://www.trophywarehouse.com.au.
The JavaScript isn’t loaded anywhere. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/visitor-movies/faq/. Or maybe you just didn’t enable it? Odd.