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After Atlassian's recent acquisition of HipChat, the hosted private group chat service, we have been using it internally and I wanted to share a few top tips to help you get the most out of it. 1. Use Keyboard ShortcutsAny self-respecting team chat service with a strong developer user base will know about the keyboard-love which developers have. HipChat includes several Keyboard shortcuts in its desktop and web apps, such as:
… and if that's not enough for you, there are more shortcuts to learn. |
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2. Use Slash Commands
Another favourite for developers who haven't quite gotten over their love of IRC is Slash Commands. You can use '/<command> <argument>' to achieve a bunch of different actions, such as:
- /join <room name> - Join a room.
- /away <message> -Set your status to away.
- /part - Leave the current room.
- /topic <message> - Set the topic for the current room
There are more of these too.
3. Use Hex Colour Previews
Handy for when discussing site re-designs or new features is HipChat's auto-embedding of in-line colour previews when you mention hex colour codes like #FFFF00. Try it.
4. Use Emoticons
HipChat also has a lot of Emoticons and not just your average smiley faces either. My faves are: (allthethings) 
, (yuno) 
and being British (tea) 
gets used more than is healthy. Oh and of course, (atlassian) 
.
You can stay up to date with them all at http://hipchat-emoticons.heroku.com/?order=recent. There's a whole bunch and they're adding new ones all of the time. What's more, they can add a sense of gravitas and drama to your chat. And with that...
