CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Okay....here's my problem....
I offered to make a website for the new club at the school I go to.....I am not very in touch with today's technological advances....

I have managed to make a site, but I am having a problem with getting a chatroom. The kids want to have their meetings online....and I have no idea how to go about it....any suggestions and tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

YOUR OWN PRIVATE CHAT-ROOM O_o... sheesh... programming it in something like Python would be a tad bit too intensive I think, but if you can't find a pre-made program or applet out there then you're likely out of like I thinks... You certainly can't build it in html or javascript... you might even need to host it server-side in which case your webpage would need permission to host such a thing. At least that's what I've heard.

-Pascal

I've used proboards before. It's full-featured and pretty easy to set up. And they even host it for you. Is this what you meant by chat-room, or is it something else?

I honestly don't know. The kids are pressuring me to set up a system where they can all communicate at the same time....chat rooms where my natural assumption. But my knowledge of computers is very limited....But what is a "proboard"?

http://www.proboards.com - That's Proboards, just a free message board service, but if you're going to go that route, I'll put in my recommendation for Invisionfree/Zetaboards, I've been using their stuff for a few years now and never had many problems.

http://chatango.com/page?FAQ Or you can try that, never used it myself though, just found it on google a second ago, so I can't vouch for it's reliability or anythign.

Hmmm....proboards.com, huh? Ok...but would that conflict with the website that is hosting mine?

Just do a simple IRC client, lock it to a particular server/network and channel, embed it in your web site, and you're good to go. You can find a free java IRC client designed for just such a use with a simple Google search.

This is a better idea than trying to run a cgi:irc or similar on your server, and requires no special support from the server.

(Actually, though, in response to Pascal there, you could do it with html/javascript and AJAX, but it would be more work. I believe the current version of the CAA chat uses precisely such a method.)

But that would require AJAX, not with just javascript... because that would require the server-side routines when javascript and html are client-side right?

o.0....Kal....you lost me, my friend. I must again proclaim that I am not computer literate in the slightest....I need the For Dummies guide to your advice.

Hmm... There are various chat functionalities in various tools, but I never found one that did what I want, without putting too much stress on the board. I'm afraid I won't be tooo much help, as I ended up writing my own.

Despite what pascal seems to be implying (I'm not altogether certain what he's saying), "AJAX" is just one function within javascript calling some server-side deal. I use it in my chat program, but you don't have to.

If they really want to have online meetings, just use yahoo and create a group chat. Everyone wants it "inline" with their site, but it's easier just to post a note saying "Contact so-and-so at myyahooaddress at 6:00 PM on Thursday."

Based on what I've seen here, I'd say it's easier than what you are trying to do.

That's a good idea. But does everyone have to have an Yahoo account?

Yep. It's free to make one, too.

Alternatively, setting up a Live Messenger account is easy too.