How to implement live chat function in Tridion?

Question

I have 3 sets of websites all maintained in Tridion:

• Brand1.com
• Brand2.com
• Brand3.com

Each brand website is implemented in multiple languages. For example:

• Brand1.com/us
• Brand1.com/fr
• Brand1.com/de
• Brand2.com/us
• Brand2.com/ru
• Brand2.com/it
• etc.

I want to implement "live chat" functionality on all brands & languages websites. We have already decided to buy third party plug-in for live chat, so no hectic coding effort is required.

I want to know what I need to do inside Tridion to integrate this third party plug-in and allow my Tridion users to enable / disable chat functionality at: Brand level and Country/language level. For example for Brand1, only these websites are enabled with live chat:

• Brand1.com/us
• Brand1.com/fr

For Brand2, only one website is enabled with live chat:

• Brand2.com/ru

What I need to do for this in Tridion?

How can I change the chat window title and other properties into local language of the website?

Answer 1

There are plenty of options for this, but here's a basic setup that avoids common mistakes. You need a "setting," a field in a shared Component, and another field for the title.

1. Create a Category with keywords for this type of functionality.
   Category: Site Functionality
   • Keyword: Chat
     This lets you add other per-site functionality without Schema updates to add new "Boolean" fields.
2. Make a check box. Use this Category in a publication-specific text field (in a Component if for regular CMS users). Approved users check "chat," which gives your templates a way to know where to include chat for a given site.

3. Manage the chat window title in a field for translation.

   • Optionally consolidate the chat "label" title with a Component for translatable fields. For translation consider this over key-value pairs. This way translation and localized items cannot change the key. See John Winters' explanation on TridionDeveloper.

   • If authors will place the chat "content type" on a page, have a configuration or "widget"-like Component where they change the title, but not the details of your chat code. Optionally allow inline editing for the title field. This could also be an alternative to the chat setting in #1--authors use this widget if they want to.

4. Localize or set values in child publications. Your setup doesn't need to use shared items, but it's a good fit for the title. The check box can be stored in local items or shared from a parent publication (so they're managed in one spot, if that makes sense for whoever manages these).

This question isn't specific to chat, but rather Tridion templating, BluePrinting, and content authoring along with possibly authorization and localization.