Starting this Saturday Feb 15, if you use Internet Explorer 8 or 9 as your primary browser, you must have Flash enabled in order to access the LibChat Operator screen.
This change only affects LibChat Operators. Patrons will still be able to use any browser combination they choose, and will not be impacted by this change.
Why we made this decision:
The technology that makes LibChat possible varies from browser to browser:
- Modern browsers (Firefox, Chrome, IE10 & IE11) use websockets – a highly reliable and stable transport method
- Older browsers (IE8 & IE9) with Flash enabled use Flash Sockets – a pretty reliable and stable method
- Older browsers (IE8 & IE9) without Flash use JSONP – reliable on the patron side, but has proved unreliable for Operator connections because the operator console is infinitely more complex than a patron’s chat widget
Even after months of development and testing the operator console using jsonp, some clients still report issues with IE 8/9 and the culprit always boils down to jsonp issues, so we have no choice but to eliminate jsonp as a transport method for libchat operator connections. Not using jsonp on your end will ensure that your on-going chats with patrons go smoothly and don’t cut-off in the middle of the conversation.
So, if you’re currently using IE8 or IE9 for operator chat:
- Check whether Flash is enabled in your browser: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html
- If it’s not, enable Flash: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/install-flash-player-windows.html
- If it is but you still see the error message, check for common issues: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/help/adobe-flash-not-working
- Consider updating to a newer browser (IE10, IE11, Firefox or Chrome)
We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. Please share this message with your LibChat Operators – and if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at support@springshare.com.