Chat Sessions

Session Window Layout

PSST Session Window

Components of the Session Window are described below:
  1. Text Chat Pane - text typed by yourself and the person you're talking to
  2. Text Entry Pane - this is where you type/edit each piece of text before sending
  3. Send Button - not necessary, because you can also send the line by pressing Control-S
  4. Text Typed by Yourself - appears in black
  5. Text Typed by your Peer - appears in mauve (or a colour of your choice, once this is implemented)
  6. Voice Sensitivity - Use this to conserve bandwidth, so that it only sends voice data while you are actually talking. If you slide it too far to the left, your voice will sound choppy (if your voice is being sent at all). If you slide it too far to the right, then your system will be continually sending your voice and all the background noise in the room - a waste of bandwidth. Find the right balance (see (10))
  7. Voice Encoding Quality - ranges from 0 (highest compression, lowest quality) to 10 (lowest compression, highest quality). If you and/or your peer are on a 56k dialup connection, it's best to set no higher than 5. If you set it too high, the bandwidth requirements will cause frequent voice drop-outs. So find a level where your peer can make out what you're saying, but where your voice doesn't cut in and out.
  8. Voice Level Meter - Indicates the current audio level being picked up by your microphone
  9. Status Indicator - Tells you who you're talking to, and their connection address
  10. Enable Send - If this isn't 'clicked in', then no audio data will be sent from your PC. Note - this glows green when voice data is actually being sent, which is handy for finding the right setting for Voice Sensitivity (6)
  11. Enable Receive - If this isn't clicked in, then your PC won't receive audio data from your peer, and will tell your peer that you've chosen not to receive audio. A message to this effect will appear on your peer's message window.
Notes on PSST Sessions: