Buttons and Controls
The most conspicuous thing that strikes you when you open an iChalk board would be the big round button at the bottom of the window. We thought it important to minimize the user interface elements so that you can concentrate on the creative process without a moment's confusion in front of the control panel of a Jet plane. Therefore, it is there to serve most of the important functions during your collaboration.
The Button as Status indicator
The colors of the button in iChalk display the status of the board.
The look of the buttons may differ depending on the setting in the Preferences.
Grey: You are not connected to a shared board yet or have lost connection to one.
Green: The board is open for anyone to grab and edit.
Blue: You are editing the board. Others will see Red.
Red: Someone else is using the board, and you can not take control. (It also enables you to snatch control, if you are desperate. See below.)
The Button as Control
Green: The button when pressed while it is green will try to take control of the board for you if it is available. When the board is free, just pressing a tool button will grab the control.
Blue: Pressing it when it is blue (while editing) will update the board for everyone else, and free up control. To avoid yielding contol while sending out the update, press control-space key instead.
Red: Pressing it when it is red twice will send a private message to the current holder of the document saying you would like to get the control as soon as possible. (Both parties will hear the "Frog" sound when iChalk does this.)
Pressing it repeatedly further four more times in a row will snatch the control away from the current owner. Do not use it unless you know what you are getting into
The button can also be activated by pressing the Command + Return keys together.
Other control elements
There are times when you are rapidly drawing, and do not want to be interrupted. At the same time, you would like others to follow you closely. You already know that pressing the Button (or Command-Return) will update the board on their window, but will also yield control momentarily.
In such special occasions when you can not afford to lose control, you may press
Control-Space to send updates as frequently as you'd like while maintaining the control.
