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Screenleap Chat: Make Your Screen Shares More Interactive

A quickie from us this month: we are excited to announce the general availability of web chat. Web chat allows you to quickly communicate with your viewers during your screen shares without having to jump on a call with them.

web_chat_chat_box_top

To take advantage of the web chat feature, you will need to sign in to the Screenleap site before starting your screen share. Once your screen share starts, you will see the top portion of the chat box at the bottom of the share page. If you click on the box, it will slide up to reveal the full chat box. You can then start sending messages to your viewers using the chat box.

Web chats need to be initiated by the presenter: viewers will not see the chat box until after the presenter has sent them the first message. Once a presenter sends a message, a chat box will appear for all the viewers and they will be able to reply using their chat box. Chat messages are sent to all participants of the screen share.

web_chat_chat_box

We hope you find the web chat feature useful as a quick communication option when you don’t have access to a phone or when it’s inconvenient to use one.

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Happy 2014!

2014

Happy New Year Screenleapers!

As we bid goodbye to another great year, we would like to highlight the improvements made to Screenleap this year and give you a preview of what’s in the works for 2014.

2013 Highlights

Audio Conferencing
We launched integrated audio conferencing last January so that you can have a conversation with your viewers without having to use a separate conferencing service. Audio conferencing is available for free on all Screenleap accounts.

Screenshots
In February, we launched Screenshots, a browser extension that allows you to easily take screenshots of web pages, mark them up, and share them with others.

Browser Sharing
The browser extension we launched in February also includes support for browser sharing. Browser sharing is like screen sharing except only the contents of your browser are shared. It’s especially convenient since it doesn’t require you to have Java installed, and it works on Chromebook computers.

Broadcast Page Customization
In July, we added the ability to customize your broadcast page message. When you create a Screenleap account, you select a personal handle. Now you can customize the message viewers see when they visit your handle page (e.g., http://screenleap.com/your_handle) when you are not broadcasting your screen.

Broadcast Restriction and Locking
By default, broadcasts are public and viewable by anyone who visits your handle page. If you would like to share your screen to your handle page but want to restrict who can view your broadcast, you can do so as of the launch of broadcast restriction and locking in late July.

Screenleap for Mac & Screenleap for Windows
Having made viewing installation-free and hassle-free, we next turned our attention to towards simplifying the screen share process. We launched our Screenleap for Mac and Screenleap for Windows apps in August, which allow you to share your entire screen without having to first install Java on your computer.

Screenleap API, Version 2
We released version 2 of the Screenleap API in September. The Screenleap API makes it easy to programatically add screen sharing to your web app. Version 2 includes support for additional sharing options, customization options, and integration options. You now have the option of allowing your presenters to share their screen using the Mac and Windows apps in addition to the applet.

What’s Coming in 2014

Branded Company Accoount
We will be launching our Branded Company Accounts next week. Branded Company Accounts will allow you to increase your viewers’ exposure to your brand by providing them with a branded screen sharing experience for those important sales, support, and training calls. Branded Company Accounts will also include support for integrating the screen share viewer into your website, so your users don’t have to leave your website to view your screen shares.

Customer Support Solution
Our upcoming customer support solution will allow you to easily see your customers’ screens so you can provide them with faster and more effective support.

Faster Screen Shares
We will be taking advantage of a new web technology called WebRTC that allows us to double the performance of screen shares for browsers that support the new technology.

Wishing You a Happy 2014

We would like to thank you again for making 2013 a great one.  We really appreciate all the feedback and suggestions that you have provided us over the last year: Screenleap is the tool it is today because of you. Wishing you lots of health, happiness, and success in 2014!

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Screenleap API, V2: New Sharing, Customization, and Integration Options

When we launched the Screenleap API a year ago, it was in response to your requests asking for a way to integrate our quick & easy screen sharing service with your applications. Since then, hundreds of you have used our API to add screen sharing to your audio conferencing solutions, e-learning platforms, webinar products, and much more.

To celebrate the one year anniversary of our API, we are excited to announce the launch of version 2, which offers additional sharing, customization, and integration options. We highlight the major changes below. Please see our API Updates page for a complete list of all changes.

Sharing Options

Sharing your screen was enabled through our Java applet in version 1 of our API. With version 2, we introduce two additional sharing options: 1) native apps for Macs and Windows and 2) a browser extension.

The native apps allow your users to share their screen by downloading and running a small app. They have the benefit of allowing your users to share their entire screen without having  to install Java on their computers.

The browser extension allows your users to share the contents of their browser windows. Although limited to sharing browser content, the browser extension does not require Java to be installed nor does it require any software download.

Customization Options

Version 2 introduces additional options for customizing your screen shares to match your requirements. You can now hide many of the controls that are shown in the presenter control panel, such as the pause button, stop button, and the toggle for switching between partial and full screen modes. We also now allow you to customize the title that is shown on the control panel so you can use your own branding.

For the viewer page, you can now specify whether you want to default the viewer page to the actual size of the screen being shared or to shrink the screen so it fits in the users’ browser window.

Finally, it is now possible to localize the sharing control panel and the viewer page to your own language. Please contact us for details on how to do so.

Integration Options

Version 2 of our API allows you to achieve tighter integration with our screen sharing service through the use of JavaScript callbacks. The callbacks allow your application to be notified of events such as when a screen share starts, when a screen share ends, when a viewer connects, and when a viewer disconnects. You can use this information to do things like show or hide additional information about a viewer as they enter or leave the screen share.

API Demo

We have revamped our API Demo page to include all the options available in our API. You can start screen shares and play around with the various sharing and customization options from the demo page.

screenleap_api_v2_demo

Build Something Great

We are excited to see what you build with the new API. If you have any questions about any of the new options or having some questions about how to integrate with the API, please contact us for assistance. We would also love to profile how you are using the Screenleap API on our site so please share your story with us!

 

 

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