The information provided in the user view of JMonitor is more difficult to use, because there may be some room for mis-interpretation:

• you may not be visible as being online though you are actually working with the server -- because your JMonitor applet has not been started;
• you may be visible as being online -- because your BSCW session on that server is open all day, though inactive, and you have failed to set your availability to 'away/busy'.

To fully benefit from the user view of JMonitor, the members of your workspaces should follow four simple rules:

• include all member of the workspace in your address book.
• in the JMonitor preferences menu select 'auto-launch' to automatically bring up the JMonitor each time you login
  (For this function to work, you have to let your Web browser accept cookies and enable JavaScript in your Web browser.)
• update the availability status whenever it changes.
• indicate in the 'away/busy' message, at what time you will be available again.

If all members of your Workspaces follow these rules, the JMonitor user view provides fast and reliable information and is a valuable tool for establishing a quick, informal contact to other members who are using BSCW at the same time as you.

Select a user in the user view and use right-mouse-click to open up a pop-up menu that lets you:

• open the user info page of the selected user
• send an email to selected user
• send a short message to that user
• start a chat session with that user
• invite that user to an existing chat session with other users
• contact the user using the conferencing applications provided by the selected user