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Babble Version 3 Update


Michael

I know it might seem like version 3 is a pipe dream, but after a lot of debate, thinking and trying to figure out what i was going to do with it, i've began work on version 3.

Its gonna be different than what i've previously shown for babble version 3, it will have some elements lifted from it.  but here is a list of some features removed and added into version 3:

Removed:

  • Guest Messaging: this was removed cause the code was a bit buggy and was standing in the way of some features i wanted to add in. guest will be able to view the room, but there wont be any settings to allow them to chat.
  • Rooms: well they're not really gone perse, but they act differently. in 2, they were treated as different entities than each other, in 3, they are treated as "channels'.
  • persistent online list: as some of you know the online list has been a bane to my existence for awhile, i had thoughts of removing it completely cause of the issues, but i did a lot of work on it for 2, and have taken what i've learned to 3. in 3, the user list is pulled directly from who is connected at the time when it was connected, in 2 it was a list i tried to maintain and i think that was the problem, trying to keep the list synced. 
  • entry/exit notifications: this wasn't really popular with folks, got a lot of complaints about them, so i've decided to just remove them.

New:

  • front interface: i really like how the new interface for babble is turning out, it reminds me a lot of chats like slack/discord in the way it functions.
  • new sounds: there will be new sound files, less annoying and softer than the old sounds.
  • whisper history: will show you a list of everyone you have had a conversation with in the past, with showing you their status.
  • Statuses: change your status, if you go idle, automatically sets to away.
  • new bots: there will be several new bots and the way they are configured.
  • Group Chats

 

there will be more news as i finalize the alpha of 3, here is a short video of some of the new features and what version 3 looks like:

*note: there isn't the final look, as i have minimal styling atm, as i get all the elements built and changes in the codebase.

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Looks great.

I would like to see a invite command that could send an invitation via IPS notifications to users not in Babble but on the board. Is that possible?

Another thing. The users inside each room need to be displayed ... or at least we need the option to display it on the sidebar as today?

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2 hours ago, Kjell Iver Johansen said:

Another thing. The users inside each room need to be displayed ... or at least we need the option to display it on the sidebar as today?

the "always" visible online list isn't gonna be an option in 3, there will be an icon in the "channel" sidebar there, that you can click to see who's "online", it will list which rooms the people are currently "in" (if you have the ability to see the room that is, so if they are also a member of a room you can't see, you wont see it there). the list that comes up in the video, the one where i started the "whisper" from, is the new online list in a basic form.

2 hours ago, Kjell Iver Johansen said:

I would like to see a invite command that could send an invitation via IPS notifications to users not in Babble but on the board. Is that possible?

can you elaborate a bit more? as i will be adding in the ability to create "group chats" that you need to invite people too, that will send them a notification if they aren't online, providing an "acceptance" link (for people online in the chat, it will notify them there).

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On 5/31/2018 at 12:49 AM, Michael said:

can you elaborate a bit more? as i will be adding in the ability to create "group chats" that you need to invite people too, that will send them a notification if they aren't online, providing an "acceptance" link (for people online in the chat, it will notify them there).

OK - yeah - it seems to do the job. Good idea.

People would miss the ability to see who's inside the rooms as they tend to drop in and out all the time.

In the native IPS app (old one), I think it was possible to have a block that showed who was inside the room. Could you add this information

image.png.661feb7b01b83ea21e82f150719ec49f.png

In a block we could have at the bottom? Or in the sidebar?

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I would agree that an online list in the sidebar is going to be missed. If you have to click that icon to see an online list, I would incorporate a bubble of a count floating above it of how many people are currently in the room.

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On 6/1/2018 at 3:41 AM, Kjell Iver Johansen said:

In a block we could have at the bottom? Or in the sidebar?

 

19 hours ago, alexwebsites said:

I would agree that an online list in the sidebar is going to be missed. If you have to click that icon to see an online list, I would incorporate a bubble of a count floating above it of how many people are currently in the room.

I'm not completely closed to having an online list. slack and rocket chat are two chats i'm drawing inspiration from for babble v3,  i'm also aiming to make v3 as "compact" as possible (as one of the complaints for v2 there is too much "white space" and/or its layout is ineffective or outdated). 

the online list i'm envisioning for v3 (the popup) wont be separated by room, it will show which rooms the members are currently connected too (well the ones you have access too, other wise if they are connected to a different set of rooms that you don't have access to, it will just show them being online). 

the other problem, where to put it. the channel block can be place on the left or the right side (default is the right side), what i'll prolly end up doing, is putting it on the side of the channel block that touches the message window and give people the option to collapse it. 

my other huge concern is the aforementioned sync problem.  in v2 i tried to maintain a list on the node side of things and then updated as people logged in/off from it. this proved far more difficult than originally thought, as there were various issues with ghosting (people appearing there, but not actually there) and creepers (people who didn't appear there, but were able to chat, but they weren't logged in as anon). in v3, i'm adding their user data to their socket connection and then crawling the connected sockets when a request is made (it is how the new whisper history list works, it makes a request, just like the online list when a button is pushed) and then when they disconnect or log in, it emits a notification about that. so all the elements are already there for a always on online list, so i don't think the problems that use to exist in v2, will exist in v3. i don't want to promise that it wont have issues, as those sort of promises seem to have a tendency of biting me.

