NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> cache counting standards
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> cache counting standards
Glenn Fleishman (glenn_at_glenns.org)
Mon, 8 Jun 1998 18:41:22 -0800
At 2:27 PM -0800 6/8/98 Ulrich Voss wrote:
>I have never read anything really specific about Matchlogic TrueCount
>technology on their website. The best you can get is [really vague sounding
>thing]...
>Does this conflict with the "URL redirect" solution, which is an RFC
>on the IAB site? Adding an 1*1 pixel-wide GIF, that is almost
>uncachable, is what we use here and what the IAB proposes.
Yeah, well, the description of what TrueCount does is technically
impossible; they've just cast what they're doing into high-tech lingo
that's not really meaningful, in my evaluation.
If they're doing something similar to IMGIS (which it must be) they're
using a combination of uniquely numbered elements and JavaScript to force a
browser to request a new ad. Rick Bruner did a great job of documenting all
the different solutions a few months ago, but the bottom line is
* you can't *make* a proxy do anything
* all requests originate in browsers
* if the browser queries a proxy cache and the cache has it, it returns it
(whatever that "it" is)
* if the browser thinks it has "it" cached locally, it doesn't send a query.
Any solution for solving this problem must involve JavaScript to reliably
force a browser to make a query for something that's not in the cache, or
for the browser to at least make an external query that allows an external
source to increment a counter.
The 1x1 pixel GIF and similar proposals fail to account for technology
beyond 2.0 browsers (or even 1.1 Netscape, for that matter) and are
ultimately doomed as the technology for dealing with this issue is so much
more advanced. Advertisers may demand it; sites will certainly promote it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glenn Fleishman, unsolicited pundit. see my mug: http://www.glenns.org
freelance technical writer, perl hacker, Adobe Magazine columnist/editor
co-author of Real World Scanning & Halftones, 2d edition http://rwsh.com
technical director, Phinney-Bischoff Design House http://www.pbdh.com
director of operations, i/us Corporation http://www.i-us.com
chair, Web Marketing '98/D.C. http://www.thunderlizard.com/webmarketing/
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