ContactsLaw includes a basic instant messaging (or
chat) client, which utilises the peer communication features of the
DDM. It allows
members to communicate internally, without the need to use phone or e-mail.
The chat client features:
- Simple, unformatted text conversations.
- Time-stamps to identify when messages were sent/received.
- The ability to share URLs to resources within ContactsLaw (via copy+paste or drag-and-drop).
- Online/offline detection; messages cannot be sent to a user who is not currently logged in to ContactsLaw.
- Status indicator; members can set themselves to 'busy' or 'out of office' to avoid being interrupted when new messages arrive.
- Contact list; members can be listed alphabetically or grouped according to category/relationship, and can be configured to filter out offline users.
- Multi-user chat sessions (via the 'invite members' button).
Chat status
The status indicator for a member may be one of the following:
- Online
- Idle - Set automatically after 15 minutes of inactivity while the member is "online".
- Busy - Indicates to other members that the member does not wish to be disturbed.
- Out of office - Indicates to other members that the member is not in front of their computer.
- Offline
ContactsLaw will remember your last-used chat status when starting up; if you wish to opt-out of the chat feature, you need only set your status to 'offline'.