I decided to try and install this enhanced version of the first chat.
It was upgraded by a bunch of great folks who liked the original
version but wanted to make it better.
So it looks kind of like the old chat but has some new features.
You'll see. Please try to get 5 or 6 people in there and try it.
Let me know how it works and if there are any problems.
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So far I only implemented it in the SubSilver template
which I made as the default for now.
I will finish the others Friday.
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A few notes:
1) Please use the CLOSE link to close the chat (not the x) as
this will keep session information updated and the chat link on
the main page will show correct user info!
2) The auto refresh no longer blinks and is set to 3 seconds.
However it still makes an annoying click sound and I am looking
into that. The click was supposed to have been removed. If you
are using MSIE please let me know if it clicks or not on auto refresh.
Maybe it's just me! I mean my computer.
3) It does not appear to work properly in Firefox and I think Netscape.
If this is a big issue let me know. I like Firefox and I think the chat designers
are working on this.
Here is the new feature list. You can look at their website for more
info. If after trying this one the general consensus is it's not much better
then we can try the IRC chat.
phpBBChatSpot v1.0.0
(c) 2004 Project Dream Views
Created by icedawg; August 28, 2004. Official support forum can be found here: Dream Views.
http://dreamviews.com/chatspot
What is phpBBChatSpot?
phpBBChatSpot is a multi-room chat system that combines a number of technologies, including PHP, JavaScript, and DHTML. It was built upon the original ChatBox foundation created by Smartor and maintained by Wooly Spud; their website can be found here. The original ChatBox was designed to be integrated with the phpBB bulletin board system which was created by the phpBB Group.
Improvements over ChatBox v3.0.2
Almost completely rewritten.
Added support for simultaneous multiple rooms, including password-protected rooms and membership-only rooms. Admins can create and modify permanent rooms (via a provided room management screen) and users can create their own temporary rooms.
The display of messages and online users has been completely redone to allow a smooth, flicker-free update of new messages; the annoying 'click' sound in Internet Explorer has also been suppressed during automatic refreshes.
Bandwidth is now conserved with phpBBChatSpot because only new messages are sent to the clients, whereas ChatBox used to send all messages over-and-over.
The online user display list now only updates itself every 5 minutes (like phpBB's) or after a user joins or leaves; this saves bandwidth as well (and prevents repeated-flickering in Mozilla Firefox); chat messages are updated every 5 seconds by default.
Private messaging now exists.
Session management has been completely redone. If enabled, phpBBChatSpot will compare its online list with the forum's to ensure all displayed sessions are active. Expired sessions are hidden and only purged upon joining a room, to reduce unnecessary database queries.
Expired sessions are no longer deleted via users who are browsing the forum; this saves queries and prevents delays.
The colour selection mechanism is now graphical.
Flood control was added.
BBCode support was added.
URLs and email addresses are now automatically parsed.
The following commands were added: away, invite, join, kill, leave, mass, me, names, password, pm, purge, refresh.
The following commands were rewritten: clear, kick.
Moderators now have permission to perform some tasks that only Administrators could do before.
Some data is now stored in cookies to reduce database queries; if the user has cookies disabled phpBBChatSpot will compensate for this transparently.
Security precautions have been added.
Some synchronization issues addressed, including having user's own messages immediately displayed upon being sent to prevent collision during refresh.
Now completely supports users with pop-up blockers (via the [CLOSE] link, the leave command, and a link that will be displayed upon attempting to join rooms).
Now has the capability to use multiple database user accounts to ensure that query quotas are not exceeded (and are separate from the forum).
Should now be completely compatible with Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera; it is very likely to be compatible with other new browsers as well, but so far it has only been officially tested in those four.
Additional minor changes made throughout, including HTML tag errors corrected.