Below are the primary elements of Andela Chat to comfortably navigate the community site. Click on the link below for quick access to a particular element.
- User Panel
- Profile
- Preferences
- Notifications
- Sounds
- Global Settings
- Directory
- Managing the sidebar
- Display
- Create New Menu
- Channel Icons
- Channel Members
- Message Formatting
- Adding an image
User Panel
Located on the upper left side of the screen, the user panel allows you to edit your status, personal preferences, and settings. When clicking the avatar icon, a panel will be displayed as below:
The User Panel is divided into four main sections:
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- Name: Displays your first and last name as inputted into the Andela Talent Cloud
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Status: Statuses available for the user to choose: online, away, busy, or offline
- The Custom Status option allows you to customize your status with a custom message
- Account: Displays profile, preferences, accessibility and appearance options
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Logout: Location to sign out of your account
Profile
In this section, you can verify, edit, and update your profile information. To access this menu, navigate to Avatar Menu > Account >Profile.
- Profile image: You can keep the default avatar picture, upload a profile picture from your device, or use a URL for your avatar.
- Name: Your name, e.g. John Doe. This cannot be altered, as it is linked to your Andela Talent Cloud account.
- Username: Your username, e.g. john.doe. This cannot be altered, it is a required default for your profile.
- Status Message: This lets you specify a status update, along with a color.
- Nickname: This option lets you set your nickname. It is your preferred name, and other users can use it to tag you. Otherwise, your username will be your default name.
- Bio: Your bio. Let other users know who you are!
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Email: Your email address. Currently, this cannot be altered as it is linked to your Andela Talent Cloud account and profile.
- Logout from other logged in locations: For your security, you may click on this button below within the profile section to log out of other locations where your account may be active.
Preferences
In the Preferences section, you can configure and set your own preferences.
To access this menu, navigate to Avatar Menu > My Account >Preferences.
Notifications
This section allows the user to change their notification preferences.
- Require Interaction to Dismiss Desktop Notification: When enabled, notifications must be attended to before they can be dismissed, i.e. they will remain in the notification panel always.
- Show Desktop Notifications For: This lets you select the type of messages for which the notifications have to be triggered (for both browser and desktop app notifications).
- Send Push Notifications For: This option lets you select the type of messages you wish to receive push notifications for.
- Offline Email Notifications: This lets you set what type of message notifications you want to receive by email.
Sounds
Configure the sound used for notifications.
- New Room Notification: A dropdown to select the sound when added to a new room.
- New Message Notification: Sound to play for every new message.
- Mute-Focused Conversations: When enabled, rooms that are opened and active will not create notifications.
- Notifications sound volume: This lets you specify the volume of the notification sound.
Global Settings
The icons on the right-hand side of the interface are related to global settings within your Andela Chat account.
Directory
In the Directory, you can search for:
- Channels: You will see public channels, and private channels in which you are already a member
- Users: All users
- Teams: Not currently in use
Managing the sidebar
When you have joined a channel or initiated a DM, it will appear in your sidebar. You then have some options available when you hover over the channel and click on the three dots.
- Hide will remove the channel or DM from your sidebar. You can find the channel again in the channel directory, or by using the search tool. The channel will also reappear in the sidebar when new activity occurs.
- Mark read/unread allows the user to mark messages in a channel as read without accessing the channel. A channel can also be marked as unread as a reminder to return to the channel later.
- Favorite channels are added to a Favorites section in the sidebar. You can use your display settings to configure where your Favorites section sits in your sidebar.
- Leave channel removes you as a channel member. If the channel is public, you can find it in the directory and join again if you wish. If the channel is private, you will not see it in the directory and will need to be invited back into the channel by an existing member.
Display
In Display settings, you can choose how channels and messages are displayed in the side panel.
Create New Menu
Members of the community can create single and multi-user private messages but cannot create new channels. New public channels may be added sporadically by the Community team, and Andela staff have permission to open new private channels for work purposes for the Client, Match, and Delivery teams.
Channel Icons
The icons on the left-hand side of the interface are related to settings within the room (channel, private message). Explore these icons and you will find:
- Channel information
- Channel threads
- Channel members
- Search
- Attachments
- Channel notification settings - change settings for individual channels
- And more…
Channel Members
When you wish to explore the full list of channel members, click on the Members button. You can search by name and filter by online/offline. Here, you will also find two buttons; one opens an invite link that can be shared with other users. The other allows you to add users directly without inviting them. It is also possible to invite individual users to a channel by typing the command /invite in the chatbox.
Message Formatting
You will find some messaging options depending on whether you are in a Direct Message or a Channel.
- Channels: Emojis, text with some basic formatting options (Markdown can be used for additional formatting), and uploading a file from your computer.
- Direct messages: Same as above, and will also include the option to leave a voice note.
These options will evolve over time to include other inputs and sources.
Adding an image
If you wish to include text when you upload an image, you can include it in the File description textbox. It will appear as normal-sized text above the image in the chat.