User Interface to Indicate Posting Activity

User Interface to Indicate Posting Activity by Chris AldrichChris Aldrich (Boffo Socko)

Today I saw a note that led me to the Internet Archive which I know has recently had a redesign. I’m not sure if the functionality I saw was part of this redesign, but it’s pretty awesome. I’m not sure quite what to call this sort of circular bar chart given what it does, but circular widthmap seems vaguely appropriate.

Instead of using color gradations to indicate a relative number of posts, the UI is measuring things via width in ever increasing concentric circles. The innermost circle indicates the root domain and successive levels out add additional paths from my site. Because I’m using dated archive paths, there’s a level of circle by year (2019, 2018, 2017, etc.) then another level outside that by months (April 2019, March 2019, etc.), and finally the outermost circle which indicates individual posts. As a result, the width of a particular year or month indicates relatively how active that time frame was on my website (or at least how active Archive.org thinks it was based on its robot crawler.)

I enjoyed the idea of these heatmaps and charting. I added the sparkline graph last week after I saw them on Chris's website. I may create a separate web site page to keep these. I don't know how useful they are, but they are just cool. I would also love a way to display some of the JetPack graphs.

These are the yearly JetPack stats from 2010, the year Automattic first offered the, to 2019.

2013 was the best year for this website.

But I get more "responses" that I did in earlier years. I suspect more of these are from semantic responses on other platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram since. It's, and the time I started using some of the IndieWeb software.

Below is the Internet Archive graph for 2018, compared to 2012. Traffic has fallen off.

2013 Internet Archive Circular Widthmaps
Graph
2018 Internet Archive Circular Widthmaps

AirPort Utility 6.0 Released

**UPDATE**: A writeup on [TUAW](http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/31/in-pictures-airport-utility-6-0s-missing-features/) suggest that certain features are missing from the update.

Last night [Apple released version 6.0](http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1481) of the Apple AirPort Utility for the Mac as well as Time Capsule Firmware Update 7.6.1. The new release does not appear to have gained any new features or fix any bugs. However AirPort Utility 6.0 has been given a facelift. The new user interface (UI) looks just like the iOS version of the utility.

The user is presented with a network diagram of how the network devices (Apple only) are connected together and to the Internet.

Clicking any one of the icons brings up further details about that device.

AirPort Utility

To edit the setting for an Apple wireless access point (AirPort Express, Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme) click the icon for the device and click edit.

AirPort Utility

The new interface for editing the devices settings has been simplified. I found it a lot easier to find what I was looking for.

AirPort Utility Time Capsule Settings

I did have one disappoint, however. Apparently my 802.11b AirPort Express is too old and is no longer supported. Apple does provide a solution but I suspect that my WDS system no longer works. Time for a trip to [Creative Computing](http://www.creativecomputing.com/).

AirPort Utility AirPort Express

Have you tried the new AirPort Utility and have some tips to share? Have you run into any issues? Please let me know in the comments area below.