The last big news item for this weekend's release is the new "Web 2.0"-style popups. These aren't real popups that live in new browser windows, but are instead fake popups that are integrated into the host web page (but can still be moved and resized, and otherwise treated by the user like real windows). Why? They're there for continuity, because these new popups can follow the patron throughout a chat session, even off of your site.
See the movie.
To get these new popups, you only have to make one small change to your existing setup. If you're displaying presence and invoking popups using the "Easy Way" (documented here), you just change the javascript include line that ends with:
libraryh3lp.com?presence
to read:
libraryh3lp.com?presence,popup
That's it. Really.
There are still some rough edges that we'll be ironing out over the next few weeks, but I think it's a really cool feature so I wanted to get it out there for you to start playing with.
For the code-mongers among you, I'll be putting together a new source download in the next week or so. I'm on the road this week visiting my telescope, but I'll try to take care of things as soon as I get back. I'll post when the download is available, so you don't have to keep checking the wiki.
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3 comments:
would it be possible to have the pop-up 'float' on the 'host' page as the patron scrolls? (i.e. as it floats once the user clicks on an IM'd hyperlink?)
i'd also like the option of positioning the pop-up in the upper right corner (rather than the bottom right) of the screen. the particular page (blog) on which i'm using libraryh3lp has free screen real estate in the upper right corner.
i love the URL-following effect, to the point where i would opt for the pop-up approach over the embed approach. however, for some sites i would sometimes prefer to have the chatbox appear open by default, as soon as the patron arrives on the page (i.e. no click required).
so i'm wondering if it would be possible to have the pop-up do its pop-up thing as soon as the user arrives on the page. i love the mac-esque looking pop-up btw, very sleek :)
re: floating - good idea, I hadn't thought of that.
re: positioning - that's one of those "rough edges" I need to polish. There's already most of an API for positioning (as well as more extensive customization); I'm just not quite finished with it.
re: opening by default - you can already do that. After the javascript include line, include a new script tag containing:
$(function() { libraryh3lp.openChat(); });
Or otherwise just call that function on page load. It's also possible to make the auto-open behavior presence-aware, but that's more than fits into a comment. I'll have to document that elsewhere.
I put together a snippet that conditionally pre-opens a follow-me widget only if a librarian is available. It's on the PresenceExamples page of the wiki.
http://code.google.com/p/libraryh3lp/wiki/PresenceExamples
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