Can Chat be turned off on the self-hosted version?
We currently have Slack & Hangouts Chat, so we're not interested in the Chat functionality and would like to turn it off. Is it possible to do this easily? I suppose I'd say this is a feature request to make that a setting if I didn't miss it :)
Please direct me to another post if I've overlooked it, and thanks for the help!
KajMagnus @KajMagnus2018-05-07 13:25:11.332ZYes a setting to turn off chat seems like a good idea. B.t.w. someone else also asked about this.
With turning off chat, I'm thinking you have in mind to hide the chat section in the left hand sidebar (image below). And also preventing people from creating chat topics. (One can choose topic type, when creating a topic, via a topic type dropdown)
Hmm. Maybe already existing chat topics should optionally be frozen, so people cannot continue chatting therein.
What are your thoughts about direct messages? They're a bit like Slack's direct message chat channels (although currently, in Talkyard, they look like forum topics). Would it be better, in your case, if people direct-message each other in Slack instead? ... (Hmm, what if there're some people in your community, who aren't in the Slack group — could it happen that they want to direct-message each other ?)
- DIn reply todustin⬆:Dustin @dustin
Hey Kaj, thank you for the quick response, and sorry for the delay in returning - hectic day! Being able to hide the sidebar as you mention would be perfect.
Trying to think of others, I'm sure people would like the option of granularity on various components, eg enabling direct messages but not general purpose chat, etc. For my use case, hiding it and turning off all (private / public) chat is the preference. My community may not be the normal use case for Talkyard, however, as I'm using it for an Internal-Only Q&A site where I can safely assume certain external tools like Slack etc.
Thanks again for the response, and let me know if there's anything I can do to help test this.
KajMagnus @KajMagnus2018-05-09 06:00:12.393ZBeing able to hide the sidebar
What I had in mind, was to remove the chat section & the direct messages section, from the sidebar. But, by default, leave the sidebar open, so one can jump between topics, via the Recently Viewed section.
Maybe it'd be good with a config value that hides the whole sidebar, by default, for new users? (Hiding the whole sidebar, is what you had in mind?) The pages do look a little bit simpler & more inviting, without it, i think. So, in some cases (your case?), maybe better if the sidebar is hidden, until one decides to open it.
Ok thanks for explaining the use case. There'll be two settings then: one for disabling chat, and another for disabling direct messages. (Because some else does want direct messages, but no chat)
- DDustin @dustin
Kaj, I really appreciate your thought on this! I love your idea of the "simplified view" with the sidebar entirely hidden - that would really make the system more approachable for new users. Having that as a configurable option would be great for users who appreciate the quick navigation between issues (as I do!).
For my use case, the 2 options you've outlined are perfect. I really appreciate your work on this - please let me know any way I can help (though I'm not adept at Scala just yet I'd sure love the excuse to learn!)
- KajMagnus @KajMagnus2018-05-11 08:45:45.337Z
Ok :- ) I'm adding those config options, + a bunch of others too ... maybe done early next week.
any way I can help
Well yes, if you have time, what are your thoughts about this landing page? Something to add or remove? or that is unclear, or gives a weird impression? What are the 2 "worst" things :- )
https://www.talkyard.io/-73/talkyard-open-source-qa-for-your-software-and-itBackground: I recently read about StackOverflow for Teams, and that, plus how you apparently plan to use Talkyard, made me want to try to reach out to organizations, so they can use Talkyard for their internal IT. Maybe if more organizations start using Talkyard, some of them will contribute features, intergrations & bug fixes, making it work better for you too :- )
- In reply toKajMagnus⬆:DDustin @dustin
Hey Kaj, I appreciate the config option additions! It's ironic that you mentioned SO for Teams, as this is pretty much the use case I'm trying to replicate, just on a shoestring budget! The landing page isn't bad! I did take a few minutes to iterate on it a bit, and stored it in a Google Doc here: https://bit.ly/2IcJS9m - please feel free to use it if it's valuable! I work for an organization looking to implement this in production, and if we do adopt it, we'll likely contribute bug reports, integrations, and features! First, I need to get everyone on board :)
- KajMagnus @KajMagnus2018-05-14 15:13:24.443Z
Hi Dustin, thanks for the landing page mockup / thoughts :- ) Yes it's a lot useful — based on that one + the initial version, I made a new landing page, here it is if you're curious: https://www.talkyard.io/qa-for-teams. I can add a thank-you link on the Credits page to your website, if you send me a link
I've implemented the hide-chat and hide-sidebar config options now, ... and it'll take some more days before I upgrade the server.
- DDustin @dustin
Hey Kaj, the new landing page looks great! Glad that was useful, and I like your improvements! No credit is required - I'm happy to help you out, as talkyard is FOSS and benefits everyone! I look forward to the new changes. Thanks again!
- Progresswith doing this idea
- KajMagnus @KajMagnus2018-05-31 13:51:11.749Z
Hi again Dustin, ooops I should have posted a status update ... The chat featrues can be turned off now: (since sth like two weeks ago actually)
Go to the Admin Area, Settings, Features, and uncheck Enable chat and uncheck Enable direct messages.