History of recent changes for Charting
In version 4.6.5 of MiaCMS we are introducing new charting functionality. At this time the new charts can be utilized in the statistics and polls components. To chart the data MiaCMS has selected Open Flash Charts which is licensed under the LGPL license. Open Flash Charts is powerful, flexible, and the charts look great! The online support and documentation is quite good too. The PHP class is included in MiaCMS now so utilizing it within your own 3rd party components should be fairly simple. The charts do require Flash and therefore are optional because of this factor.Statistics:
In the past the statistics components have simply shown tabular statistical information. Users have always looked to external analytics tools like Google Analytics to conduct deeper analysis of their sites. While we aren't replacing those external tools we are just looking to bridge the gap a bit and help visualize some of that statistical data within Mia itself. Mia will now chart, if enabled, browser, operating system, and domain statistics.
Screenshot of Statistics Component:
Polls:
In addition to the statistics charts MiaCMS can now utilize Open Flash Charts to display poll results as well. In the past HTML tables have been used to construct the poll results chart. This adds a good bit of bloat an unnecessary HTML to the site. The old format is still supported for those who want it, but we'd suggest utilizing the new format. Another bonus is that the revised polls administrator interface now allows for a great deal of customization. Each poll chart can now be customized with a unique look and feel. Users can pick from 5 different bar types, set custom sizes & fonts, and pick custom bar chart colors. In the past all poll results had the same basic HTML table display. The bar color selection is done via the YUI Colorpicker. A sample chart is available to help users preview their changes in real-time.
New Poll Results:
Old Poll Results:
Poll Configuration Screenshot with Color Picker:
Sample of the 3D Bar Chart
Sample of the Glass Bar Chart
Sample of the Sketched/Sloppy Bar Chart
