Text Chat
Jin Jianxiang and Konrad Olszewski
TANGO Interactive text chat is a no-frill, down-to-business chat tool for
professional use.
It supports a number of productivity features, rarely seen in recreational
chats.
The messages you type in the input line are normally distributed to
all mebers of the session. The person joining the existing session will
automatically receive full chat history up to this
point. So, the chat supports latecomers.
All messages are time stamped. Time stamps are displayed if you put
mouse cursor over the message.
The entire chat session can be saved to
a local file by each session participant, or it can be mailed to an e-mail
address (TBD). This is important for professional or business sessions,
as it provides support for self-documenting process. Use File menu to save
or e-mail chat contents.
The chat supports system clipboard, The
messages can be copied from the chat window to any application. Clipboard
contents from other applications can be pasted into the chat and sent to
all session participants. Use Edit menu to Copy and Paste.
In addition, Edit menu support "Clear" operation and "TimaMark"
operation. "Clear" operation only affects the display, not chat history.
"TimeMark" option inserts a time mark into the stream of messages
Font menu allows to modify chat window appearance.
The Options menu supports follwing operations:
- "Bell" option togles the bell signaling an incoming message
- "Audio messages" option toggles playback of the canned audio messages
- "Censor filter" option toggles message preprocessor filtering profane language.
This option may be permanently set to "on" by system administrator.
- "Personality" option allows the user to select timbre of audio messages the user sends.
All audio messages are fully customizable by system administrator.
Right-clicking a user name in the right-hand panel brings up a pop-up menu with
the following options:
-
"Whisper" option, as long as this option is selectd, messages are
sent only to the selected user. This way a private conversation can be set up
-
"Mute" option allows to ignore a possibly disruptive user by instructing chat
to discard his/her messages
-
The "Reply to:" option preceeds the message with identification of the
user the message responds to. Useful in crowded rooms. Provides public
but directed message.
-
"Ring" option sends a phone ring audio signal to selected user. Attention catcher.
Type-in line options:
-
if you preceed the message by # (the hash sign), the chat will display
the message without colon (example: userX smiles
instead of UserX: smiles)
- If you start the message from double hash (##) and add a sound label
message, the audio message will be send to other users. Example:
##question
-
if you type a valid URL, it will be displayed as a link in the chat window.
clicking the link will automatically start shared browser session
-
the type-in line has a "store" feature.Suppose that you type a lengthy
answer to a question. Suddenly, an urgent message arrives that requires
immediate reply. You can push current message into the buffer, type and
send the new, urgent message, and then retrieve the older message from
the buffer, edit it if necessary, and send as intended. Controlled by the
"Switch" button.
Administrative options:
-
It is possible to define a sequence of messages shown in a random
order in the chat banner. Can be used to customize the chat or to insert
commercials.
-
It is possible to create or customized a list of "canned" audio messages
and associated text messages. The purpose of this is either entertainment
or domain-specific customization allowing for fast communication in typical
situations (example: a student sending a message::
Could you please return to the last foil?)
- It is possible to create a list of "secret" audio messages, available
only to system gurus.;
- It is possible to customize the profanity filter.
TANGO Interactive support group
Copyright: Syracuse University and WebWisdom.com, 1999. All rights reserved.
Last modified: Wed May 5 15:46:31 EDT 1999