Two new flags

Sorry for the lack of client-side updates this week. We've been busy at work on the server (and on other non-yaplet stuff). Some of the work there was just much-needed code-design overhauls to make it easier to add more features in the future, and some of the work there is on some neat new features I hope we can roll out relatively soon.

But, two flag requests from our friends at NuklearPower.com made it in.

1. yapletlogo=[url-to-image]& to change the image behind the yaplet link in the upper left.
   
2. title=[title-text]& to change the "Welcome to [title-text]" message that shows up in the start.
   

-Matt

Bug fixes and updates

A quick patch for the bug that was causing embedded yaplet to crash on IE7 has been sent out.

A few updates made their way out with the patch:

1. horizontal=1& lets you put display the chat horizontally instead of vertically.
2. /u - toggles the user list. (Great for use in combination with /r.)
3. /a - toggles experimental support for returned/left notification.

06 CD-TP4's embedded yaplet

Here is a seemlessly integrated embedded yaplet on a forum called 06 CD-TP4.

Chaplan's sofotec skin

It looks like Chaplan is the first user to create a css theme for yaplet at sofotec!

Client overhaul

The guts of the client just got a major overhaul. We tried as hard as possible to assign the right id and class names to all of the elements on the page so that you can change pretty much everything (images included) by modifying the CSS file.

If you'd like to see an example, try this example theme. The source code for this .css is here. And, the master .css file is here. There's a lot left to do on the CSS, but it's a start.

Other updates:

1. Another attempted fix for the echo bug.
2. New icon-based user list.
3. Start of smiley support for IE6.
4. Added bg=[color]& parameter.
   
5. Added width=[pixels|percentage]& parameter.
6. Added greet=[url-encoded-default-greeting]& parameter.
7. Masquerade support for swearing. (antiswear=[0|1|2]& now available.)
   
8. Added /npc [npc-name] [message] command. ([message] can be a /me, too)
9. Added /dice [sides] command.
10. Added /r command. (Opens userlist with last person to private you selected.)
11. Added /r [message] command. (Reply directly to last person to private you.)
12. Changed admin marker from † to `A'.
13. Added a forum to the main page. (Thanks Adam.)
14. Bottom bar auto-resizes to fit width.
    

There were a bunch of bug fixes too.

The sticky board with feature requests is still full. Stay tuned.

The world headquarters are complete!

Today we received the item most important / necessary for world domination.

Yes, you guessed it: the StarTrek table.
(Try not to be too jealous.)

Pictured with the StarTrek table in front of one of the yaplet sticky-note walls, is Matt.

Client and server updates

New goodies:

1. /me now works. (So you can talk about yourself in the 3rd person.)
   
2. Title bar flashes with new messages.
3. Echo bug should be fixed. (Let us know if you still get an echo of your own messages.)
4. Opera is now a supported browser. (The window should resize properly.)
   
5. You can use smilies as avatars in your name.
6. Moderators are super-scripted with a dagger: †
7. Moderators can log out of moderator mode now.
8. go.yaplet.com accepts display=[url]& and channel=[url]& so you can manually set what gets the left frame, and which page is being talked about in the right frame.
   

There were lots of server-side updates too, but those are less interesting. ;)

Inspiration 300

Late last night, Matt and I went to see the movie "300". It was an excellent movie and a stirring motivator. The take-away: While we are by no means Spartans, it is still necessary for us to live by our values -- even if we will get obliterated in the end.

At yaplet, our values start with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Applied, for our users, this translates into ease-of-use, privacy/security and flexibility. We feel that as long as we continue to work toward this end, yaplet will have been a success -- regardless of the outcome.

In less mushy news...
I hope to be pushing out the new website and customization support by Monday!

Hi mom, we're on TV

Due to interest from media organizations that wanted to use yaplet during a live airing, I slapped a moderated-chat system into yaplet yesterday. Now moderators have the ability to put the channel into comment-review mode. In this mode, new comments are shown only to moderators with a red background. Each comment has two options: APPROVE or VOICE. Clicking APPROVE lets the comment become publicly displayed. Clicking VOICE allows that user to speak freely from that point forward (without moderator review).

The trial run of this on WUSA9's site during their nightly newscast went incredibly well, and it gave us a good stress test of the new httpd's load-handling capacity. The new httpd handled beautifully, never using more than 1% of a single CPU even at the peak usage of 100 simultaneous chatters on the same channel. (The previous apache+php+mysql combo exploded in flames at 150 simultaneous users in one channel.) The max-per-channel capacity is important, because each channel is assigned to a single server.

Several new link options have been added, with more on the way:

antiflood=0& turns off flood protection for your channel.

userlist=1& pops up the user list when the chat opens.

sound=[url-to-mp3]& changes the notification sound.

Also, moderators can now clear the bans on a channel to let people back in.

Yaplet's fan mail!

Yesterday, I got back from LA. I was tired and cranky. Checking my backlog of emails, it seemed like Matt and I couldn't do anything right with yaplet. I was getting pretty depressed.

That all changed when I went to pick up the snail mail. We received a yaplet care package! Complete with doggie treats for Mr. Wang!

(I still tear-up when I think about it.) Davoo and GHoosdum, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You will never know how much this meant to all three of us!

New httpd deployed and other updates

After a week of trying to get it out, the new httpd is live. The next few days are going to be a shakedown cruise for this httpd. Already, a few small bugs popped up.

The new httpd was written from scratch in Java. It's no longer database-backed, and it's safely multi-threaded, giving it a significant increase in scalability. (Many thanks to TIGGR and MASA for helping to test it out.)

Hot sites is back, but already broken. It mistakenly flags every page as private. A fix for that is ready to deploy. But, another high-priority fix is more important: auto-refresh server update.

Because the new server isn't MySQL-backed, restarting the httpd flushes all of the messages. This causes clients and servers to be out-of-sync on the sequence numberings used to ensure message delivery. Long story short: after a server update, clients stop getting messages.

The biggest change in this release is the foundation for moderator support, plus a host of options for customizing your chat. When creating your link to Yaplet, you can add css=[url-to-css-file]&, nick=[nick]&, nicklock=1&, swear=0& and private=1& to before the url=[url].

nick=[nick]& and nicklock=1& are useful if you are generating the chat link dynamically, and you want to fill it in with a username from your site.

private=1& keeps your off hot sites.

swear=0& turns off auto-ignore on swear for everyone. IGNORE now acts as a toggle, too, so you can unignore someone without refreshing.

css is deliberately undocumented, but it's the foundation for allowing themability. Brave souls may experiment with it.

Log-wiping has finally been added. Moderators wipe the log instantly. Non-moderators wipe everything but the last 5 minutes.

Lots of other small fixes found their way in. You'll notice that the frames version now says
[domain] :: yaplet instead of Yaplet Beta! in the title.

Thanks for your understanding as we try to improve yaplet and make it a better place!