How to use InterfaceDynamics' WuWu

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How to use:

This document will attempt to help you understand some of the basics of WuWu™ and how to use it.

The Basics:

How to use the program:
WuWu will load itself at startup. Once WuWu loads you will see him in your task tray (that's the area with the icons next to your clock). His facial expressions tell you what is happening with the program.

He has several expressions:
	Sleeping - You are not connected to the Internet.
	Bored - You are connected and running, but nobody else is online.
	Happy - Someone else is online.
	Talking - Someone is contacting you.
	Hiding - You can see everyone online, but they can't see you.
	Gone Fishin' - You are away from your computer even though it’s connected and running.

The Task Tray Icon:
If you right-click the WuWu icon in the task tray, a menu will appear. This is how you control what state you are in and several other functions. The most important of which, is the View PeopleList menu item. You'll notice that it is in bold text. That means that double-clicking the WuWu icon in the task tray has the same effect as selecting it from the menu. This will enable you to see the PeopleList.

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The PeopleList:
The PeopleList is how you can actually see who is online. Whenever a person is online you will see their UserName and an icon next to it showing if they are active or away. Some communication methods like InstantMessage do not need the person to be at their computer, but others like MultiChat, do. In order to talk to someone, make sure that their UserName is selected, and then right-click the UserName. A small popup menu will appear with all of the available communication methods. Select the one you want, and communicate as desired. Or you can simply double-click a person to activate the default communication method, which will appear in bold text in the popup menu.. Another feature of WuWu is the ability to talk to several people at the same time. You may select more than one person by holding down the Ctrl key while you click on the people in the PeopleList that you want to talk to. Then you can right-click on one of the selected UserNames and pick the communication method from the menu as before. On the top of the PeopleList you will see a toolbar with several toggle buttons. These are used for controlling the state you are in. The choices are

Fishing,

Happy or

Hiding. Beside these are a Communicate

button that offers an alternate way to start communications with people, a JoinGroup

button that allows an easy way to join more groups, and a Properties

button, which opens WuWu's Properties Dialog. Above this toolbar you will see a pushpin button.

Selecting this will cause the PeopleList to remain on top of any other desktop windows you have open. In the lower left side of the PeopleList you will see two small lights,

one yellow and one blue. These show if WuWu is transmitting or receiving information. In the box next to the activity indicators you will see one of three lock icons appear from time to time. These icons represent what level of encryption WuWu is able to establish to other users. The

lock means WuWu is able to establish a connection with 128-bit encryption to other user or users. The

broken lock means no encryption could be established between you and the other user or users. The

double locks show that you were able to establish 128-bit encryption with some users but not all.

The PeopleList Dialog Explained:

One other thing deserves mentioning before moving on to the individual communication methods. Not only can you communicate with more than one person in a particular communication module at a time, you can also have several communication modules of the same or different kind open all at once.

The Communication Methods:

InstantMessage:

This is the by far, the simplest and most versatile communication method. It allows you to send a note to one or more people online. This communication method does not require the person to be at their computer. You type in your message, hit send and they receive it along with your name and when it was sent. If they are away from the computer they will see it when they get back and know when you sent it. InstantMessage is probably the least intrusive of all the communication methods, because it does not require any effort of the person receiving the message You may also optionally change the justification of the message from the default center position to right or left justified. Any valid web addressed or other URL's that you enter will automatically generate a hyperlink in your message just like on web pages.

MultiChat:
MultiChat is the primary communication method where two or more people talk interactively with one another. It does however, require that the people be at their computers and not listed as away (fishing). Whoever starts the chat is the host, and as the host they must remain in the chat until it's over. This is because everyone in the chat is connected through the host. This allows the communications in the chat to go directly to and only to the other people in the chat. Once in a chat, there is one main dialog, this is where you can see who is in the chat, see what has been said, and where you enter your comments. The window on the far right is the status window it shows who is in the chat and what they are doing.
The person hosting the chat has a host icon. All other members just have a computer. That is until someone starts to enter text. Once a person starts typing, their icon turns into a keyboard. This helps to give some order to the chat. There is only one other icon that can be displayed, and that's a clock, which signifies that the person is temporarily away from the chat (not necessarily the computer) for a short period of time. The way that this icon is set is by clicking on the button on the bottom left part of the chat dialog with the little clock on it. The button next to it is the FontFlair button. It brings up a small toolbox, which allows you to change the color of your text and turn on or off bold, italics, and underline.
Next to that button, is the main text entry portion of the chat. This is where you type in what you want to say. The button to the right of it sends whatever you type, but you can just press enter to do send it as well. Directly above that button are two more that only appear when you are the host of the chat. They allow you to add and remove people from the chat as you see fit. And last but most certainly not least is the chat display window itself, which takes up most of the dialog. This is where what everybody types is displayed along with who typed it. The text is displayed in order of how it was received by the host.

