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Apr 25, 1998, 6:49am

Here's one I've wanted to see for a long time, but for some reason, have
never gotten around to asking for or suggesting:

I would like to see a feature where a person could specify a list of
words to be "watched for" in the chat dialog. For example, a GateKeeper
might want to include such waord as "help" and "how" and perhaps the word
"GateKeeper" as well as variations such as "GK" and the separate words
"Gate" and "Keeper" along with their own name. They may also want to
include key words from common phrases that clue them in to a person needing
help, such as "new" which would be seen in statements like "I'm new here"
for example.

Here's how it would work... If I was in a crowded area, and someone
asked about me, my name (TechnoZeus) or common variations (i.e. TZ, Zeus,
Techno, or Z) would be detected be the chat watch routine and highlighted as
they are displayed. This would make it easier to hold a conversation in
less than ideal circumstances, but more importantly, would allow a person to
get my attention without having to resort to telegrams or distract everyone.

This option should be available for both tourists and citizens. While
not as convenient as telegrams, it would help tourists to find each other.
By default, your own name (exact spelling.. without the quotes if you're a
tourist) would be watched for.... This could be toggled with a checkbox to
avoid having to change what name is watched for each time you change
identities (although I probably wouldn't notice the difference since I use
the same name as a tuorist as I do as a citizen) and perhaps a seperate list
could be kept for citizen or tourist mode.

As for how to highlight the words, or what method to use when searching
for them, I'll leave that up for discussion. My thought on the subject is
that searching for each word as a text substring (full or partial word)
could make a nice default, and that colors (or a color) could be used to
highlight the words when they are found. Perhaps even allowing multiple
concurrent lists each containing words to highlight in a different color.
For example, if I set... TZ Techno Techno ={red} Zeus Z ={purple} look
help how build ={blue} ... Then if someone said "I'm looking for
TechnoZeus. Someone said he could help me learn to build." I would notice
that line right away because my name (TechnoZeus) would be displayed in two
colors (red and purple) and the words "help" and "build" as well as part of
the word "looking" would be in blue. Some other possibilities might be to
have words italicized, or placed in bold or underlined... or any combination
of style and color changes.

TechnoZeus

Apr 25, 1998, 8:32am

mIRC's had all these options (and more) for a while now. AW could learn a lot from mIRC...

[View Quote] > Here's one I've wanted to see for a long time, but for some reason, have
> never gotten around to asking for or suggesting:
>
> I would like to see a feature where a person could specify a list of
> words to be "watched for" in the chat dialog. For example, a GateKeeper
> might want to include such waord as "help" and "how" and perhaps the word
> "GateKeeper" as well as variations such as "GK" and the separate words
> "Gate" and "Keeper" along with their own name. They may also want to
> include key words from common phrases that clue them in to a person needing
> help, such as "new" which would be seen in statements like "I'm new here"
> for example.
>
> Here's how it would work... If I was in a crowded area, and someone
> asked about me, my name (TechnoZeus) or common variations (i.e. TZ, Zeus,
> Techno, or Z) would be detected be the chat watch routine and highlighted as
> they are displayed. This would make it easier to hold a conversation in
> less than ideal circumstances, but more importantly, would allow a person to
> get my attention without having to resort to telegrams or distract everyone.
>
> This option should be available for both tourists and citizens. While
> not as convenient as telegrams, it would help tourists to find each other.
> By default, your own name (exact spelling.. without the quotes if you're a
> tourist) would be watched for.... This could be toggled with a checkbox to
> avoid having to change what name is watched for each time you change
> identities (although I probably wouldn't notice the difference since I use
> the same name as a tuorist as I do as a citizen) and perhaps a seperate list
> could be kept for citizen or tourist mode.
>
> As for how to highlight the words, or what method to use when searching
> for them, I'll leave that up for discussion. My thought on the subject is
> that searching for each word as a text substring (full or partial word)
> could make a nice default, and that colors (or a color) could be used to
> highlight the words when they are found. Perhaps even allowing multiple
> concurrent lists each containing words to highlight in a different color.
> For example, if I set... TZ Techno Techno ={red} Zeus Z ={purple} look
> help how build ={blue} ... Then if someone said "I'm looking for
> TechnoZeus. Someone said he could help me learn to build." I would notice
> that line right away because my name (TechnoZeus) would be displayed in two
> colors (red and purple) and the words "help" and "build" as well as part of
> the word "looking" would be in blue. Some other possibilities might be to
> have words italicized, or placed in bold or underlined... or any combination
> of style and color changes.

Apr 25, 1998, 5:25pm

Didn't know mIRC had that feature. Thanks for the info. Anyway, it would
be nice to see in ActiveWorlds, I think.

TechnoZeus

[View Quote]

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