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Status

Instant Messaging is all about presences information which, in turn, comes down to your status message.  Without presence info and status messages, Jabber would just be a slightly faster version of email.  Icons on the contact list enable your user to tell at a glance if someone is available to read any messages you may send.

In order for status to actually mean anything, it must be as accurate as possible.  There are two parts to persons status.  The first is the status type that is broadcast to everyone that has you on their contact list.  In Jabber, these are:

• Available (Default)
• Chat
• Away
• XA (Extended Away)
• DND (Do Not Disturb)

It should also be possible to do an "Invisible" mode with the newer versions of the Jabber server.  Invisible mode can be very useful for people wanting to protect their privacy, or not wanting to start chat sessions with friends if they are short of time.  As soon as the user elects to send a message to someone, they should show up on their contact list, but as "Invisible".  There should be some way (ie a "visible list") for users to permanently set certain users to always see their presence when they are online as invisible.

The user should be able to change his or her status at will, using an easy to access menu.

The second part of a users status is their status message.  This allows the user to optionally leave a short note, saying where they have gone and/or when they might be back.

There are a few things you can do to help out your user with his or her status message.  First you can include a range of default ones ("Out to lunch", "Away", "Asleep" etc) so they don't have to edit them straight away.  You can let them customize them, and sort the ones they choose most often near the top of the list, to make them easier to pick.  You should include an auto-away option where the users status changes to "Away" after a period of mouse and keyboard inactivity.  If the users screensaver is running, you can be pretty sure that they are not at their computer, and their status should be set to reflect that.  Obviously if they screensaver goes off due to the mouse or keyboard being used the status should revert back to what it was previously.

A nice idea is to write a custom windows screensaver so that the user can choose to have his or her away message displayed on the screen when they are way from their desk.  This serves to inform anyone who physically comes looking for the person as to their whereabouts and gives some idea when they may be back.  It also serves to remind the user what they have their status message set to in case it is no longer appropriate.