<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" xmlns:e="http://projectmallard.org/experimental/" type="topic" id="group-conversations" xml:lang="en-GB">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="index#text-conv"/>
    <desc>
      Start or join a group conversation with your contacts.
    </desc>
    <revision pkgversion="2.28" version="0.1" date="2009-08-02" status="stub"/>
    <revision pkgversion="2.28" version="0.2" date="2009-08-17" status="draft"/>
    <revision pkgversion="2.28" version="0.2" date="2009-08-17" status="review">
      <!--
      <e:review by="shaunm@gnome.org" date="2009-09-09" status="deferred"/>
      -->
    </revision>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Milo Casagrande</name>
      <email>milo@ubuntu.com</email>
    </credit>
    <license>
      <p>Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0</p>
    </license>    
<!--
    <copyright>
      <year>2009</year>
      <name>GNOME Documentation Project</name>
    </copyright>
    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
-->
  </info>

  <title>Group conversations</title>
  
  <p>
    Group conversations permits you to have text conversations with more than one
    contact at the same time.
  </p>
  <p>
    To have a group conversation you need to have a registered account with either
    Jabber or Google Talk, or a People Nearby account.
  </p>

  <note>
    <p>
      You can have a group conversation only with the contacts that are using the
      same service as yours.
    </p>
  </note>

  <section id="start-group-conv">

  <title>Start a group conversation</title>

  <steps>
    <item>
      <p>
        From the <gui>Contact List</gui> window, choose <guiseq><gui>Room</gui><gui>Join</gui></guiseq>.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
        From the <gui>Account</gui> drop-down list, select the account you want to use
        for the group conversation.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
        In the <gui>Server</gui> text box, type the name of server in which the conversation
        will be hosted.
      </p>
      <p>
        Leave it empty if it will be on the current server.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
        In the <gui>Room</gui> text box, type the name you want to give to the conversation.
      </p>
      <note>
        <p>
          This will be the name of the room you are going to have a conversation. This
          name will be publicly available for other people to join. It is not possible
          to create a private room.
        </p>
      </note>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
        To invite other contacts to join the group conversation, from the
        <gui>Contact List</gui> window, select the contact you want to invite, 
        and perform one of the following:
      </p>
      <list>
        <item>
          <p>
            Right-click on the contact and choose <gui>Invite to chatroom</gui>.
          </p>
        </item>
        <item>
          <p>
            Choose <guiseq><gui>Edit</gui><gui>Contact</gui><gui>Invite to chatroom</gui></guiseq>.
          </p>
        </item>
      </list> 
      <p>
        If you have more than one group conversation open, select the one you want to invite
        your contacts.
      </p>
    </item>
  </steps>
  
  </section>

  <section id="join-group-conv">

  <title>Join a group conversation</title>

  <steps>
    <item>
      <p>
        From the <gui>Contact List</gui> window, choose
        <guiseq><gui>Room</gui><gui>Join</gui></guiseq>.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
        Expand the <gui>Room List</gui> section to see all the existing rooms.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>
        Double-click on the name of a room to join it.
      </p>
    </item>
  </steps>

  <p>
    It is not possible to join all existing rooms. Some of the rooms might require a
    password, or might be invitation only. <app>Empathy</app> does not support these
    kind of rooms.
  </p>

  <!-- TODO: find out where the password protected or invitation only icons are
  and create a table. -->

  </section>

</page>
