Is there a way that a Live Chat indicator can be programmed in to show that someone or some people are in the chat room? Too often, people onmy site will skip over it if they see no activity. I think they actually skip the live chat altogether. Maybe if they see an indicator when they sign into the homepage, it'll pique their curiosity and they'll go into the live chat. Thank you again for your support.

Jonathan

Great idea!

Hi Jonathan and Gwen,

Live chats are essentially private and participation is by invitation. In your instant messenger feature you can see who else is online at the moment and if you want to try out the live chat you can invite other online users to join you, but signalling that other users are engaged in a live chat to which they have not invited you kind of sends the wrong message...

Hi, Eric! It is good to 'meet' you.

I believe Jonathan is talking about the Live Chat feature vs. the chat/private chat feature.

A chat may be started when you see another Member Online in the "online" pop-up in the lower left. Mouse over the member's name to see two options: chat and profile. You may choose to open a chat between the two of you or look at the person's profile. If you open a chat, you can click on the Private Chat button in the smaller window to open the same chat in a larger window. Once in that window, you can use the Invite button to invite others to your "Private Chat" window. (Note: The chat will continue to be shown in the smaller chat window. Also, if you click outside of the larger chat window, it appears to be lost. It is simply behind the browser... go find it. )

The Live Chat is another option and when activated in Edit Pages it appears in the page menu on the site. When I have a Live Chat happening on TAPS and other admins enter the room, I open a chat to invite them, including the fact the Live Chat is accessed in the left hand menu. Though we have many site saavy admins, there may be one who has not yet used the feature, hence the invite and point to the link.

All this shared, having an indicator is not a bad idea, Jonathan. However, it might be something they add to the 'after 3.0 release' list to consider.

It wouldn't hurt to add a sign when you begin a Live Chat and take it down when the chat ends. Here is one that may
work...VIEW OPEN SIGN

You will find it with an explanation in the TAPS Live Chat notice.

Hope to see you there on Wednesday at 8:00 pm ET!

Gwen,

You might try using a JavaScript in an announcement ("logged in" announcement only). Since you have specific times when you are doing a chat, you can go in and activate the announcement., then when the chat window is closed, disable the announcement until next time.

Inside of the announcement, use the JavaScript alert('Click the "Live Chat" now because we are chatting");

Then whenever someone signs into the website when you are having a chat, they will get the pop-up saying there is a chat going on.

Just remember to disable the announcement after the chat is over.

This will work for YOUR circumstance and other admins who have a designated time for chats, but wouldn't work for any individual who just wants to start up a chat with any person who is on the website at the same time.

If you need help with the JavaScript, I can add the announcement for you. Maybe you want to try it yourself first.

Hi Kyle!

I was editing the post at the same time you replied.

An ANNOUNCEMENT is an option I did not include. Thanks for mentioning it.

As you see on the TAPS site, I do not have Announcements on the page. Therefore, I added it to the Content for all to see. This leads me to...

ADMINS... I did not password protect the OPEN sign. It is there for all of you to see. The site you find it on is a site provided by CC for us to use to chat. Chat... as in help each other and share in real time. If you have not joined the site, please do so today. Remember, the site is for ALL of us!

Where is the site? www.classcreator.com/chat

See you there!

It is always great to have input from CC. Thanks, Eric and Kyle!

Hi,
Different question; same topic. I think I understand what is being asked and how it was answered.
When I'm on my site alone, and another classmate gets on line with me (but doesn't check into 'live chat'), I've tried to leave a message at the message center, hoping they'll get the message before they leave the site. Doesn't usually work! I do think an indicator would help.
Barbara

I'm not sure if I'm missing something here or someone else is. The IM feature lets you know who is online in real time, but does not show who is engaged in a Live Chat for exactly the reason I stated above. I don't get the distinction that Gwen makes in response. The only "chat"-like features that exist on the site are the IM and the Live Chat.

Eric,
I beg to differ. When you're already in live chat, the person with whom you are interacting is already known to you and you to him. You're not trying to get someone into live chat because you see that they are on line. Live chat can be IM's, or speaking and seeing each other if you both have a webcam and mike.
But you can experience seeing that there are many on line and logged into your site, but are not paying attention to whomever else is logged in. In that case an indicator would be relevent. Am I right, Gwen? Or have I missed something, also?
Barbara

Barbara, it sounds to me like you are suggesting that we implement an indicator that shows you who is logged into the site, which is exactly what the IM already does (unless a user has turned it off). The initial suggestion was for an indicator of who is currently using the Live Chat feature, not who is logged into the site. The response is that Live Chats are initiated by invitation, so it didn't seem appropriate to tell people that other people are having a conversation to which they themselves are not a party. I haven't seen a response which clearly addresses that notion.

Eric,
I sorry if I were unclear. ok, here's the senario... I'm logged in. I see a 2nd person is now logged in. I go to live chat and try to get her attention. She doesn't know I'm in live chat waiting for her, so she doesn't join the live chat.If their were an indicator that said by choice "Barbara is in live chat, waiting for you to join her". That's what I mean as an indicator. It doesn't always have to pop up, only when the one in live chat cares to put it forth. Am I being more clear?
Barbara

Thank you, that was much easier to understand. It sounds like we need to make a subtle disctinction between a general notification that someone is in Chat, which it seems should NOT be done for the reasons stated above, and a directed notification which the peron in Chat can send to another logged in user, which does make good sense.

Often the IM is the gateway to a chat session, so there is notification/invitation through that, but we should look at another mechanism for a Chat user to invite another user who is not in the IM.

Well thank you, Eric! That was a very nice response. I apologize for not being as clear the 1st time as I could be.
Barbara

Hi Kyle... long time no connect!
We are setting up a weekly chat session on our site, and I would like to announce it to all members who come onto the site. Can you add the appropriate Javascript to our site or, if necessary, send it to me with installation instructions?

Thanks and best wishes... j

Never mind Kyle. I want to try something myself. Thanks... j