Can we chat here?

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by vita32

I've been to some language sites with chat box featured on it and to me the environment was very disruptive because one cannot concentrate on sending message or doing other stuff allowed on the site because other people who are logged on kept sending messages for chat requests and one cannot continue unless he/she hits the button "ok" and either accept or reject the request. I like the Tomisimo environment without the chat box. It's quiet and yet friendly. This is just my opinion.

And I agree with your opinion.

[Jessica]

Originally Posted by vita32

I've been to some language sites with chat box featured on it and to me the environment was very disruptive because one cannot concentrate on sending message or doing other stuff allowed on the site because other people who are logged on kept sending messages for chat requests and one cannot continue unless he/she hits the button "ok" and either accept or reject the request. I like the Tomisimo environment without the chat box. It's quiet and yet friendly. This is just my opinion.

what do you mean by chat requests? also, the chat box will be on another page, so it won't disrupt the environment

[irmamar]

I guess he means that when you're in a chat, sometimes you're invited to a private room.

[Tarential]

I believe what he means is the integrated forum chats where people can send you an invite to chat if you are logged into the forums. If you used IRC instead, which is exactly what IRC is for, then you could save that problem. Only people who wanted to chat would be logged in to chat.

[wafflestomp]

What about a VB shoutbox? When I was an administrator a while back on a vB forum we used this shoutbox: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=148472

It would go above all of the boards and members can type back to each other, sort of like a chatroom. However, this is a much easier setup on a vB forum, and it doesn't take up as much bandwith as a chatroom mod would. And on top of that, it's not like something you have to remain logged into separately or anything. And it certainlly wouldn't take away posting from the forum. It's not like someone would be able to write gigantic questions out in it.

It could be for quick stuff... eg.- "Is 'I be a doctor' a proper English sentence?" a minute later someone writes back saying, "No, you would have to say 'I am a doctor.'

[Jessica]

for a chat you can tell when someone is typing. for a shoutbox it doesn't automatically refreshes. as for a chat when you press enter it automatically comes up

[CrOtALiTo]

I'm sorry Jessica.

I'm doubtfulness with a word that you have told us in your last post.

What is that software shoutbox, because I haven't idea about thus software.

Please I will appreciate your explanation.

[Tarential]

Quick example, isohunt.com (a search engine for torrents that I use, if anyone is interested) has a shoutbox on the right hand side where people can post quick, short messages for anyone loading the site to see.

By the way, I disagree with Jessica that a chat means you can see when everyone else is typing. I mean, it's a perfectly fine feature for 1 on 1 chat but when you have a dozen people chatting it's not very useful. The main feature of a chat is, as you say, the instant send/receive. A shoutbox normally will not automatically refresh, depending on the software. When it does, it will generally reload the entire page and thus use more bandwidth unnecessarily. Thus, poorly coded shoutboxes are not very effective.

That said, good shoutbox software will be updated constantly and will load only what is necessary to refresh it. This is accomplished in the same way that "web based chat" (ie Gmail's AJAX chat system) creates chat. Thus, a properly implemented shoutbox could be used for quick questions and chatting without inhibiting site usage or putting a strain on the server.

All that aside, my vote would still be for a properly implemented IRC room. It is a protocol that can be implemented by many different clients, so people could connect via the website (a Java applet), from their local computer on Windows (via say mIRC or some better software), from Linux or other operating systems (xchat I believe works on Mac as well as UNIX/Linux). They could even connect and chat via their cell phones if they wanted. That is the beauty of using a well established protocol such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC). People can choose their own way of doing things.

Well, in the end my opinion doesn't matter much. I wouldn't be one of the main users of the chat. Those who would use it often might wish to consider the points I've made, however. It would benefit all the users to have a versatile chat room. In addition, it wouldn't take any complicated setup like the shoutbox would.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by Tarential

Quick example, isohunt.com (a search engine for torrents that I use, if anyone is interested) has a shoutbox on the right hand side where people can post quick, short messages for anyone loading the site to see.

By the way, I disagree with Jessica that a chat means you can see when everyone else is typing. I mean, it's a perfectly fine feature for 1 on 1 chat but when you have a dozen people chatting it's not very useful. The main feature of a chat is, as you say, the instant send/receive. A shoutbox normally will not automatically refresh, depending on the software. When it does, it will generally reload the entire page and thus use more bandwidth unnecessarily. Thus, poorly coded shoutboxes are not very effective.

That said, good shoutbox software will be updated constantly and will load only what is necessary to refresh it. This is accomplished in the same way that "web based chat" (ie Gmail's AJAX chat system) creates chat. Thus, a properly implemented shoutbox could be used for quick questions and chatting without inhibiting site usage or putting a strain on the server.

All that aside, my vote would still be for a properly implemented IRC room. It is a protocol that can be implemented by many different clients, so people could connect via the website (a Java applet), from their local computer on Windows (via say mIRC or some better software), from Linux or other operating systems (xchat I believe works on Mac as well as UNIX/Linux). They could even connect and chat via their cell phones if they wanted. That is the beauty of using a well established protocol such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC). People can choose their own way of doing things.

Well, in the end my opinion doesn't matter much. I wouldn't be one of the main users of the chat. Those who would use it often might wish to consider the points I've made, however. It would benefit all the users to have a versatile chat room. In addition, it wouldn't take any complicated setup like the shoutbox would.

Yes and well we can create a forum in the MIRC (IRC).

There is free and you haven't pay anything, now I see very expensive the use of a char room with IRC protocols in the website, because David would need a exclusive server for the Linus turn on all the day, and he will need to pay the right of the use in the telecommunications.

I vote for the IRC use in the MIRC.

[Tarential]

No, I'm sorry but you have it wrong. You do not need to run the IRC server yourself in order to have a java IRC client on the website. The java IRC client will connect to any server based on your configuration (some even allow the user to select which server they want).

"Creating" a chat room via mIRC or any other client means registering your channel with the server operator (usually a bot that allows automatic registration). At that point you will be able to tell the bot to use IRC operator commands and perform channel maintenance. Anyone can then connect via any client they want, including but not limited to a java web applet or mIRC. It is free, and hosting the java applet requires nothing more complex than hosting any other web content (to the web server it is just a file like any other, it doesn't do any server side processing -- java is all run locally).

I hope that makes it more clear.