QuestionPoint Flash Interface (2nd iteration): LiB's Review

A new test-release of the QuestionPoint Flash interface was launched recently.  I took a look at it to see if any of the things I'd had problems with in the last release had been fixed.  Some major improvements did take place, notably the delay between messages being sent and displayed.  The delays are still there, but they're not as bad.  Other things that were fixed include:

• lettering is no longer cut off in the interface
• the tab where active sessions are taking place is more prominent
• a broken image was fixed

So, what still needs fixin' in LiB's opinion?

Librarian-side

1. When first picking up a patron, there is still a 10 second delay between the time I pick the patron up and the time I see the patron’s question in the chat window.  This is an improvement over the 30 second delay that was there before, but still a delay.
2. There is still a noticeable delay between the time I type and when those letters appear on the screen.  Better than last time, but it’s still noticeable.
3. You still cannot use “Enter” to send a message.
4. I was sending messages and they took about 10-20 seconds before they showed up in the librarian-side "live" transcript.  They seemed to appear in the user’s live transcript faster.  This is an improvement over the 2 minute delay that was there in the previous release, but still a problem.
5. No IP address showed up for me as a patron, same as last time.  Is that a problem that is going to be fixed before launch?  This is a problem for university libraries particularly who are trying to see if the user is on or off campus.
6. URLs are not automatically hyperlinked in the librarian transcript—they are in the patron transcript though.

Patron side

1. You cannot use “Enter” to send a message.
2. I was sending messages and they took about 5-10 seconds before they showed up in the librarian-side "live" transcript.  From the user’s perspective, delays like this make it look like either our servers are overloaded and slow, or we’re using junky software.  When I’ve experienced delays like this as a user of other products, an alarm bell instantly goes off that says “these people have bad technology and it’s probably going to break half-way through my interaction.”
3. The distracting and confusing time codes next to each chat message are still there.
4. When I click on a URL that’s been sent to the patron by the librarian, sometimes it opens in the pane next to the chat (the same window) and sometimes it opens in a totally new pop-up window.  I couldn’t see any logic to when or why either happened.
5. When I click on a URL that’s been sent to the patron by the librarian, the chat transcript automatically bumps back up to the beginning—confusing and annoying to the user.
6. The transcript that I got as a user via e-mail had the following characters at the beginning: “” (minus the quotation marks).  Junk characters?

Other Issues

1. I still have some serious problems with the fact that QuestionPoint automatically creates a brand new user account for a first-time patron with a username and password.  There is still nothing on the patron intake form that would indicate this would happen.  I’ve been told that the new account creation is something that QP is looking at making optional library-by-library in the future, but not yet.  If this is indeed the case, can some sort of prominent message be mentioned at the beginning of the page warning users of this?  This will be a major customer service issue.
2. Transcripts are kept for 90 days.  I don't want to keep patron data for 90 days.
3. If patrons click on the back button in the browser, they get disconnected.
4. Co-browsing is still IE-only.  So, I'm thinking more about this, and it should be a new rule for all librarians staffing this service to ask the patron "Are you using Internet Explorer version blah blah blah?" before they're even allowed to attempt co-browsing with the patron.  I've been bitten too many times trying to co-browse with patrons, that I don't even try it any more.
5. I would still like to know how ADA compliant the service is: what standads, which are and aren't being met.

I'd also like to note that OCLC's Jeff Penka did contact me after I posted last time about the pilot, and spent quite a bit of time with me going over each point.  That was very nice of him.

The release date is set in February.  We'll see how much changes with the interfaces between now and then.