Chat coming, and we want your feedback

[Evan]

Update: Please provide feedback on how popping out chat should work, asked here.

If you've looked at the Ning product roadmap recently, you've noticed that some Chat improvements are on the way. We've started to work on Chat, and wanted to share what we have in mind and get Network Creators an early chance to share their feedback.

The biggest changes we have planned are:

• Redesigning Chat in HTML and Javascript, instead of today's Flash-based chat. It will work on iPad, can be customized via CSS and will be translated in the language editor.
• Redesigning Chat into separate "panes," whereas today's chat a single "pane". New private conversations appear as tabs within the Chat pane, instead of appearing as new panes.

Here is today's Flash-based chat:

And here's what Chat might look like (click on the image to see it bigger):

So, unlike today's chat, this new Chat format would mean that:

• When someone starts a 1:1 conversation, the chat would instantly pop up (and pop open), so it would be very hard to miss.
• You can talk in 1:1 conversations and in the main chat room at the same time (not possible without changing tabs today)

There's a lot to process in looking at this new design, and there have been a ton of discussions on Creators about Chat. We want your feedback, though, about the overall design and functionality.

A few of big questions have come up that we want to pose to you:

• Do you think this new overall design works better than today's tabbed chat?
• Would you be disappointed if this redesigned chat just existed in your network's footer, not in a module or full page as it does today?
• Are you satisfied with the general size of the main chat window? Do you think you'd still need to pop it out in case the discussion becomes so active you need more screen real estate?
• How important is being able to pop out the main chat room, or 1:1 conversations?
• How do you feel about the sounds in chat? So long as users can turn sounds off, should a sound be played every time a new message is posted? Even when chat is minimized?

We'd love your feedback on these issues, as we start to develop chat. Down the road, we'll get into more specific feature additions, but for now, I'd like to keep this discussion focused on the big design/behavior issues I've raised above.

Thanks!

[Peter Churchill]

Good to hear of the plans thanks. My main current issue is the lack of prompt to say you have a message, or that something is going on in the main chat room. Also, will this be the same in PC and Mac?

Final thought: I understand Skype has been integrated into a site called Thelma and Louise - is there a way to do that here?

[sak]

As one of the so-called 'whiners" in the past concerning chat,I must admit I am happy to see these improvements moving forward,I like the overall design as its presented here,but would definitely like to have the ability /option of full page pop out,footer PM alerts and the option to turn off alert sounds individually..overall...from what Ive seen so far,it all looks good.Looking forward to the changes.Thanks Ning.

[Traddie]

Hi Evan

Any chance of 2-3 chat rooms where multiple members can go. At present on my site 4-5 people are always in there and others don't join in. If there were three chat rooms you could see who was in each and join in, or if there was one free you could start a chat.

 

This would be the most important change. Everything else is just tinkering at the margins and dosent add real changes

[Peter Churchill]

That reminds me I once told Ning about an idea I had based on some work IBM and MIT had done, to make the chat experience more vivid. 

[Chief Executive]

I want it to stay on its own page!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vladimir Sebastian Bach™]

Might there be a way to invite friends to a private group chat? 

[RF]

Yes! private group chat! I like that idea a lot

[Rose]

Thanks mate

[AshaLatha R K Prasad]

Yuppie!!! That's the coolest ONE!!! Thank u so much for throwing some light in this direction.... :D

[Rose]

I havn't read the entire link but we have a really busy chat on our site and have a couple or three requests. The chat is the bane of our lives to be honest.  The links posted in chat disappear - they fall off the top of the chat as it scrolls up and text is lost - so this is a biggie for us.

The bell is an issue to - the people that are reading on the site are driven out by a bell they don't know how to turn off. I know the bell and chat is easily turned off but I think it should automatically be turned off - not on and then the participant has the choice to turn it on - not the other way around. The chat bell isn't pleasant when your having your brains HAARPed out.

Most people can't spell these days - requests are for a spell check.

Interactive icons would be fun but that's pie in the sky.  The two issues we really have are loosing links due to them scrolling off the page and the bell. 

Also The gift thing being forced on the chat ~ we don't like the gift option on Ning at all and have worked to remove it where we can.   I don't really want to see it in chat either as is displayed above.

 

Appreciate you taking time to consider our needs.

Arohanui

Rose

 

[Evan]

Thanks Rose. Our hope is that the "bell" would now be matched with some kind of small — but slightly noticeable — visual cue that a new message has been posted. That way, members would understand the noise is being generated by chat posts, and could hit the "Options" button to turn that off.

/Evan
Ning Product Manager

[Rose]

Thanks Evan - any plans of the saving the links from falling off?  The links we post get scrolled off the page - and the links are the most important part of our chat share.  It is frustrating. We set up an area to save links into - but this becomes a headache for people - to have to do things twice. Most people in this virtual world have the concentration span of a gold fish. Why post something twice?

Appreciate your smiling face and patience.

Arohanui