8 January 2010
Release Notes for 10 January 2010
Contents
1. New Features
1.1 Mobile Webkit Qwidget
1.2 Qwidget for Facebook
1.3 Custom Qwidget Skins and Formatting
1.4 New Report for “Number of Chat Sessions Accepted via Qwidget”
1.5 Knowledge Bases Offered As Web Service
2. Changes and Bug Fixes
2.1 Survey link moved to prominent position
2.2 E-mail Address No Longer Required to Answer “Add Question”
2.3 Drafted Answers Are Saved
1. New Features
1.1 Mobile Webkit Qwidget
Qwidget continues to evolve! With this release, your users who navigate the web via their compatible mobile devices will have the ability to use an optimized Qwidget to connect with their librarian. In addition, iPhone users will be able to download a direct link to the Qwidget, onto their home screen, represented by an icon (similar to an “App” icon). This will allow them to begin a Qwidget session without first navigating to the library website via their mobile browser.
Although it will import all of the text and other characteristics of the Qwidget built by libraries in the QuestionPoint Administration module, this new, optimized Qwidget has a standard mobile interface, size and color.
The Mobile Qwidget will be available to the following types of device:
iPhone, Android, Palm.
Here is an example of the chronology for iPhone users:
Illustration: Library website with embedded Qwidget as seen from iPhone
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At any time during the session, an iPhone user can add a direct link to the Qwidget itself by clicking on the bookmark icon and choosing the “Add to homepage” button.
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The session continues between librarian and patron as with all other Qwidgets. URLs sent can be clicked and opened as in a normal webpage. Experienced mobile users will know how to navigate back to the chat Qwidget from the browser interface:
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1.2 Qwidget for Facebook
You can now add the Qwidget to Facebook! All you need is a Facebook account; you must also accept the Facebook application terms and conditions. A Qwidget for Facebook guide will walk you through the application creation process using Facebook Developer. Requests for the Qwidget for Facebook guide should be sent to David Leslie, at [email protected]. Please enter “Qwidget Facebook” in the subject line.
1.3 Custom Qwidget Skins and Formatting
QuestionPoint now offers your web team the ability to create a custom CSS file for the Qwidget. This will allow them to exactly match the color of the Qwidget with the rest of your website. Experience working with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and access to create and add files to a public-facing website are required. For step by step instructions on implementing this capability, please consult the link on the Qwidget creation page from within your Administrator interface. These self-created custom Qwidget “skins” will be stored and must be maintained on your own servers. The Qwidget mechanism itself will continue to be hosted on QP servers at OCLC.
1.4 Report for “Number of Chat Sessions Accepted via Qwidget”
The number of Qwidget chat sessions your group, library, or librarians accepted is now a separate line item in the Chat Service section of all activity reports.
1.5 QuestionPoint Knowledge Bases Offered as a Web Service
QuestionPoint knowledge bases can now be accessed via other interfaces through the use of the web service search query and data record link. Searches can be posted and limited by any of the parameters on the QuestionPoint Advanced Search page. Search results can be rendered in xml or html for flexible implementation by various search engines. Text and json formats are also output options.
With the addition of a few simple lines of code to your existing web-based search service, you and your patrons can search the Global Knowledge Base and/or your institution’s local QuestionPoint knowledge base using a familiar interface. Each question in the list of questions retrieved from a search is hot-linked to a specific KB record, which includes the answer and whatever additional data your library has elected to store there. Any KB full record can also be retrieved directly, which enables you to populate, for example, a FAQ page on your library’s website with answers from your local KB.
For details on how to implement this flexible new option, contact David Leslie at [email protected]. You will need to provide him with an IT contact person at your institution.
2. Changes and Bug Fixes
2.1 Survey link moved to prominent position
The survey link in answers to “email” questions has been moved to a more prominent position, immediately following the answer and before the question history. Now your users are much more likely to see and respond to your survey, allowing you to gather information on the effectiveness of your virtual reference service.
2.2 E-mail Address No Longer Required to Answer “Add Question”
“Add Question” users no longer need to enter an email address in order to enter or save an Answer. A recent enhancement to alert librarians when no e-mail address was available for answers to be sent to, inadvertently blocked librarians using the Add Question feature from entering an answer for statistical purposes and to preserve the question/answer pair.
With this release, the Answer page appears when you click on the Answer button, whether or not there is an e-mail address. However, the Send Answer button appears only if there is an e-mail address; a Save Answer button appears if there is not. The Save Answer button saves the answer in the question history and increases the statistical count of Answers Sent, in Reports, by one. A warning still appears, when you enter the Answer page, if there is no e-mail address, allowing you to cancel and add an address if you want.
2.3 Drafted answers are saved
This bug has been fixed. Drafts are once again saved in the “Answer” field. The drafted answer displays when you re-enter the Answer page; you do not need to copy and paste from the question history.
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