I got a rudimentary embedded chat widget for our new software working tonight. That's what happens when you watch French cinema and then can't sleep. See this blog (http://www.oregonlibraries.net/blog) for an example of what I mean by "widget" and "rudimentary". To see what I mean by "working", IM or call me first to make sure someone is online, or accept a screen capture as proof.

This is going to be pretty easy to embed on an Oregon library website:

<iframe src="http://www.oregonlibraries.net/widget" width=240px height=400px></iframe>

The look and feel is the out-of-the-box chat interface for Openfire/Fastpath, which we'll be using until we can find time to work on anything else.

Also when there is time, we'll add presence indicators - we'll be open 24/7 of course, but libraries may want to tell patrons different things based on who is online, for example:

Caleb and Emily are online

or

Multnomah County Library is offline but another librarian in Oregon can help answer research questions. To leave a message for Multnomah County, click here.

or

Whatever

I'm excited. I haven't looked at it on Windows yet, but there's plenty of time for that next week.