Anyone for a chat?

MrChris · 17 Sep 2003, 13:39

well?

Black Planet · 17 Sep 2003, 14:00

Quiffy, we are in chat and it constantly refreshes. It's irritating and annoying! Is that fixable?

MrChris · 17 Sep 2003, 14:05

it is indeed irritating...

Black Dahlia · 17 Sep 2003, 14:07

I think Jim's gone blind now.

Black Planet · 17 Sep 2003, 14:10

LOL It's made me dizzy!!!!!

CellThree · 17 Sep 2003, 14:11

I've gone to stare at the sun to relax my eyes...

hallucienate · 17 Sep 2003, 14:17

well, I just logged on and now everyone has gone

The Green Lantern · 17 Sep 2003, 14:36

Where is it?

MrChris · 17 Sep 2003, 14:42

What, chat? It's an option there at the bottom of the forum index screen, below where it tells you who is browsing the forum. there's a chat box. it tells you who is in the chat room. usually no-one, but if there are a few people browsing, you might like to join, and see if anyone else does! then have a chat. simple!

17 Sep 2003, 15:08

Black Planet wrote:Quiffy, we are in chat and it constantly refreshes. It's irritating and annoying! Is that fixable?

nope, thats chat i'm afraid.

it uses refreshes to update the screen with new comments. i could stop the refreshing but you'd never see anyones comments

and yes, it does hurt your eyes

but its the only "add on" i could find that was a) free and b) linked up to the heartland users database...

sorry

chat on the web is never a good idea - http is a stateless protocol, and html just isnt designed to update itself "gracefully" - thats the limitations of the medium we choose to work in i'm afraid

so unless someone wants to write me a (free) bespoke one in Flash, then you're stuck with it

if a flash expert does want to knock on up, i can provide the database details (db schema, connection passwords etc) if you can make a chat app that will link up to the user db

(btw, why do you think i hardly ever go on it?

!)

hallucienate · 17 Sep 2003, 15:23

anyone else here on MSN then?

Black Planet · 17 Sep 2003, 15:30

I can't use msn at work...and at home I use soulseek, user Planet, usually on nites here in the States...

so that puts me right back into the dizzying Heartland chat

17 Sep 2003, 15:33

are there any chat clients/apps that allow more than 1-to-1 chats?

Black Planet · 17 Sep 2003, 15:35

Yes! php forums do that.

Go here for a sample

http://www.rock-n-rollweb.com/phpcultchat/

This one is not compatible with AOL browser, you need to use Internet Explorer for it to work.

hallucienate · 17 Sep 2003, 15:41

Quiff Boy wrote:are there any chat clients/apps that allow more than 1-to-1 chats?

apps? Like MSN etc?

I know MSN does, last time I used ICQ it did too.

17 Sep 2003, 15:56

Black Planet wrote:Yes! php forums do that.

Go here for a sample

http://www.rock-n-rollweb.com/phpcultchat/

This one is not compatible with AOL browser, you need to use Internet Explorer for it to work.

aaah. phpMyChat.

we used to use phpMyChat (same as the cult one) on the first version of heartland many moons ago.. it was deemed to be even worse than the one we use now.

it didnt/doesnt use the same database so you would have to register all over again.

also, it doents share any of the admin features that come with heartland/phpBB - ie: forum-assigned moderators, blocked ip addresses and banned users, filtered swear words, the same smileys, etc etc

basically it is/was a standalone set of scripts with no phpBB forum integration, which meant that the forum admin (ie: me) had to re-configure everything and set up new administrators, set banned users etc etc all over again in order that it appeared to integrate with heartland.

in short, it was a pain in the arse

has it get better recently then?

Black Planet · 17 Sep 2003, 16:02

Ihave been on php recently at a forum I am too embarrassed to mention here.

and it worked just fine. There were about 6 of us in chat at that time, and I wasn't dizzy at the way ppls posts popped up. You still have to create a user name and password.

17 Sep 2003, 16:06

Black Planet wrote:Ihave been on php recently at a forum I am too embarrassed to mention here. and it worked just fine. There were about 6 of us in chat at that time, and I wasn't dizzy at the way ppls posts popped up. You still have to create a user name and password.

PM me the address if you're too embarrassed

i'll have a look...

Jim · 17 Sep 2003, 16:15

Kewl, I can't stand that chat thing. It's ok if youre the only one there, but that makes you look crazy.

17 Sep 2003, 16:38

i've had a look at phpmychat and it uses the same "refresh" solution as the current one...

the reason it and the cult one doesn't hurt your eyes is because it refreshes less often. which means chat is slower.

so its a trade off between flickering chat and sloooow (non integrated) chat.

and from the point of view of an admin, i dont like phpmychat because it doesnt use the same user database as heartland.

you can have a play with it here - http://heartland.dc-hosting.net/testchat/

you will have to register, and you cant have spaces in your username.

if anyone wants to install it and run it from on their webserver (you will need php and mysql and some spare bandwidth) and look after it, i am more than happy to link to it and (if its possible) insert some code into heartland's front page so you can see who's currently using it

but i'm not really incliined to install it here. sorry

hallucienate · 17 Sep 2003, 19:32

Quiff Boy wrote:if anyone wants to install it and run it from on their webserver (you will need php and mysql and some spare bandwidth) and look after it, i am more than happy to link to it and (if its possible) insert some code into heartland's front page so you can see who's currently using it

but i'm not really incliined to install it here. sorry

I got a web server and I've got PHP and MySql. I probably don't know what I'm getting myself in for, but if anyone thinks it's a good idea let me know and I'll install it...

Carrie · 17 Sep 2003, 23:55

There's a few freebies out there...the Rhombus one is a free server we linked to, but it's a bit temperamental & pop-uptastic. It's had quite a bit of traffic, but I know several people whose pcs just don't like it!

The MWIS <cough> one's OK, except that it's NOT 'registered user', so while it's reasonably quick & user-friendly, it's equally open to abuse by passing oddjobs...

dead stars · 18 Sep 2003, 01:29

You can start by checking who has ICQ in the "profile" list. I do. Add me to your contact list but please tell me you're from here otherwise I'll probably decline.
Boy, can you imagine the freaks out there!...

Black Planet · 18 Sep 2003, 01:38

Okay, I know stupid question, please don't laugh at me..

What is ICQ? Apart from some chat thing? '

dead stars · 18 Sep 2003, 02:41

Black Planet wrote:Okay, I know stupid question, please don't laugh at me..

What is ICQ? Apart from some chat thing? '

Well, it's... a chat thing.

You can download it free in

http://web.icq.com/

more exactly here:

http://www.icq.com/download/

but don't get the Lite version, get the ICQ Pro 2003a

It also allows to send FREE sms to cell phones of SEVERAL countries and networks and it also allows you to access a web version at work (as long as you don't get fired...).

OK, end spam.