User's Guide
Main Topics
Introduction
Contents
Getting Started
Using Ding!
Advanced Features
Reference
Frequently Asked Questions
Release Notes
License
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The Main Window

Ding!'s main window is divided into two parts: the toolbar, which contains functions for most setup, configuration, and personal status management; and the peer window, through which you interact with everyone else. The peer window is discussed in detail in the next chapter, "Using Ding!."

The toolbar contains four buttons on the left, the Ding! button on the right, and your icon, name, and doing field immediately following. These items fall into two groups: configuration buttons and status tools.

 

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Need more memory? Squish your Main Window and minimize Ding!

 

Configuration Buttons

Squish Mode

/Ding!'s main window can collapse to save you desktop space while you're working on other things. To collapse and uncollapse the main window, click the solid bar button . When in Squish Mode, Ding! will still let you see incoming dings, and the appropriate icons will flash in the collapsed screen when trigger events take place.

Views

/There are two views in Ding! One is your regular peer list view, the other is watcher view. To switch between views, click the peer-group icon. Just as you would expect, the peer list view shows those users in your peer list; the watcher view shows those people on your watcher list.

Connect/Disconnect

/The facing arrows show your status on the switchboard. Blue arrows indicate that you are currently known to the switchboard, grey arrows indicate that you are not known to your switchboard. You may connect or disconnect yourself from your switchboard at any time without closing the application by clicking on this button.

Global Functions

The Ding! Menu contains many of the functions you'll use to customize the way Ding! works for you.

Clicking the left mouse button on the Ding! icon allows you to acccess this users' guide, manipulate various Ding! settings, access LDAP Search functions to find peers and peers' Ding! addresses, and the Add A Peer function, which we'll cover later. You can find information on each of the Ding! Menu functions in the Ding! Menu section of the Reference page.

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Set Ding! to respond to your screen idle sensor in the Preferences window of your yellow Ding! Menu. When it kicks in, Ding! will automatically close your availability door.

 

Status Tools

Availability

There may be times that you're online, but don't want to be disturbed. We call this status "busy." Ding! provides this information to others in their peer windows.

/To set your availability status, click the door icon . The door icon will change to reflect your status as it appears to others: an open door means you're available; a closed door means you're busy. Your name and user icon will highlight accordingly to remind you of your status as well.

"Doing" Field

The text area just below your personal icon and name is called the Doing field, as in, "what are you doing?". Here you can leave a short message that details your status or plans. To set your Doing bulletin, click in the Doing field. The field should highlight, meaning it's in edit mode. Type the status bulletin you want to display and hit RETURN. When the field returns to its normal color, your message will appear under your name in others' peer windows.

User Menu

Your user menu lets you set personal information for yourself that others may see or type a longer bulletin to display. To access your user menu, click your right mouse button on your name and select the function you want.

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Want to know who's on? Check the Who's On page and add published peers.

 

Creating A Peer List

The peer list is the list of other Ding! users with whom you interact. Once you've established a list of peers, you can send them instant messages, chat with them, and exchange files and URLs with them. A peer is identified by their unique address, called WhoDP addresss. WhoDP addresses are very similar to URLs in structure and are what Ding! uses to find people on the Internet.

Adding Peers

If you already know someone's Ding! address, click on the Ding! button and select "Add Peer" from the pop-up menu.

Type in the peer's WhoDP in the appropriate field. When you're done, click "Okay" and the peer's chosen alias will appear in your peer window as a new entry. If the peer you've added is offline, you will not see them when they are added if you have "Show Offline Peers" deselected in your Peer List Menu.

If you don't know someone's WhoDP, you will need to find it before you can add them. You can ask them what it is, or you can look it up using Ding!'s built-in LDAP search feature.

Finding Peers

To use Ding!'s search feature to find someone's WhoDP:

  • Click the Ding! button and select "Search" from the pop-up menu. A search dialog box will appear.

  • Choose a search service from the "Service" toolbar. You may use Activerse's Peer Finder or a public service like Four11.

  • Choose the criteria by which you want to search. You can use the person's name, their e-mail address, or an organization with whom they're affiliated as keywords. If you only have partial information, you can narrow the search pattern with "is," "contains," "sounds like," "starts with," and "ends with" based on what you do know.

  • When you've entered the search parameters, click on "Search" and await the results.

The search results will appear in a list below the search entry. If the peer for whom you're searching has a WhoDP listed, select their entry and click "Watch" in the dialog box. They will be added to your peer list automatically.

If they don't have a WhoDP, tell them about Ding! through the "Tell a Friend" feature under your Ding! Menu!

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Tell A Friend

Passing Ding! along to a friend is really easy. Under your Ding! Menu, select "Tell A Friend." When the dialog box opens, provide a friend's e-mail address with a greeting from you, and a special invitation will be sent directly to them from you to get Ding!

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Dragging and dropping made easy: move peers around in your list. Click and drag a peer to the place you want them, making sure the dragged icon is completely within the bounding box of the peer you want to follow.

 

Peer Icons

Now that you've set yourself up with Ding! and found a few friends, how do you tell what's going on with each other? The peer icons should help you keep up with what's happening.

  • A colored icon means that the peer is present and available.

  • A colored icon with a black bar means the peer is present, but busy at the moment.

  • A white icon means your peer is offline.

  • A white icon with a red X through it indicates that a direct connection with the peer is unavailable. Right click on the peer's menu to bring up the "Info" box, where detailed information on why the peer is unavailable.

  • A red X over grey arrows means the switchboard is unavailable either due to network difficulties or the switchboard is non-existent.

  • A white peg with a black X indicates that peer has denied you permission to watch them.

  • Grey facing arrows asks you to wait while the peer's information is currently being obtained and displayed.

  • A question mark indicates that the state of the peer is unknown at this time.

  • A white arrow upon a black background means that a peer has moved to another switchboard.

  • A white question mark upon a black background means that a peer's WhoDP is invalid.

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© 1997 by Activerse Inc. All rights reserved.
Last updated on Thursday, January 15, 1998

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