Advanced Sharing Links

An Advanced Sharing Link is a normal room address with a few short codes added after the room name, each between slashes. When someone opens it, the page uses the settings in the codes instead of what their browser saved and what their device prefers. You decide what they see, and nothing in their browser can change that for that visit.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR/wh/fr/rd

That opens #CR with the White theme (wh), French (fr) and the red accent (rd). There are no question marks and no name=value pairs, so the link stays easy to read, to type and, with a little practice, to remember.

Link Maker

Choose a room and pick what you want to set. The link is made as you go. A setting you leave on leave to the visitor is simply not put in the link. New options appear here by themselves when they are added to the gateway.

The rules

• Put the codes after the room name, one after another, each between slashes. The order does not matter: /wh/fr/rd and /rd/wh/fr do the same.
• Every code is two to three letters and belongs to one setting only, so a code never needs a label. Upper or lower case both work.
• Use as many or as few as you like (up to 32). A setting you leave out is simply not touched: the visitor keeps their own.
• If two codes of the same setting are in one link (for example wh and bx), the last one wins.
• A code the page does not know is ignored and the rest still work, so a typo never breaks the link.
• The link wins over the visitor's saved settings (their "cookies") and over their device's light or dark preference, every time the link is opened. Opening the link does not save anything: what the link sets is never stored as the visitor's own choice, so the room without codes gives them their own look back. While the link is open, the settings it controls are greyed out in Settings (and the language buttons), and so is the Reset button (any link greys it out), with the note "Greyed-out options are set by the link you opened", so the visitor cannot fight it. Every setting the link does not mention stays free and is saved as the visitor's own.
• It works for every room, including the CR Translation rooms. The language code only has an effect in #cr-translation-en-* rooms, for the room in the link.
• The link does not open locked rooms: a room with a password or by invitation still asks for them.
• Search engines are told not to list these pages, the same as every room page.
• A room whose own name looks like a code is never confused with one: the first part after /chat/ is always the room (/chat/wh/ is the room #wh).

Examples

Preferred demo links for CR Translation

When someone wants to try CR Translation, give them one of these links. They are the preferred demo: each one opens the right translation room with the language, theme, accent colour and clock already chosen, so the demo starts in the correct state and nothing has to be set up first. Send two of them (for example EN → KR and KR → EN) to two people, or to two browsers, and they can talk to each other, each reading their own language. The Link Maker above can open any of them and change it.

EN → MY - Malay room, read in English. White theme, the theme's own accent, 24-hour clock.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-MY/wh/en/ta/h24/

EN → FR - French room, read in English. Bookshelf theme, black accent, 12-hour clock.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-FR/bs/en/bk/h12/

EN → MX - Spanish (Mexico) room, read in English. Hearth theme, blue accent, 12-hour clock.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-MX/ht/en/bl/h12/

EN → KR - Korean room, read in English. Glacier theme, amber accent, 24-hour clock.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-KR/gl/en/am/h24/

MY → EN - The same Malay room, but the visitor reads in Malay (the page is in Malay and the flag shows).

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-MY/wh/my/ta/h24/

FR → EN - The French room, read in French.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-FR/bs/fr/bk/h12/

MX → EN - The Spanish (Mexico) room, read in Spanish.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-MX/ht/mx/bl/h12/

KR → EN - The Korean room, read in Korean.

https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/CR-Translation-EN-KR/gl/kr/am/h24/

How to use them:

• One language pair per link. EN links let an English reader follow a room where the other person writes in Malay, French, Spanish or Korean. The other four links are the same rooms for the person who reads in that language.
• Send the link as it is, with the slashes at the end. Do not add or remove codes: the link is what sets the page language and the look.
• A demo room is a normal room. People join as guests with a random name, and the rules of the room apply. CR Translation is an Enterprise feature, so say so when you give the link, and tell people the demo shows one language pair at a time.
• Every code in these links is explained under Every code below, and you can change the theme, accent or clock by swapping that code.

Every code

Each code appears once in this whole list. This page is generated from the code in the gateway (webchat/gateway/crwebgw/linkopts.py), so it always matches what the links do.

Colour theme

The colour scheme of the page. Overrides 'Follow my device' and any scheme the visitor picked before.

Accent colour

The highlight colour of buttons and links.

Language (CR Translation rooms)

The CR Translation Language for the room in the link (English, or the room's own language). Only used in #cr-translation-en-* rooms; in any other room it is ignored. The flag shows once it is set, and in a language other than English the whole page (buttons, menus, messages, the topic) appears in that language.

Text size

The size of the chat text.

Spacing

How much room there is between lines.

Clock

12-hour or 24-hour time stamps.

Joins and quits

Whether 'X has joined / has left' lines show.

Coloured names

Whether each person's name has its own colour.

Sounds

Sounds for private messages and mentions.

Mention alerts

Desktop alerts when somebody mentions the visitor. A browser only allows them after the visitor said yes once, so 'al' turns them on only for visitors who already did; it never opens the permission question.

Welcome notice

The house-rules card shown on a first visit.

Buttons and panels to hide

Take buttons and panels off the page, for a smaller, simpler chat. Hiding does not switch anything off on the server: emoji and colours still show in messages, and people you add as friends stay.

Ask the visitor

Ask the visitor a question before they come in, like the old Java chat applets did. The box is filled in with what the link already says, and the visitor can change it.

Short forms

A link with many buttons hidden would get long, so the hide and ask options also have a short form: one segment with one letter for each thing. hide-lvsfecb hides the list, save, share, search, emoji, colour and buddy buttons; ask-nc asks for the nickname and the room. The single codes above still work.

Good to know

• Mention alerts (al): a browser lets a page show desktop alerts only after the person said yes once. al turns them on for people who already did and does nothing for the others; it never opens the question.
• Text size has a smaller limit on a phone, so xx may look a little smaller there.
• Language (kr, my, fr, mx, en) chooses the CR Translation Language, the flag next to the person's name in the room list, and the language of the whole page: in Korean, Malay, French or Spanish the buttons, menus, messages and the room topic appear in that language (the ConferenceRooms.org logo and WHOIS information always stay as they are). People can still change it with the translation button in the top bar.
• To send a visitor back to their own look, use a link without codes, or au for the device's light or dark.
• The older ? options on room addresses (?embed=1, ?nick=) still work; they are not part of this.

Change log

Add a line here (in linkopts.py, CHANGELOG) whenever a code is added or changed, then run the generator again.