GolfHos

Ok, I've installed yet another chatroom.  This one is pretty different from the others I've tried before.

I've only made a few customizations so far, so it's pretty raw and has some odd settings.

If it looks good after a couple of days, I'll make more changes to it.

make certain you all check the "help" section. it has a list of commands available regarding avatars, smileys, skins, etc. it's very much like irc commands.

This new chatroom is kind of interesting.  I like how once someone chooses an avatar, no one else can pick it.  The private chat is also well implemented.

I made a couple of changes to it yesterday:
- made the chat link open in a new window/tab
- person's name and chat post is now on the same line to take up less space
- added a message when someone enters the room.  if they click the "leave chatroom" link, there will also be an exit message (but not if they close their browser or tab)
- replaced a bunch of avatars.  The old ones were kind of big and pretty boring, so I swapped in some smaller ones.

still to do:
- change the enter/leave messages to something less intrusive (probably gray, small, and italicized text)

chatbot is a bit hit and miss..

chatbot (14:31:55) has entered the chatroom

Cool that it has it's own window now and the logout notifier works as long as people click to leave.

Can you scale the avatars down en masse?  The 'small' ones still space the text about double.  Maybe that's good though, maybe good to see it when it's busy.

How much are the commercial chats (assuming they are better)?

Maybe we could have a PayPal roundup to meet the cost?

I'm always good for 2 cents, or so.

 :D

I might drop the avatars for a while as people don't seem to like them.

If people want to compare, the old chatroom is at:
http://www.golfhos.com/phpfreechat/

The commercial ones mostly seem to use a java client, which a few folks had trouble getting to work in their browsers.  I picked the last two chatrooms because they use ajax instead of java.

There are quite a few free java ones out there, too.  Maybe I'll try one of those next and see if people prefer a java client. (they're more responsive)

Here's what the first chatroom on GolfHos looked like:
http://irc.everywherechat.com:8000
(I can go back to that one pretty easily)

Here's a freaky ajax chatroom:
http://blog.outer-court.com/chat/

Ok, there should now be two chatroom links.

Each has its pluses and minuses.  Hopefully a favorite between the two will emerge.

That ajax chatroom is weird, there is even a Shrub avatar.

That one is kind of cool in an odd way  ;D

Is it possible to have the option to turn on/off an audio alert for when someone comes in or when they come back from being away/speak?

People have been in and out of chat1 all night, myself included.

We see the empty room and bail after a bit.  If someone comes in when we are away surfing we don't know unless we pull up the window.

Having an option to turn a sound on/off would encourage people to hang around I think.  Then they will know when to go and check chat and the newcomer will already see someone is in instead of everyone hitting an empty room like tonight.

Hehe, for instance Aske just responded to me now in chat and I've (seemingly) ignored him for ages because I was away making this dumb post.

 ;D

I don't think that's possible in chat1.

Chat2 has a sound notification, but I don't think you can set it for specific actions.

Chat1 (as it is known at the time of writing) is about the closest thing to purtyfecshun as we are likely to get and still have hair left :)

Notifiers when chat is minimised so if you are first in chat min the window, when someone else comes in a sound will play.

This can be altered (in the code) to pop up the window if desired should the sound not be enough.  The sounds can be turned off client side, so it isn't oppressive.

Same deal if you arrive and someone is away.  Min the window and when they come back (or anyone else comes in) to type you get a notifier.

This hopefully will make it more sensible to just stay in the chat instead of a procession of people logging in a few minutes apart and leaving immediately because they are the only one there. 

When I'm the only one in a room I routinely leave it so as not to appear rude by 'ignoring' a new chatter that may enter when I'm off surfing pröñ educational websites.

Now at least I get to choose who to ignore after being dinged upon their arrival.

 ;D

Dystopia, I went on a mission to find out how to change that room title.....

$params["title"] = "your title";

Then do a /rehash command as admin.

I messed about with the room a bit.

03:14:40 ‹linedroptest› 1
03/01/2007 03:14:42 ‹linedroptest› 2
03/01/2007 03:14:43 ‹linedroptest› 4
03/01/2007 03:14:43 ‹linedroptest› 5
03/01/2007 03:14:43 ‹linedroptest› 3
03/01/2007 03:14:44 ‹linedroptest› 6
03/01/2007 03:14:44 ‹linedroptest› 7

I put the numerals in order, it did put some out of sequence, but I couldn't get it to drop one completely.

I did notice the room was set to 'asschap time' though.

 [sm_devil]

Ah, thanks.  I see what I was doing wrong.  I actually had the title already, which is the title of the entire chat thing, $params["title"] = "GolfHos Chat";

But what I didn't set before was the room/channel, which I just set now:
$params['channels'] = array("My Room");


Also, sorry everyone for swapping Chat1 and Chat2 around.  People tend to gather in Chat1 more, so I made the leading candidate to be Chat1 now.

Clive, you'll be happy the Chat1 is very similar to the old chatroom that you preferred, but basically the newer version of it.(and now includes things like an audio notification and multiple rooms)

Chatting is for lameazzes.