Updated Webclient: auto-busy, simpler workflow, and more

<p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">We've introduced some updates to the webclient chat workflow designed to simplify chat management, especially for operators of busy services.  The basic layout of the webclient is unchanged.  However, you'll find that the chat area better uses the available real estate,</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> making it easier to juggle lots of simultaneous chats with minimal fuss.  Plus there are other goodies too, so let's dig in!</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJq_HrrwbHh3uYjBzTOIc7gTemxQiFKlLs7NKiiap_qERc3u44pcduJFqwA1Pui7IL-CW-Af4FFHyUtDP1nedbB2JOW-ODL7aLEcE7wxIzgj513wAvI-fmWsD9G1Q5fndLbliRS9Hx8A/s1600/webclient-tiles-starred-gone-six.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJq_HrrwbHh3uYjBzTOIc7gTemxQiFKlLs7NKiiap_qERc3u44pcduJFqwA1Pui7IL-CW-Af4FFHyUtDP1nedbB2JOW-ODL7aLEcE7wxIzgj513wAvI-fmWsD9G1Q5fndLbliRS9Hx8A/s1600/webclient-tiles-starred-gone-six.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New goodies: tiled layout; highlighted chat; greyed chat indicating guest has left the conversation.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Use auto-busy to control incoming chats</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">You might already know about <i>busy </i>(do not disturb) status, </span>which allows an operator to continue with all of their active chats but not receive any brand new ones<span style="font-family: inherit;">.  But it can be difficult for an overwhelmed operator to remember to change their own status.  Enter auto-busy!  When an operator reaches the auto-busy threshold configured</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> in their settings, the webclient will </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">automatically </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">change their status to busy until they close a chat and again are under their auto-busy threshold.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">When an operator changes to Busy status, other operators available on a queue will continue to receive the new chats, or if no other operators are available, the queue itself will change to Busy until at least one operator is Available again.   The auto-busy default is 9, which is deliberately set high so that it won't catch anyone by surprise, but can be changed to any number the operator desires.  </span>Only chats on queues count towards an operator's auto-busy threshold; private IMs from colleagues are not counted.  </div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pinning replaced by auto-split</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The old webclient chat layout supported two chat areas, a large space for a primary chat of interest and a right sidebar for pinning up to three additional chats.  Some of our users with busier services found this old layout limiting, so we went back to the drawing board and came up with a Hollywood Squares workflow that auto-partitions a single chat area into tiles.  </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can control the number of tiles that are auto-opened in the chat area via an auto-open setting.  Auto-open only controls the number of tiles that are <i>automatically </i>displayed and doesn't represent a hard limit on the number of tiles you can have open at any time.  You can always open additional tiles by clicking the desired contact in your contacts list.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Check out this screencast with Pam to see the auto-split feature in action...</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><!-- copy and paste. Modify height and width if desired. --><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="tscplayer_inline embeddedObject" frameborder="0" height="337" mozallowfullscreen="" name="tsc_player" scrolling="no" src="http://www.screencast.com/users/psessoms/folders/Camtasia Studio/media/d626f7a1-d8ec-440c-bef4-a78248bebf71/embed" style="overflow: hidden;" type="text/html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="600"></iframe></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Chats grey when the guest leaves the conversation</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chats already include textual notifications to the operator when a guest leaves the conversation.  But<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> we've also added a new, more visual cue to the chat.  </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the guest navigates away, the chat background will turn grey and should the guest return the background will return to its original color, signaling to the operator that they can send messages to the guest again.  This improvement to the webclient goes along with some recent</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2015/04/updated-widget.html" target="_blank">improvements to</a></span><a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2015/04/updated-widget.html" target="_blank"> the chat widget's ability to detect when a guest leaves the conversation</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.  </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Highlighting a chat with the star icon</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Operators can highlight chats of interest using a new star icon at the top right-hand corner of a chat.  The highlight feature has no functional impact on the chat, but instead serves as a visual cue to draw the operator's eye.  </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>'Press Enter to send' is now part of your settings</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Previously, you could toggle between using the Enter key to send messages and using a Send button to send message directly within each chat and within the conference room area.  In order to dedicate more real estate to chatting, we've removed the per chat toggle and added it to the Settings area.  <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The default setting is to use the Enter key to send messages to the guest.</span></span></div><div><br /></div></p>

We've introduced some updates to the webclient chat workflow designed to simplify chat management, especially for operators of busy serv...

Updated widget

<p>We recently released a few noteworthy privacy and usability updates for the LibraryH3lp guest's chat widget.  Let's take a look!<br /><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqhuf9rXce5XS0EduPXKcW2qk93ldGR-9Xz8Ts753Tv2-7jK80-KgYoNbuoYhTCsOAUYXRnQ27tV3VA1fDzgoNynzne3diCWc7um9oaSBD1aPohKYtSEot5yOXArpBBkxjjdb6_Q0Bjo/s1600/widget-clear-button.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqhuf9rXce5XS0EduPXKcW2qk93ldGR-9Xz8Ts753Tv2-7jK80-KgYoNbuoYhTCsOAUYXRnQ27tV3VA1fDzgoNynzne3diCWc7um9oaSBD1aPohKYtSEot5yOXArpBBkxjjdb6_Q0Bjo/s1600/widget-clear-button.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The Clear Chat History button appears automatically after the guest sends their first message. </td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;">Obliviate!</span><br /><div>The only visible change to the guest widget is a new "clear chat history" <span class="il">button, which appears after the guest sends their first message.  </span>The text for the button is localized in languages for which we already have <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/localization" target="_blank">widget translations</a>.<br /><span class="il"><br /></span><span class="il">By clicking the button at any time, guests can</span> wipe out the widget's displayed chat history.  This is especially handy when guests use shared computers.  Clicking the button does not remove the operator's view of the chat history, but it will tell the operator that the guest has left the conversation.  </div><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;">Wait, what did you say before I clicked?</span><br /><div>We've improved embedded <span class="il">widget usability </span>by preserving the chat history when the user navigates away and then returns.  Embedded widgets are simple and highly visible, which make them a popular choice for web pages.  But sometimes guests accidentally navigate away from embedded widgets when clicking links on the containing web page.  Previously, the guest would lose their prior chat history even if they navigated back immediately.  Now, that chat history is preserved, and of course the guest can always clear it with the Clear Chat History button.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Elvis has left the building</span><br /><div>Finally, we've included a few extra tricks within the updated widget to better detect when a guest leaves the chat.  If the guest navigates away, closes the page containing the widget, closes a pop-up widget, or uses the "clear chat history" button, the operator is notified consistently.  </div><div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></p>

We recently released a few noteworthy privacy and usability updates for the LibraryH3lp guest's chat widget.  Let's take a look! The...