We’re excited to release a feature we’ve heard many requests for (and have wanted ourselves for a while): status messages. If you use the web version or update to the latest client, you’ll see a small UI addition in your Lobby. Now, you can let everyone know whether you’re available, away, or don’t want to be disturbed. Just click the dropdown below your name in the Lobby to set your status:
Set status UI
Once you’ve chosen a status, you can also add a short message to go with it:
Status messages
For our advanced users (or anyone who just prefers the keyboard), you can also use slash commands to set your status, just type /away and then your message (we support /available, /back, /here, /away, and /dnd):
We’ve had a lot of feedback here at HipChat and it’s a constant challenge to figure out what things we should do first. We always try to fit in user requests among the long list of tasks we have. Here are two of the latest updates:
Paste images directly into HipChat
Now you no longer have to save images to a file in order to upload them to HipChat. Just copy directly from your web browser or image editing program and paste into the message area in the desktop client (sorry, web users, this is a benefit only available to the desktop client right now).
We’re also letting you change the name of uploaded files, so you don’t fill your sidebar with things like “Picture 1″ or “upload.png”:
Paste an image from the clipboard
Change room privacy settings
Several people have contacted us wondering how they can change a room from public to private (or vise versa). Sadly, we’ve always had to tell them the feature wasn’t availble…until now. In both the desktop client and the web, when you choose “Manage permissions” for a room (you have to be a group admin or owner of the room), it will present you with a dialog to control whether the room is public or private. Now you don’t need to send an email and wait for us to change it manually.
Change room privacy settings
Getting the update
Many of our updates lately have been ‘minor’ – that means you won’t be bothered by a popup window telling you it’s available. To check if there’s an update for your client you can hit ctrl/cmd-u while running HipChat. If you’re using a recent version of the client, you can also check for updates by using the top level menu on Mac (under HipChat -> Check For Updates…), or the system tray icon on Windows (right-click and choose Check For Updates).
Many of our tech-savvy users have been asking us for an API for quite a while, and we’re happy to announce that it’s now available! This first release will let you browse users and rooms as well as send messages to rooms (the most requested feature). Here are some of the useful notifications our API testers have been sending to their rooms:
We’d love to hear what you think about the current API and what you’d like to see in the future. We’re also looking for people to help write client libraries in Perl, Python, Ruby, or any other language.
Use GitHub? We’re trying to get HipChat added as a GitHub service hook so you can get push notifications like in the screenshot above. Please show your support by commenting on this issue.
When we launched 3 months ago it became clear what people wanted: more ways to access HipChat! Getting your software to run an increasingly long list of platforms (we’re looking at you, iPad) is both exciting and frustrating. We take user experience very seriously and want you to enjoy using HipChat no matter where you are or what device you’re using.
Applying those standards, we’re excited to give you these new ways to use HipChat.
Web version of HipChat
Web chat runs on Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer 7+.
It has been optimized for iPhone and Android phones (we know native apps are a must-have, but hopefully this can tide you over until those are released).
There are a few admin features missing that will be added in coming weeks.
You can send and receive one-on-one chat messages on any phone when you’re not signed into the desktop app or web chat.
The number of SMSs you have is determined by the plan you’re on. Per month you’ll get 75 SMS on the Plus plan, 150 on Premium, and 300 on Ultimate. We’re still working on the pricing and plans of SMS so please give us your feedback.
If you talked with us at SXSW you might have heard some promises of a web version of HipChat being ‘in the works’. Well, after a week of recovery, we’re eager to let our users try it out and give some feedback. Starting today, anyone can access HipChat web chat beta from their browser by going to http://www.hipchat.com/chat (you just need to log in first). We’ve tried to keep the UI pretty familiar for those of you that run the client. Also, as much as we wish we could conjure feature parity out of thin air, the web version is still a work-in-progress. You won’t have access to all the features you find in the client, but we’ve tried to include the most important ones:
Web version
So, if you find yourself without your trusty HipChat client or you just want to check out a browser-based version, we encourage you try give it a spin and send us some feedback. As always, you can reach us by going to http://help.hipchat.com/ or by sending an email to support@hipchat.com
After many user requests, the latest release of HipChat adds functionality for group admins to view and edit all the rooms in the group (including private rooms). If you’re a group admin, you might notice some new icons in your lobby:
Room actions gear
These gears will also show up for any private rooms that you own. You will also notice a new UI for controlling permissions in private rooms. It should be clearer to add and remove members from the room:
Private room user permissions
We hope this update gives more teams the level of control they’ve wanted over their data. As always, please head over to http://help.hipchat.com to send us any suggestions, comments, problems or feedback.
When we started designing HipChat, we wanted to strike a balance between how much power the team admin has and the people on their teams. The service has been live for a while now and we’ve gotten some great feedback on how teams use HipChat. Based on that feedback, we’re going to be tweak a few things that will allow more teams to enjoy it.
