Chat pop-up

[Hexsplosions]

I'm currently moving users on my forum to use the chat room instead of the Shoutbox (in view of the now lack of support for that mod).

One of the points of feedback from my users is that the pop-up window is incredibly small compared to their screens. There are a lot of monitors out there with high resolutions. The chat room will expand width-wise when the pop-up window is expanded, but not height wise.

I'd therefore like to suggest a change to the skin (or for version 4.X) that the user be allowed to resize the pop-up and that the chat-room scale accordingly to take advantage of the new window size.

P.S. Also, the ability to toggle avatars would be nice as a further space-saver.

Thanks

:)

[Nevo]

Although Arrow Chat is extremely different. I've been using it for a long time and I can say, its definitely an amazing alternative and works well. I still use Shoutbox because the original author has been long time gone and the product still works as it should. I haven't been upgrading to the latest version (dont know whos managing it now or what they've done to it, don't really care), What I know is it works and I'm surprised to see people not using it anymore just because there is no official support. FYI, I've never needed support for that Application since day one and if you know how long that thing has existed... then you know if it works, you can use it. :P

[Hexsplosions]

I've never needed support for the Shoutbox so my decision not to use it is in no way a reflection of the developers who brought it to us. I'd happily have paid a regular renewal for a fully supported Shoutbox. My problem continuing to use such an addon when there isn't dedicated support is one of contingency. Just because it works today does not mean it will work tomorrow. Just because there are no known exploits today does not mean there will be none tomorrow. I'm therefore proactively dealing with that problem and safeguarding my community.

I do think somebody (*cough* IPS *cough*) is missing a trick by not supporting that sort of functionality as standard. My communities have enjoyed the use of a Shoutbox for quite some time and it's become a great way to be sociable and mingle with fellow members without using the forum for such things. The forum is, instead, focused on more productive topics and posts. :smile:

[Aiwa]

I don't want this to turn into a Shoutbox topic, but feel I should point this out...

While I have decided to make the Shoutbox unsupported, if there are exploits or show stopping bugs found, they will be fixed.

[Hexsplosions]

I don't want this to turn into a Shoutbox topic, but feel I should point this out...

While I have decided to make the Shoutbox unsupported, if there are exploits or show stopping bugs found, they will be fixed.

Hi Aiwa,

I understand - and thanks. I do not envy the burden of anybody supporting that mod.

[bfarber]

I've never needed support for the Shoutbox so my decision not to use it is in no way a reflection of the developers who brought it to us. I'd happily have paid a regular renewal for a fully supported Shoutbox. My problem continuing to use such an addon when there isn't dedicated support is one of contingency. Just because it works today does not mean it will work tomorrow. Just because there are no known exploits today does not mean there will be none tomorrow. I'm therefore proactively dealing with that problem and safeguarding my community.

I do think somebody (*cough* IPS *cough*) is missing a trick by not supporting that sort of functionality as standard. My communities have enjoyed the use of a Shoutbox for quite some time and it's become a great way to be sociable and mingle with fellow members without using the forum for such things. The forum is, instead, focused on more productive topics and posts. :smile:

1) IP.Chat isn't all that dissimilar from an enhanced shoutbox - I don't feel there is enough market for both products.

2) We have seen very real resource problems with the shoutbox in the past over various versions. It's something that isn't well suited to most clients' setups, and subsequently isn't really something we have much interest in supporting. :) If you want real time "chatting", use IP.Chat. Rename to "shouting" if you feel this is a better term on your site. Embedding the chat window into every page of your site, however, is where the resource issues come into play (which is really the primary difference between a shoutbox and chatting).

[Hexsplosions]

HI Brandon,

Admittedly I was being mildly flippant with my comment. I actually prefer the functionality of IP.Chat (it's slick) but I dislike the inconvenience of having to log in. The Shoutbox is just so convenient in that respect.

FWIW, we only have the Shoutbox on one page... the index. It's simply that we (as in, my community members) would prefer to have new members automatically see the social "chatty" side of our member base without having to click a link to get there. I'd love to see something where it can be embedded on a single page, like the index, for such uses. Perhaps it's not the Shoutbox itself that we particularly like, it's that convenience factor.

[bfarber]

IP.Chat supports guests - you don't have to login.

It is unlikely we will support embedding the chat into the board index. It's not about the number of pages on your site (that's irrelevant on the server side), it's about the traffic - when you embed Chat into your index page every single user that hits your index page is making hits against the chat server (this is actually the problem with shoutbox generally speaking in terms of excess resource consumption, although various settings can alter how much of an impact it has). I won't say it will never happen, but what you (and others) use shoutbox for is not what we intended IP.Chat to accomplish exactly.

[Hexsplosions]

Sorry, I misled you. When I say "login" what I mean is "click a link to enter the chat".

That's the key difference. The Shoutbox is just there...

I appreciate the need to reduce unnecessary load on the chat servers though.