FileSender:
FileSender allows you to send one or more files to a person or persons at the same time. As soon as you select this communication method, you are presented with a dialog that lets you select which files you want to send. The people you are sending the files to have to be at their computers and not listed as away (fishing). Once you click "Open", the people who were selected in your PeopleList will see a dialog box describing the files, their sizes, and the directory that they will be saved in. The destination directory can be changed by clicking the browse button that is located just to the right of the directory box. Make sure that there is a check mark next to the files that you want and click "Yes to Above". Then the transfer will begin, and another dialog will appear that shows the progress of the transfer. Either person involved in the transfer can abort at any time. Once it's complete just click the "Close" button to close the dialog or click "Explore" to open up the folder you just received the files in.

FileGrabber:
(Under Implementation) FileGrabber is the opposite of FileSender. It lets you download files from other people online, instead of sending them. You select FileGrabber from the menu and you will be presented with a list of files available for download from that person. It does not require the person to be at their computer. Every user can create a list of files, which is called a FileList. If you don't want to have people download the files from you, just don't create a list. This communication module does not allow other people to see, read, or write to your hard drives! It uses a completely separate mechanism that is based on the list that you create, so that no one can have access to any files that you don't specifically place into your FileList for downloading. You can always stop any download currently under transmission or one that has been requested and is waiting to be downloaded.

CallVote:
(Under Implementation) CallVote allows you to call upon the people online to collectively vote on a particular topic. You make up the topic and select the possible answers, then send it out. Once everybody has voted (or abstained) CallVote will automatically calculate the results and send them to everyone who was involved with the vote.

WhiteBoard:
(Under Implementation) This module is primarily for working on a project with a group of people. There is a window that allows everyone involved to draw, paste, copy etc. It's like a big virtual piece of paper that you and anyone online can collectively draw on.

The Properties Dialog:

Selecting “Properties” on the Task Tray Icon’s Menu or on the toolbar brings up the properties dialog. This is where you can make configuration changes to WuWu and to oaded communication methods. Each communication method may or may not have settings, if they do, then you'll see a tab with their name on it.
The Presence Tab: Nickname: You can change your nickname here or by selecting "Change Nickname" on the Task Tray Icon's Menu. AutoFish: This allows your computer to automatically set itself to away (fishing), after a specified amount of time of inactivity. To change the time, type a number in the field between 1 and 600. Disable Splash Screen: Disables WuWu startup splash screen. Disable Exit Confirmation: Disables WuWu exit confirmation dialog. PeopleList State: Allows you to set whether or not the PeopleList dialog will be open or closed at startup. Start State: This sets the state that WuWu starts in. Save PeopleList’s position on closing: Will enable WuWu to redisplay the PeopleList in the same location it was in the previous session.
The Groups Tab: Group Membership: Shows what groups you are a member of. Join Group: Join a new group or create one of your own. When this button is selected you will be presented with a drop-down box of selections. Choose a group you would like to join from this box or type the name of one you would like to create then press OK. The changes or creation of the group will take effect when you click Apply or OK. Leave Group: Leave the highlighted group. Use Alternate Nickname: Use a different Nickname in the selected group. Alternate Start State: Have the selected group start in a different state than the others. Presence Node, Presence Port and GNS Port: These are information only fields. No changes can be made.
The Connection Tab: Local Port Range: Enter the lowest port number in the Lowest Port: Enter the highest port number in Highest Port: Important Note: These settings allow you to set the possible range of local ports your machine can listen to. These settings are for advanced users only. Do not change these settings unless you are sure of what you are doing. These settings do not typically need to be modified unless you are an advanced user or system administrator who is configuring port forwarding or NAT/Firewall security.
The Actions Tab: Under the actions tab you can associate a communication module with two different default actions. Double-Click: Activates the selected communication module when a Person in the PeopleList is Double-Clicked. Drag-and-Drop: Activates the selected communication module when one or more selected files are dropped onto a Person in the PeopleList.
The Sounds Tab: Under the sounds tab you will find 5 events that play .wav files. These can be customized to use any .wav file you wish. Select the browse button to look for sounds on your system and the speaker button to hear the selected sound. The other options for these fields are Beep, which sounds the default system beep and None, which eliminates all sound.
The FileSender Tab: The file sender tab has only one selection for your Default Download Directory you may choose any directory you wish or select the browse button to choose the directory.
The MultiChat Tab: The MultiChat tab has several selections. The first is Chat Font. This selection allows you to choose any font you have installed on your system to display the text of your chat. The next setting is Size. This allows you to choose the size of your font being displayed. These settings only affect the display on your system. Other MultiChat users will not see the text in your selected font and size. The next 2 settings deal with NameTag style and color. These allow you to set your Nametag as Bold, Italic, or Underline. You can also choose any color you wish to display in the NameTag Color area.