What’s changing? We’ll be allowing team admins (usually the first person to sign up from your team) to join, delete, and view history for private rooms. Previously, only the room’s creator and the people invited by the creator had access to these rooms. Admins will also be able to choose whether or not non-admin users will be able to create private rooms. Admins will not have access to view chat history from one-on-one conversations.
When? This change will take effect in 5 days (on Monday, February 22, 2010).
What do I need to do? You only need to take action if you want to prevent your team admin from seeing the private room(s) you have created and their chat history. You can delete the room which will also delete the chat history. The admin will never know the room existed. If you don’t delete the room, your team admin will be able to see the room, the people in it, and the chat history.
Why is this happening? Many users have requested increased admin control so they may better manage their team’s activity. Some companies also need access to all chat history for legal purposes.
We apologize for changing this functionality but we feel that it will allow more teams to enjoy HipChat. If you have any feedback or questions please contact us.
The latest release of the HipChat client went out last night with several user-requested features (and a few tidbits of our own). Some of the additions:
Spell checking – We’re all guilty of the misspelled word here and there. Several of you were disappointed that HipChat didn’t have the red spell checking lines you find in modern browsers and document editing programs. Now you can feel a little more at ease that your team won’t have to call the spelling police on you (at least for our English users). For our non-english speakers, we apologize but hopefully we’ll be able to figure out a solution for you in the future.
Spell checking UI
Image links display inline – Several of you requested it – now when you paste a link to an image, we’ll grab it and display it in the chat as a medium-sized thumbnail:
Inline images
Avoid large pastes – One frustrating thing about sharing large blocks of text or code is that they tend to take up the whole chat so you have to scroll in order to tell what’s going on. Now, when you post a really long paragraph or something that runs over 7 lines of text, we’ll truncate it with a link to view the whole thing:
Truncated text
Improved disconnection interface – Losing your connection to HipChat is inevitable sometimes. We all know the feeling when the internet drops out. Now you can continue to type and view history while we try to get you connected again:
Disconnection UI
We want to thank all our users that are providing feedback about the app. If you have any comments or suggestions about what we could better, head on over to http://help.hipchat.com/ and send us a message.
This is always the most exciting day for any startup. We’ve peeled off the beta sticker and opened HipChat to the public. So sign up, invite your team members, and resolve to have fewer meetings this year.
To all our beta testers, thank you.
We know how hard it can be to get your company to try something new, nevermind an unlaunched beta product. So thank you to all of those who’ve taken the plunge, we won’t forget it. HipChat has been in private beta for just a month, but our amazing beta testers have created some equally amazing stats. Nearly 500 teams have signed up and together they’ve sent over 100,000 messages. Many of them are now paying customers and have made HipChat a part of their everyday work flow.
Learn more about HipChat.
HipChat is a private chat network for your company, team, or organization. Get more done with chat rooms, file sharing, and searchable chat history. HipChat runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux thanks to our best-of-breed (trust us) Adobe AIR application. Here’s a taste of what it can do.
Here are a few features…
Chat rooms - Use rooms for departments, teams, or projects. Make them open for anyone to join, or private for only people invited.
File sharing - Share files in seconds for instant feedback. You control who can see them. Access files any time from the HipChat client or on the web.
Searchable chat history – HipChat automatically saves your conversations and files. Never forget who said what, and when. Search and acccess history anywhere you have internet.
Notifications – You won’t miss miss a thing thanks to HipChat’s sounds and toaster pop-ups. You can even get someone’s attention by typing “@name”.
Instant image preview – Share an image file and you’ll get a live preview. Perfect for creative or design teams. Hour long design sessions are a thing of the past.
Emoticons – Express yourself in a room or a one on one chat. You should probably stay away from the kissy face if you’re at work.
About HipChat
Founded in September 2009, HipChat is self-funded by the founders: Chris Rivers, Garret Heaton, and Pete Curley. Before HipChat, we’re three of the guys who started HipCal, an online calendar service that was acquired by Plaxo in 2006. Then we created Plaxo Pulse, the first lifestream aggregator of its kind. Plaxo was acquired by Comcast in 2008. We left Comcast 6 months ago to work on HipChat full-time.
Ever started a private chat with someone in your team and noticed the silhouette that shows up? We put the silhouettes there a while ago with the intention that some day you’d be able to actually see a real photo. Today is that day.
If you head on over to http://hipchat.com/account you’ll notice some new UI that lets you choose and upload a photo:
Upload Photo UI
Once you upload a photo here, anyone who starts chatting with you in the HipChat client will get to see something a little better than that old boring silhouette. Unless that’s what your face looks like.
HipChat is a private instant messaging network for your company,
organization, or team. Get more done with chat rooms, file sharing,
and searchable chat history.