I'll add in a option to enable the online list, but i will mark it as "experimental". i will support it within reason, but if it causes me grief like v2's online list has, i will remove it. 

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11 hours ago, Michael said:

the other problem, where to put it. the channel block can be place on the left or the right side (default is the right side), what i'll prolly end up doing, is putting it on the side of the channel block that touches the message window and give people the option to collapse it. 

I do not know how other admins use Babble, but I use only one chatroom. Maybe you could have a check around to see how many admins using more than one chatroom?

Anyway - I would like to see "Users" instead of "Rooms". Maybe have a selector of any kind there.

image.png.b3ed8875a6470dd0f8d3443e25fbf1b4.png

I understand the technical part of the online list. I have one user stuck inside a chatroom on the USA server right now. Maybe have a restart of the service once a day? 

 

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14 hours ago, Kjell Iver Johansen said:

I understand the technical part of the online list. I have one user stuck inside a chatroom on the USA server right now. Maybe have a restart of the service once a day? 

it was restarted last night, are they still "stuck" in it? out of curiosity, is this stuck user a random user always or is it the same one?

14 hours ago, Kjell Iver Johansen said:

Anyway - I would like to see "Users" instead of "Rooms". Maybe have a selector of any kind there.

I'll look into options, but right now i'm gonna say this probably wont happen, as the "rooms" and "pm" list code is already been done and they are pretty integral already. I might consider replacing the PM list and replacing it with an online list, make it a setting in the ACP and then having the user icon bring up the PM list instead of a online list, would that be better?

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On 6/6/2018 at 10:24 PM, Michael said:
On 6/6/2018 at 8:11 AM, Kjell Iver Johansen said:

 

it was restarted last night, are they still "stuck" in it? out of curiosity, is this stuck user a random user always or is it the same one?

Yes - still stuck so I use the EU server. It varies who get stuck..

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One thing that is very missed is the main menu chat count. It used to show to all whether in chat or not (guests also) and draw people into chat. Now people think nobody is chatting so they don't go in there.

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4 hours ago, alexwebsites said:

One thing that is very missed is the main menu chat count. It used to show to all whether in chat or not (guests also) and draw people into chat. Now people think nobody is chatting so they don't go in there.

It will return in version 3. there were a few sites that were having connections ranging up into the several thousands due the  counts (multiple tabs, large influx of guest activity). Had to completely rethink it for v3 to avoid that issue with the chat service, as one site having that many connections, degraded the service for everyone else. 

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On 6/8/2018 at 3:10 AM, Kjell Iver Johansen said:

Yes - still stuck so I use the EU server. It varies who get stuck..

i've restarted both servers over the weekend, let me know if they are still stuck.

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Online list is a must for most people? Why because if you want to know who comes and goes. Some people like to look at others profiles. Coming in to a room which you don’t know if someone is their is really bad barrier for users to see. Other wise the product you offer us have here would not be much different from php scoutbox. 

Edited by peopleandchat
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1 hour ago, peopleandchat said:

Online list is a must for most people? Why because if you want to know who comes and goes. Some people like to look at others profiles. Coming in to a room which you don’t know if someone is their is really bad barrier for users to see. Other wise the product you offer us have here would not be much different from php scoutbox. 

there was still a online list, the only difference was it wasn't always shown, how it is in like slack/rocket chat. a PM history list showed the status of the people you had sent PM's too, to me those would be most likely the people i was interested in chatting with and seeing if they were online or not. 

however instead of plowing forward and making only my vision, i've decided to compromise. there is still a pm history list, but its been merged with the online list. people you have whispered too will be perpetually apart of the list (you will have the option to remove them, but they will automatically clear out after 2 weeks of no activity with them). if they are online, they will show at the top of the list with the rest of the users, if they are offline or go invisible, they will be moved to the bottom of the list (until they come online or you initiate a chat with them).  if you receive a PM that PM will move to the top of the list. 

Note: keep in mind this is still an alpha, and not the finalized version, as you can see there are bugs that creep up in the video. 

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Just curious, when is version 3 coming out? My chat is dying off without the chat tab count or some kind of notification of who is in the chat room to those not in it. It was a big draw to go into chat when they see it in the menu.

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don't have a firm date yet, finishing up the new features and interface, and about to enter a beta period for it before releasing.

in the meantime, i've released a new version 2.7.4 for chat service, that uses a site cache for online counts (it updates every 15 minutes) it wont give a real time count, but it will show at least that some one has visited in the last 15 minutes. users who are in babble, will still get real time counts. hope this helps with the activity issue. 

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I know this thread is aging, but out of curiosity...  Why not use IPS to add the chat count on the Board menu and to create a "Who's in Chat" widget similar to "Who is Online"?  I keep hearing that the primary issue is with the chat server, but IPS will tell you 1) is the user online and 2) is the user running the chat application.  Wouldn't that take the burden off the babble app and give info outside of being inside of chat?

As far as a "who is online or in the Room/Channel" within chat....  I agree with the others, it's a must.  Clicking for the pop-up is acceptable, I suppose.... but it takes away from the stream-lined effect/comfort/ease of the application. 

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