Upgrade: ShoutOut’s Welcome Pane

Dear Shouters,

ShoutOut’s latest upgrade called the Welcome Pane has arrived. It was launched on 5th January 09 afternoon.

As the name implies, the Welcome Pane will only be displayed when you first load up ShoutOut. It’s duty is to welcome you and provide you with information that will make your Shouting more enjoyable.

Right now, Welcome Pane contains the following information:

• Number of Shouters that are currently shouting at ShoutOut. All Shouters who are Shouting for the last 5 minutes will appear here.
• Number of people that are in the same blog you are currently in. Notice we used ‘people’. That means this includes any visitors regardless they are Shouters or not. Hence, if you see 5 people here with you, it could mean 3 Shouters and 2 non-Shouters (or who we fondly call friendly visitors)
• ShoutOut Tips will display all sorts of ShoutOut features that you may or may not know. This section is more catered towards new Shouters for them to learn that ShoutOut is actually more than just a chatbox. Of course, it’ll also remind the regular Shouters who are more towards the ‘forgetful’ side.

 

Finally, with all new panes or windows, we must always remember to make it non-intrusive and non-annoying. Hence, you have got 2 ways to close it, automated or manual, your choice.

• Automatic : Just Shout your first Shout and it will go away, replaced by your Shout.
• Manual : Clicking on the top right X. This will close it instantly.

 

But that’s not all. Welcome Pane offers a lot of room for important information. Here are a few on our enhancement list :

• How many times your name is mentioned while you are away
• How many whispers you received while you are away
• How many new picture posted while you are away
• Feature blogs and their latest updated post
• Welcoming message (low priority) where blog owners can put their own welcoming message (not very useful, in our humble opinion. What do you think?)

 

Hey! As always, all comments and feedbacks are most welcome. Just SOMail to us and we’ll listen, closely.