What is the Statbar Modifier?

This free service extends the geocaching.com statbar. You can put any logo you want on your statbar, have random logos display, and even add a background. To prevent indecent images being used, all logos and backgrounds must be sent to and approved by Ranger Fox. Thus far, nothing has been rejected.

Turn into

How does the Statbar Modifier work?

You fill out the form and use the URL it gives you as a replacement for the one you would use to show your geocaching.com statbar. To get a little more specific, when you're requesting your statbar from the Statbar Modifier, it grabs your geocaching.com statbar and edits it real-time with the choices you have selected.

Is there a catch?

Sorry, folks, this is an altruistic service. I originally created it as an experiment and a favor to another geocacher. All hosting and bandwidth fees come from my own pocket. I do not have a link to solicit donations. If you would like to donate to the Statbar Modifier, I would like you to donate your time: submit more logos, design backgrounds for the user community, give me feedback, or tell others about this service. In short, use it and help grow in the direction you want. The Statbar Modifier exists because of you.

Advertising

There are too many ads online as it is. Everywhere you go, someone tries to advertise something. Not so here. You will never see an ad on this site, user information is not tracked, and I am oblivious to hits and usage, save for how many unique people are using the service (due to the statbar caching feature).

I also refuse to advertise the Statbar Modifier other than word of mouth. If what I have created is good enough and people want to use it, I truly believe no advertising is necessary. People will talk or others will see it being used and will ask about it. I do not wish to contribute to the problem on rampant online advertising. No ads, no spam, only goodness.

Are you tracking anything?

No. I do have one feature that caches the last requested statbar for a user. If Groundspeak has to take the image server down for maintenance, the Statbar Modifier will use the cached statbar so your stats are always displayed. From this, though, I can tell how many unique users are using the service. I believe in privacy, so I do not track anything.

Who am I?

The Statbar Modifier was created by Ranger Fox. I'm a .Net web application programmer by trade and find caches with most of my spare time.

What are your plans for the Statbar Modifier?

My current goal is to get a few web services from Groundspeak so I can build statbars from scratch instead of editing the statbar graphic they put out. If Groundspeak provides these web services, I can continue to evolve the statbar and give geocachers the world over a fully customized statbar with more stats than just the hide and find count.

While I have talked to Jeremy (Groundspeak President) about what I needed to continue evolving the statbar, Groundspeak has been too busy, understandably, to provide this. Therefore, I will continue to do what I can to offer ever-increasing ways to customize a statbar. Eventually, this service should attain a level of popularity where Groundspeak will voluntarially get involved. As of October 2007, I have a little more than 500 unique users.

What's in the works?

I am currently working on a fully customizable statbar. The below is the first successful test (17-May-2007). You are able to position the text items where you want, adjust colors and font sizes, choose to use or not use a logo and user quote, and add a background. You will also be able to display a breakdown of your hide and find counts by cache type.

As of October 2007, I released as much as I think is capable of releasing without Groundspeak's involvement. You can now change test color, position items, choose whether to include a user quote, and add a background. Once I have Groundspeak's support, I will be able to do more on the data side.