We have two new features that are really for patrons.
The first is a control to play a sound when the librarian sends a new message. We're hoping this will help usability and accessibility. If you and the patron are off working in separate windows while researching a question, the patron can be alerted when you send a new message. The sound alert is currently off by default, but you, as the creator of your widget, can use The Configurator to turn it on by default if you wish. The sound alert requires the patron's browser to have a Flash plugin; we tried using a wav file instead, but it was not as portable. The chat itself still only requires Javascript and will work just fine without Flash. In web browsers without a Flash player, a message that sound requires Flash displays instead of the "turn sound on" control.
The second new feature is a "pop out" option intended for users of embedded widgets. This turns an embedded widget into a standard little pop-up window. This should help patrons who are trying to have detailed reference interactions in small embedded widgets. The pop up window can then be resized as needed, and the chat history can conveniently stay open in its own window if the patron wants to refer to it later.
Have fun and let us know of any bugs!
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