WebAssist's Skype Presence Button Maker
Published presence pointers drive sales and customer relationships. Demand will grow for putting click-to-call and Skype Me buttons on web pages as people figure that out.
The good folks at WebAssist make extensions to Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft Expressions Web design tools. Their new, free, Skype button maker makes it more convenient for their 100k users to embed Skype presence buttons into web pages.
Simple, easy, fast. "Click, skypename, click, click, done" said Skype's Scott Miller.
The product, said Joseph Lowery, WebAssist marketing VP, responds to demand for Skype features from their non-US customers, about half their business. It completely hides html from the user while putting the feature within easy reach.
I'd call it a great 1.0 release.
Is this a first for any of the web design toolkits? Could be.
Unfortunately it doesn't solve five problems designers face every day:
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Customization of buttons to use graphics consistent with the customer's site instead of Skype's images
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Substitution of text for graphics
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Localization of SkypeWeb's status text to different/multiple languages using a parameter passed to the web page by the server
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Button behavior directing Skype to text chat, voice call, video call and show a user's Skype profile, all options of Skype's presence service
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Parameterization of the output so the Skype ID on a page is pulled from a site's database, allowing each user/account with a Skype name to show presence. In other words, dynamic vs. static web content.
Skype has been kind enough to show anyone how to build buttons:
 Basic button builder. |
 Advanced button builder. |
 Skype's SkypeWeb presence service protocols. |
Skype's pages offer a simple roadmap to showing Presence 1.0 on a web site. The Communication Toolkit for Skype nicely replicates Skype's Basic button features.
I'd have approached this problem differently, if I were in WebAssist's shoes.
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More than Skype. I'd have generalized the tool as a one-stop Presence Indicator Builder. I'd offer presence indicators for all providers starting with Skype, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo!, Google, QQ, MySpace and Jaiku. Supporting the right ones for a given client is a screening criterion, and this misses out.
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Community. Open up the graphics library so designers can share sets of call-me buttons mapped to each status ("away","busy","at Starbucks").
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Extend. I'd make sure the wizard checked for updates, so you expand that list of web services and improve the logic as each service becomes more sophisticated. The smartest wizard wins.
Download the Communication Toolkit yourself. What do you think? Good enough to be handy?
News release below the fold...
FINAL
FREE SKYPE INTEGRATION TOOLKIT FROM WEBASSIST WORKS WITH ADOBE DREAMWEAVER AND MICROSOFT EXPRESSION WEB
The WebAssist Communication Toolkit for Skype makes it possible to integrate Web 2.0 communication in seconds
Encinitas, CA. – June 4, 2007 – Today, WebAssist announced the availability of a free Skype extension for Adobe Dreamweaver and a free Skype add-in for Microsoft Expression Web. This integration of Web 2.0 communication makes it easy for web designers, developers and small businesses to integrate Skype Me!™ buttons into their existing web pages so that when the web site is published, people searching the site have the option of clicking the button to call the company directly using Skype.
The WebAssist Communication Toolkit for Skype extends the Adobe and Microsoft web designer and developer solution tool chests by combining the world’s fastest growing Internet communication software with the most popular tools for creating web pages.
“Skype is changing the way people communicate with each other all over the world,” said Scott Miller, Director of Business Development at Skype. “The WebAssist Communication Toolkit for Skype provides a great way for businesses, large and small, to quickly and easily integrate Skype’s affordable communications into their web experiences. By leveraging the industry standards for web design, we know WebAssist’s tool will have a great impact in furthering the adoption and integration of Skype software.”
Once downloaded from WebAssist’s web site, the Communication Toolkit for Skype integrates seamlessly with Dreamweaver or Expression Web, allowing users to add Skype Me!™ buttons to pages in seconds. A wizard guides them through the process for associating the button to their Skype account and provides options for the style of Skype button that will appear on their web page.
After the Skype button is inserted into the page, visitors to the site can take advantage of the rich functionality of Skype that is already enjoyed by more than 196 million registered users. This enriched communications experience will allow users to send instant messages, make voice and video calls as well as transfer files to other users anywhere in the world in a simple and more productive way. If visitors to the site do not have Skype already installed, they will be prompted to go the Skype home page and guided through the download process.
“Our customers have been asking for Skype, and we’re thrilled to be able to give them the option to easily pop Skype onto their web pages,” said Joseph Lowery, Vice President of Marketing at WebAssist. “Leveraging the massive Skype community provides our users more flexibility and added ways to communicate without tacking on additional cost to their existing investments in web tools.”
For further details please visit: www.webassist.com/go/skype
WebAssist’s free Communication Toolkit for Skype is now available at www.webassist.com/go/skype. The extension is compatible with Macintosh and Windows platform Dreamweaver CS3, Dreamweaver 8, and Dreamweaver MX 2004. The add-in is compatible with Microsoft Expression Web.
About Webassist.com Corporation
WebAssist makes the Web work with market-leading extensions (software add-ons) for the Adobe and Microsoft platforms in eCommerce and web authoring productivity. Through custom integration services, WebAssist empowers businesses to extend their product's reach into the world-wide developer market. WebAssist.com hosts a self-service developer community with over 200,000 members registered. WebAssist's partners include Adobe, PayPal, AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and Affinity.
WebAssist.com Corporation
http://www.webassist.com# # #
Comments
There's a catch here. Surprisingly few people have the option "Allow my status to be shown on the web" turned on. Unfortunately it's hidden in the options and defaults to off.
Posted by: Julian Bond | June 4, 2007 11:28 PM
A big YES PLEASE from me to the five suggestions above, most especially to the customisation one.
Posted by: Sue @ TameBay | June 5, 2007 05:48 AM
Thanks for checking out the Communication Toolkit for Skype, Phil. I like a number of your ideas for future improvement, especially those involving customization and parameterization. Keep 'em coming!
Posted by: Joseph Lowery | June 5, 2007 07:03 AM